Tell me about SchH in Tampa-Orlando-Gainsville areas? - Page 1

Still ocnsidering areas for relocation... May have found a good spot in this area. Of course, if I am going to title dogs, I will need HELP!

Any sport people in that area who would like to comment please? I am thinking of sneaking down that way for a quick look-round soon ;)

Anyplace that welcome dogs AND horses can't be all bad :-D even if they do have reptiles that eat dogs for dinner.

Thanks in advance,

SS

Shelley,

I'm from furthur south, so I can't recommend you a "good" club, however I can provide you couple links that you might be interested in seeking :)

go to http://www.dvgamerica.com/kgsouthe.html (DVG Clubs)

http://www.gsdca-wda.org/clubs.htm (For GSDCA-WDA members)

I hope this helps :)

Hi Shelley,  Go to the forum workingdogforum.com  Mike Schoonborn (sic) is a moderator, in fact he started that site & until very recently was in Orlando area.  Send him a pm & I'm sure he will hook you up with some good people.

Tampa is very warm and humid (muggy--85%). Like Hawaii, rains almost daily. Have to keep your dogs on heartworm prophylaxis year round. Awful fleas, too. Trust me, it's nothing like California.

After living in the SF Bay Area for many years, when I got off the plane at the Tampa-St Pete airport in 1972, I felt as if I had a huge weight on my chest and could hardly breath--due to the humidity.

and bugs the size of sea gulls.

Shelley, dont know if you still have my email, but it's easily gotten.  Get in touch with me, I live between both areas and have trained in both areas.

The logisitics of a move "home" to CA and the property value/availability issues, along with the proposed dog laws on the table, are pretty well prohibitive, at least for now.

It gets plenty humid here in PA. I guess I can live with that. I found a nice 3/2 home on 5 acres with a 20-run kennel (licensed!) I can rent affordably, located about an hour outside Tampa. Hoping to take a run down there for a long day soon to inspect the place and set up the lease, maybe next weekend. It won't be available for a couple of months, but I don't want to let it get away! I feel sure the offset costs of not having to heat the kennel all winter long would offset the costs of year round Heartworm and flea/tick control. the place has plenty of room for a training field, a couple paddocks for horses/dog ex areas. I don't have enough dogs to half fill the kennels (Nice block kennel building, wash/grooming room, whelping room) so I would be able to take dogs in for training/condtioning, but will of course need a good helper for the protection work. With two extra guest rooms, I might even be able to bring someone in to work a few dogs in exchange for rent... (a foreign student or something?) from time to time.

Now, to sell a few youngsters and puppies from the 3 week old litter to raise the money for the move...

:)))

Thanks, all.

SS

LOL Shelley, you have no idea what humidity really is!!!!  I moved down here from Michigan and thought WE had humidity with the lakes and all.  I've lived down here for 5 years now and still can't go outside for too long in the summer.  The kennel sounds ideal for you and it will work out for you if it's meant to be. 

Unfortunately my breeder/trainer is in Europe right now looking at dogs to bring back.  He'll be back on the 28th I think.  He may have some recommendations for you as far as helpers and such.  When he goes to the mainland it's mostly in the Miami, West Palm area, but hopefully he can give you some guidance in that part of the state.

Best of luck, keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Shelley,

There is a great DVG club in the Orlando area. It's called Schutzhund Club of Orlando. I can give you some contact emails if you would like. Also there's a U.S.A club in basically the same area. called Central Florida Police and SchH Club. I like the DVG club better mostly because it's a little closer to me (I live in Cocoa, Fl.) and I know the people there. Plus the DVG club has really nice facilities and a super training field. They hold the DVG Southeastern Regional Championships there every year. If you want more info email me at jodagirl@yahoo.com

I used to belong to all three parent organizations. the nice thing about Schutzhund is if you join the parent clubs and get the clubs' scorebooks for each dog, you can compete in any event. I entered Onyx in the '97 DVG Nantionals in the FH and got 2nd Place, even though I wasn't a member of a local DVG club. (maybe if I had been, I'd have done better, ha ha ha) I don't care what affiliations a club has, as long as the dog training is good. The political thing is for someone else. ;)

I probably won't have time to visit many people and places on my "look-see" trip this month, but its great to know there are so many people active in the sport down that way, unlike here!  The propery I am looking at is flat,  has room for a dedicated trainig field, (after some serious brush hog work) maybe even an above ground pool for cooling off after training for dogs and handlers. I can see myself doing a lot of entertaining at that place, a pastime I have sorely missed where I am now. It reminds me of my old place in CA, only on more property. I even dreamed of the house-warming buffet last night. (Gift suggestion list in progress, as I won't have much when the dust settles here...) Hope no one minds sitting on the floor, ha ha ha. Oh well, that's what thrift stores are for: recently divorced people, right? Call it "eclectic" decorating. In my dream, I am singing along with Eric Clapton and Stevie Nicks, cooking up a feast of whatever I can afford and laying out unmatched wine glasses for my guests, T and Gabi laying on their sides retending to be asleep, positioned to be first on the scene when I drop a morsel on the floor.
Yeah, I know Nicks and Clapton have never recorded anything together, but hey, its MY dream! Ha ha ha.

Now, back to trying to sell some of my dogs to raise the $. I HATE to do it, but as long as they go to loving homes, I can live with it. I don't see any choice. I will cry hard though, when they go.

Thanks again. I look forward to seeing you all at the party.

SS