Sending your dog to Germany for training? - Page 1

I have noticed that alot of kennels send their dogs to Germany for their hips and titles.  Just curious how costly it is and what are the benefits to sending your dog over seas for training???  In other words...  why are they doing it??  Anyone know?

Reasons to do it.....can be cheaper than doing it yourself, not having enough time, too many dogs to train and title them all, not having any trainers or training options within several hours drive, not interested in Schutzhund competition but need the titles to get a breed survey....

I would never do it but I'm a control freak.  No one trains or handles my dogs but me.  If I don't have the time, money, or a good trainer I either don't get the dog or find a different activity to do.

As for hips, you don't have to send the dog to Germany, just the paperwork and the x-ray films.

Blkdog,

Good question. The answer depends on your situation. You will generally find the working dogs can be titled in the US and it takes about 3 to 4 years. Just thumb through the USA and WDA magazines and see how many conformation line dogs are trialed here in the US and you will not see many.

This probably takes us to your question. Why is that? First there's a overall problem with the situation. You must have a good dog that will title, you must be a good enough trainer to title it, you must have a good enough helper to help you title your dog, if you want to compete with the dog it has to be SchH3 right around the time it's 2 years old or time runs out for a male, female SchH1 about that time is OK.

These are you parameters and obstacles. If you lack in any one of these, chances are you simply cannot get the job done here in the US. There are only a handful of people that have a conformation line dog and want to compete that title their dogs in the US. It's very difficult and when you find someone qualified that will do a good job, it's very expensive. Best example, look at what the larger kennels do.

So the reason people send their dogs to Germany is; it basically can't be done here in time for the reasons listed above and if it could, it would cost much, much, more. Logistics and finances point to Germany. 

This brings us to the next question. How do I get my dog to Germany and how do I find a reputable person to title my dog and how much will it cost? The process is too involved to discuss in detail here.

Here are some Dog1 suggestions. Don't send over a dog no matter how much you love it if it really isn't cut out for the work. It makes you look bad as a person that wants to title such a dog, it makes the trainer look bad to title such a dog even if they can. It's a loose, loose situation and the breed doesn't need anymore let's say marginally titled dogs just so they can be bred. There are enough good dogs that should be titled out there. Send one of those with a good foundation from the US and your chances of success are much better.

Find a good trainer and make sure they produce results. Find a dog they titled and go watch it. How does it look? How does it work? Be realistic in your expectations. The titles from Germany are not titles you can take to the Nationals. They are breeding titles. No matter how good your dog is or what it's potential is. Expect it to come back with a C on it's report card. The tight ass Americans are not willing to spend the money on good training. Don't expect to do anything for you when it comes off the plane. Don't expect it to bite your brother if he puts a sleeve on and you say Paken. Take your newly titled dog to a qualified trainer here to assess what he knows and doesn't know if you intend to do any further training with the dog.

Expect to be screwed because you do not know the protocol of the people you are dealing with. There are certain responsibilities each party has. Sometimes you screw yourself by not setting up the situation correctly, sometimes you get screwed because you were just a sucker. Screwing Americans out of thousands of dollars is a profitable sport in some parts of Europe. Good luck and I hope thiongs turn out well in the end.

Well, I certainly have no intentions of sending any of my dogs over seas...  I am not that trusting of a person with my animals being that far away...  =)  I just noticed alot of kennels doing it...  I talked with a very nice lady over there about it once before, she did warn me that some trainers over there just title on paperwork only, and that would be my luck!!  lol  I would rather be a part of my dogs training, my biggest problem is finding a good trainer with good credentials...   

That's a really long explanation to say what really should be said.
Here in the U.S. the dog will actually get trained and earn it's titles.
Send it to Germany and you can have a Sch3 dog in a couple of months that can't track, can't heel off leash, and has no business doing any protection work on a trial field.

Point taken...  =)

i have a show line and i am going to tittle him here. it can be done as some showlines can do it , but you are right, not all showlines can do the job.

Quite simply if you cannot find the time to do it yourself or you cannot find a competent Trainer to help you and no matter how good someone is they all need help one time or another,  Human error creeps in with the best of them, and the best make mistakes but rectify them
So if none of the above is available then do not bother to title the Dog at all, for you need to see the progress yourself, thats my opinion
Steve1

OGBS-In the US there is no unearned dog titling going on?  Have you ever trained or titled a dog in Germany?  I am curious why you would say that and what your experience has been. 
   

I am sure if you got hooked up with the right person that it could be beneficial.  I wish I could find a connection in Germany for Importing and even possibly training, but as I said, I would have a difficult time sending my dog away, anywhere really.