Minnesota dog/puppy training - Page 2

Wow - what a great place to live. We walk Calhoun often and have coffee. Also love shopping at Whole Foods. Anyway, so glad that your boy is doing so well - do not fret about the common set backs. Anyway if you are ever interested in a walk - let us know. What puppy school do you take your boy to? Where did you purchase him?

We would love to meet you for a walk! We take him to Westgate pet clinic for puppy preschool on Wednesday nights and the GSDC of Minneapolis on Friday nights. We were taking him to the Twin Cities Obedience Training Center on Monday nights but there are too many puppies in his class.. he doesn't really enjoy it or get much out of it. We *may* try again, not sure. We got him from My Bodyguard Dogs in Northern Illinois. We just really liked his pedigree and got first pick male. http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/470542.html By the way, he is 10 weeks old today :) We have some problems with the GSDC of Mpls because of his being European bred, but his trainer is fantastic. We took him to Lake Calhoun yesterday and he was hilarious. He got into the water and laid down. I love him. Let me know when you'll be out and about! Melissa

Good work with him, Melissa. My first GSD loved the water, he would dive in and swam like a fish. Blitz won't get in over his pasterns, but he does like to lay down in a few inches of water. He has a wading pool LOL. 10 weeks already!!

Unlike the previous poster, I would highly suggest that you come out to visit the club. The pup wouldn't be working on the helper or anything, but you can get advice on how to properly build the foundation for Sch with your pup. Sometimes different puppy kindergartens teach some really silly things that will screw up your dog unless you know better (one class wanted to have you stare at your dog and click/treat when it looked away!!). You can also build the foundation for tracking. MVSV would never pressure anyone to start working their pup too soon. I think that it's important to let your pup grow up, but make sure to give it the correct foundation.

I agree with lars0997, if you have a puppy that you want to work in Schutzhund, they need to be out there now learning all the bite and drive developement, tracking, plus the socialization. Everything for a puppy will be a game and they should always win whatever game they are playing. These people should also be able to show you in person how to correctly direct his biting to toys, rags, and not your hands and legs. Also, the issue with the puppy tearing up the house can be cleared up easily with the use of a crate. You can also leash the dog in the house as was mentioned earlier.

Ben has turned a huge corner. He is great in the house - and going to the back door when he needs to eliminate. I swear this is the smartest, sweetest dog I have ever met. He can sit AND platz from across the yard if I tell him to. He is still very uninterested in other humans, though. He is not afraid but doesn't really want to be bothered by them, and is would rather they leave him alone. Yes, I am socializing him. I honestly had no idea I could love something so much. It would not matter if he had HD or anything else, I would NEVER give this dog away. There are great surgeons out there. My husband and I would like to come to the MVSV for a visit. But, I think we need an invitation. How can we do this? Thanks so much for the info! Melissa ps I put a new picture of him up from our trip to the beach! http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/pedigree/470542.html

No - you don't need an invitation. We welcome visitors on during our Saturday training session. Go to www.mvsv.org and email our training director (her email is on the webpage). She'll be able to clue you in on our schedule. GSD are suppose to be aloof - so as long as he's not afraid of humans, no need to worry. Cute pup!

Hi there, I just emailed you before reading this, I hope it's ok. We will see you there in a couple of weeks. thanks so much!!