New to GSDs - Page 1

Hi all,

I am new here and just had a few questions. I will give a little background so you can maybe understand the situation. I have wanted a GSD for about a long as I can remember. Although I have seen them for "a dime-a-dozen" in the paper, I was afraid of getting a poor quality dog, so I never did. Just the other day I was offered a young adult daughter of Yasko Vom Farbenspiel. (By an internet friend of my husband's) Although I haven't seen her yet, when I looked Yasko up online I fell in love. So I am going to bring her into my family....She hasn't been raised up to be a working dog, just a nice house dog, so I plan on trying to compete in Obedience with her. My question on her is, if any one would mind giving me some friendly advice on how to find a good club to join. (I live in between Austin and Houston) Also, suppose she is show quality, is it difficult to start a show career on a 2 year old dog? Or will that more depend on her personality in a show setting?

Anyway, being offered this female made me start seriously looking and asking around for breeders of Schutzhund dogs. I found my puppy in Belgium after asking around for referrals. I sent my deposit and my pup should be here by the end of June/begining of July. I am completely excited and am committing myself to learning as much as I can about Sch. and the correct way to bring up a working puppy.

I have been holding off on this post for a couple of weeks already, since at first I was afraid of getting slammed for my ignorance LOL...But I want to learn and I guess the only  is to ask stupid/novice questions and get hopefully more helpful answers than sarcastic ones  LOL Well thanks for the time and thanks in advance for advice and tips.

Stacy

Hi Stacy,

One thing to be aware of is most "working" line pups are more mouthy then many other types of dogs.  start getting your chew toys handy now.  You don't so much want to tell them "NO" as redirect their bite to an acceptable item.  We have so many kongs floating around our house I trip over them.  When the pup starts mouthing substitue what you want chewed instead of your hand, ankle, leg, foot, slipper, pants, and much more!

Look for a club that is willing to take time with a young dog.  It may take time to find the right fit for you and your dogs.  There are probably more bad then good out there.  If it doesn't feel right to you don't let them do it.

Read as much as you can.  Ask questions, and yes be ready for some answers you won't like, that kind of goes with the territory.  Think thick skin and absorb what is good and brush off what isn't.  Be aware of the split between working lines and show lines, you will get different answers from each group often.  Use what works for you.

Good luck and have fun.

Hi Stacy,

Good for you, asking questions and looking for a job for your dog/ dogs! Congrats on you new addition. The below link is for the AKC website, there is a list of different clubs. You can see which is close for you and e-mail them about obedience classes.

http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/?RequestTimeout=45

As for the conformation, if you are interested in trying to show her just to see what happens, you should probably look into German- SV style conformation as opposed to AKC. Of course it depends on her ultimately, but Yasko is not an AKC type show dog. There is a ton of information at this link

http://www.germanshepherddog.com/

that can help you find Schutzhund groups/clubs in your area, and they also list conformation shows all over the country. I would  suggest going to observe a club or a few, and trying to attend a conformation show. That way you can get an idea of what goes on at these events. :)

Best of luck to you!

Theresa

(Sarcasm omitted intentionally!)  :-)

Animules,

You answered a question I had already!  (about the mouthiness.) I was wondering if distraction would work, since teaching him NOT to bite at all would likely ruin him later when it comes time for his bite work training. I'm even excited about buying new dog toys (EBay here I come LOL) I did notice there seems to be a few different opinons on work vs. show especially on which dogs are breathtaking and which are ugly-as-a-mud-fence :-) My new male pup's parents are a sable color and look 100% different structurally than any of the show dogs I see around the internet. And there are also two black pups in his litter. I plan on choosing one who looks like his parents. I would love to share some pictures once I pick mine. (I get 2nd pick, and the 1st pick is taking forever LOL just kidding the pups are only 3 weeks old)

Theresa,

Thanks for the links! I will go and check them both out. I really want to start meeting people close to me and spectating so I can start taking notes. As yall can probably tell I love to talk dogs  LOL I would as I said like to give showing a shot if she is worthy. I can post pictures of her when she gets here to get a critique. Since I didn't go out and spend a fortune on her my feelings won't be hurt if she doesn't measure up :-) My biggest concern before agreeing to take her was that she had her hips checked, and she does have the paperwork to prove it, so I was happy. I also wanted to make sure she was of sound mind and had at least the bare minimum of training and housebroken.

Thanks to both of you for the help! I really appreciate it and looking forward to learning on here

Kindly,

Stacy

Stacy,

As you start shopping for toys, don't use what will be training tugs as "toys".  The hard rubber works well.  I no longer find it unusual to have one of our dogs lay beside me "holding" my hand.  They have all developed that touch as they matured, much different then the gotta chew biting.

 Good luck, they are a blast.

The following links all have info for clubs. You should be able to find a club that would be happy to help you with the obedience only for your female. There's no harm in trying for the tracking and protection phases while you're there.  

http://www.dvgamerica.com/kgmdwest.html

http://germanshepherddog.com/clubs/index.htm

http://www.gsdca-wda.org/clubs.htm 

You can order training books and videos online to help you learn the sport. 

Good luck and enjoys the new dogs!
Jeff

Thanks Jeff and Animules!

I like reading almost as much as I like talking so I will save those web sites and study them! I was lucky enough to find a breeder who has been giving me tips and advice. He invited me to a seminar he will be doing over in Louisiana, not too far from me. No date set yet, but I can hardly wait since I have never been to one. Every time I open an email reply from him I say "Ohh he's so NICE!" LOL I so much want to do right by my pup so I have tons of questions. My pup's sire and dam are both Sch III and IPO III, so I know he will have the potential to be a solid working dog.

Thanks Again! Kindly,

Stacy

Don't worry about getting the second pick. best gsd i ever had was the third pick of litter.

Many people pick 1. The biggest   2. Best color or markings  3. first one that plays with them  4. one certain color   ...  good luck..

Thank you DesertRangers,

I have been debating with myself about just having the breeder pick my puppy for me...I mean, some times the FUN of getting a new puppy is picking it  out BUT this breed is totally new to me, as is the sport... I think I need to just suck it up and let him do it for me... because I would definitely pick the most "handsome" pup LOL (good call, ya got me there) But since I only have pictures to look at, it would be the only way I could choose...Since I won't be able to play with the whole litter,  letting my pup pick me isn't an option (thankfully lol) otherwise I would probably end up with 2 pups! Any opinions on if I should have him pick for me? Being so new to this I probably would need a pup who will be more forgiving when I make mistakes...any thoughts?

Thanks in Advance

Stacy

Stacy,

 Congratulations on plans for your new pup.  Have you found a club in your area?  If you find a good club with friendly, helpful people this will be the best way to get started with your pup.  There is plenty of socialization and imprinting you can do with a puppy, even as young as 8 weeks.

Get plugged in with some knowledgeable and helpful club mates as soon as you can.  They help you far more than just trying to read up on it.  They can probably also point you in the right direction for videos and/or books.  Unfortnately there's a lot of BS that has been written about training protection dogs.  Your club mates should be able to point you in the right direction.

Best wishes!

Yvette