Put up or shut up (callin ya'll out) - Page 7

Hi Crazee, health issues (and temperament issues like Blitz's) really can put a damper on your dreams of training in most venues. Same thing happened to me with my first GSD, too sick too often for much of anything except staying alive and Blitz is, well, Blitz and not a good candidate for much of anything .

GARD I honestly don't feel as if my time in theAKC world would be of any interest to most here, the AKC show ring  gets little respect from those with imports and rightfully so. It really isn't anywhere nearly as difficult to breed and finish AKC champions. I normally don't reply to questions other than those about health issues and rarely an AKC OB concern. I feel qualified to respond to things like that, but certainly not Sch training or the like.  My time as a vet tech has given me a lot of knowledge about many things doggie and I used to teach OB and AKC handling classes. Otherwise, I've had a fairly mundane 38 years since I bought my first pure bred dog. Also, none of my expereience is with this breed, so I think I should just shut up now.

Actually Blitzen you are one of the one's I hope chime in when I have a health related question. My whole point to this thread....

Everyone has something to offer.

This thread hopefully will give everyone a base on who has knowlege and experience in a particular area and who has trained their dog and titled it on the "world wide web" to a PDB3 (Pedigree Database 3)

Blitz - you have more common sense than most on this board - that makes you invaluable.

ps - I finally heard the Ron White thing about 'you can't fix stupid'...I'm not gonna lie...I thought the 'Stupid is Fo-eva' was an even greater hoot :p

~Cate

On my first dog, a rescue who was found wandering the streets, GSD x chow.  He may be either fear aggressive or just a weak nerved butthead, he definitely wants to line his intestines with the neighborhood cats, he really doesn't care for other dogs (and I mean that in every sense of the phrase), he'll only tolerate you if he's seen you a bazillion times or you've become his personal hot dog vendor (and if he likes you, he'll show it by shoving a slobbery, disgusting Kong at all your body parts), and he's a source of endless problems BUT he's very smart.  He can jump over things and on things on command, he can sitz and platz at quite a distance even with hand signals, he'll do a great platz in motion, he's catching on quick to the scent pad (and actually is FANTASTIC at air-scenting with "find it"), he's awesome with target training (after only two nights working on it), he's excelling with clicker training, his fuß into position (working on position first, not really heeling) is ridiculously enthusiastic (he basically throws himself, butt-first, to my side) and he's pretty fun to train.  I hope to do agility with him, a CGC, BH, schutzhund obedience (like hell he'll ever be an all-phase dog), tracking, maybe weight pull or carting just for kicks, I don't know if we'll ever trial because of his issues (weak nerves, no socialization, found loose with a busted tie-out so you can guess how he grew up and we got him somewhere between 10-18 months of age), but hey, we're working him and he's doing swell considering this guy's my first and we've only had him since September.  I guess I should be farther along but I'm feeling pretty good.  Lots of people in the neighborhood ask how I train him and comment that he's so well behaved... I just tell them it's a sham.   All this so far without any professional help but we're going into private classes soon, then group, and hopefully start some agility and traffic test work.  We're also making amazing progress on his control around other people and animals.  Okay, *I* am making excellent progress with my dog; my dear, sweet fiance is another story- I think they're more on a littermate level than an owner-dog level.   Boys!

If I can get even ONE title/cert on this guy that involves him being around people and dogs, when I get a nice working line pup I think I can go far.  So far, so good.  I spend way too much time reading about dogs and schutzhund and I am hopelessly in love with the working dog of ANY breed!

So there you go, I'm a newb lurker fool, but hopefully not for much longer. 

Hi GARD: 

CD & CDX (a friends Golden when I was a teenager); couple of ribbons in the breed ring (friends Great Dane when I was a teen)

NOVICE &  OPEN agility titles on one of my GSDs

FLYBALL  (was a member of a Flyball team with a friends Border Collie

HERDING:  Took a lot of lessons but my GSD was no good at it.  At the time I didn't know there were different types of herding.  I would have liked to try the kind of herding that GSDs excel at.

Trained 1 GSD to a schH1 level and another to almost a schH III level but never competed due to problems I mentioned to you in an email a long time ago) a BH (not a title)

With my current young dog, hopefully  I will get the BH out of the way soon and a schH1 before the year is out.

Sch1 KKL1  CD and CGC on my HOT workingline female (who is now retired from schutzhund due to a HD but we are working on our CDX. Have been in Sch for 5 yrs, AKC obedience for 9 yrs.. Looking soooooooooo forward to starting over   with a new pup this spring.

Denise

I love Ron White

"Diamonds, that will shut her up,,,,,,for a minute"  ron white

john

Started training my 2nd gsd 3 years ago in akc obedience and began training Molly in Schtzhund in September.

Libby - CGC, TDI, CD, RA (one leg to go for her RE, which hopefully we can get next Saturday).  She is 7 now and absolutely refuses to have anything to do with the dumbell, so we have not been able to try for the cdx, although she can do everything but the retrieves.  I had her Herding Instinct tested and she performed exceptionally well, so if I can find a place to train I would like to do so.

Molly (Felice vom Amulree) CGC, TDI, CD, RN (put on by me)  and Bh put on by GSDFAN.  I  hadn't starting training schtzhund yet, so Melanine handled her for me at her club trial.  Now that I have been working these past months toward her SchI, I would like to take her thru the BH again for myself to gain more experience in handling her in this venue.  Hopefully by the end of 2008, I can have a brag of putting a SchI on her myself.  It all will depend on how much I have learned by then, lol.  We are also working toward gaining her cdx this summer  (having trouble with the broad jump) and have high hopes that we can work toward a UDX title someday.  Next Saturday we are going for her first leg of Rally Advanced.

Both Libby and Molly have HD, so our days of competing could be cut short suddenly, but until my dogs no longer wish to train and compete and or it becomes painful for them to do so, I will continue to strive toward the next level of something!  It has been an incredible journey since I first started training and competing with Libby.  It takes me a little longer than most to pick things up, but with persistance, patience and alot of help from trainers and friends, I have somehow managed to progress.  Not to mention all the great people I have met along this journey and good friends that I have made.  It definately gets into your blood and like a poster said above, the incredible bond you develop with your dogs is the icing on the cake.

Cheryl

Humm, I think of myself as a newbie in most ways.  Don't have many titles but I've had a lot (too much) of experience with aggression issues.  I've only been involved with dogs for about 10 yrs last one I owned before that was when I was a teen a little over 20 years prior to that time.  I do a lot of research and really enjoy the "learning" aspects of training my dogs and other folks dogs.  I do lots of mentoring and help folks get on the right track with their dogs and breeds of choice.   I handle most of the basic obedience classes for my local all breed club (about 5 a year).  I'm, also, very interested in pet nutrition.  Taken a ton of classes and seminars etc.  and want to keep learning.  I have learned that I do NOT want to breed.  I just can't see myself ever knowing enough to try it.

Titles are limited to RN, Therapy Dog, and CGC stuff.  I've shown in AKC conformation but I can honestly say I enjoy it but my dog doesn't and it shows.  My older GSD is a rescued dog and he got me started.  I do work with a lot of different rescues but only short term and mostly for evaluations before adoption.  My newest dog is from working lines and I'm hoping to show him in OB (AKC for now), agility and hopefully train him to work with our local SAR unit.  His early evaluations for SAR work are good so now we're just trying to get our training schedule set up.

Melissa