At The Age of 6 Months - Page 1

How far should your dog be in his/her Schutzhund training at the age of 6 months??

Build up drive... and  AUS..AUS...AUS....   better start it now or be sorry later...

Hi Kreiger,

My 5 month old dogs, are doing very well in thier obedience training, they sit, platz, come sit front, learning the swing finish, all basic heal work, teaching the focus heal, and  working on stay. 

They have started thier tracking and doing a good job, basic track, not big turns ect.  Lots of socialization. all training done with food,

Bitework has ohly been fun tugging.  we have one out of the 4 that is doing very good with this.  We are now making him bark for the tug...

We have also started basic Agility, without jumping...very low A frame work.

Retrieve is all in fun.  we are doing clicker training with the retrieve.

Heather

What you should be doing with your dog at 6 months old all depends on your dog and you...but you need to be doing "drive promotion"...food...toy (balls...kongs...pvc...) get him/her to chase anything and everything...Once your puppy has stopped teething you can start with a small tug...and all during this time it  is great to not only socialize him with other people and dogs...places and things...but to also socialize and associate him at your local Schutzhund Club...Get him use to everything that's going on and he will tell you when he's ready for the next step...

~Bob~

If your 6 month old dog looks like this 6 month old dog. You're OK.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMsO_ltV29s

My Daughter has her 1st GSD, now 7 months old. She has gotten her CGC 2 weeks before her 7 month Bday and is loving sch. She is accross the country from me, so I miss out but I get weekly updates after training. She is so excited she is doing this herself, not Mom, I have it done. I am very proud of her. My last call she was over the top, she got to move up from the puppies to the "big dogs" .

tracking & drive building.

I wouldn't be too worried about being too far.  Like Bob said, build drive.  and teach the pup the basics.  Track as much as you can.  If you are doing bite work with a helper, keep it light and in prey.  Build drive.  If it is not barking for the reward, work on that. 

Remember it is still a puppy and you have time.  You have a minimum of 8 more months until you can even get a BH and nobody says that it has to be done at 15 months.  That is the minimum.

I wouldn't just let him sit around, but everything you do should be for a reason and should gradually progress the dog.  Take baby steps.  Make sure the dog is getting a good foundation.  If you skip the neccessary steps and leap past a few steps along the way, later down the road this will show up eventually. The dog will let you know when it is ready to move on if you pay attention. 

"Take baby steps.  Make sure the dog is getting a good foundation.  If you skip the neccessary steps and leap past a few steps along the way, later down the road this will show up eventually. The dog will let you know when it is ready to move on if you pay attention. " (The Don)

I thought that was such good advise it beared repeating.