Schutzhand school recommendations - Page 1

My shepherd, lala ( www.lalavomkolenda.com ), is currently three months old. At a later age (one year old) I *may* want to send her to the best school for schutzhand training. My questions are who do you think would be the best choice worldwide and how long should training take to get to SCH3? Any other info on the subject highly appreciated. Cheers Sal.

David Kiewel is an American trainer living and working in Germany, where he is training Schutzhund prospects and procuring dogs for police departments. He can Schutzhund title a dog much faster in Germany, where there are frequent and close Sch trials, than most trainers can do in America. I don't know that he would want to train such a young dog, but you can always talk to him about it. I plan to take my Belshik son to him in a few months. You can look at his website: http://www.kiewelworkingdogs.com/ and decide for yourself, or contact him to talk about it. Veronica

Thanks Veronica, I left them a message.

Thomas Sauerhoefer, 530-415-9144, http://www.txdogtrainingcenter.com/ This gentleman has trained hundreds of GSDs and tittled them. He is German, been involved in Schutzhund since he was a kid and recently located to the US and is back and forth between California and Germany. I don't know what "best school", means, but he is an option if you want a good Schutzhund tittled dog.

Thanks SGBH for the info.

lala, your puppy is awfully young. You can do much in the way of preparation for the sport by socializing your puppy and already taking her to puppy classes, checking out local trainers and how they work. Read some books on training and start talking to different trainers. This does not mean you should bring her to a class for training. . . look and watch without your pup. The more you know, the better you can judge the trainer and make a good decision for your dog. I looked at the website that SGBH recommended myself and found the training fees somewhat high. You should speak to the breeder of your puppy if you intend to go this route. I am sure they will help you because this is really a good thing for them too!

Lala, please e-mail me privately about a trainer mentioned to you. I can direct you to an interesting web site with info about him and give you some first had experience. Cathy

Duh, it's late dogbyte1@cox.net ch

I did not "recommend", Mr. Sauerhoefer, I simply provided an option(and called it such) to someone who was seeking information. Regardless of who you pay, the "best school for Schutzhund training" is not going to be cheap, if you are going to leave the training, exclusivly to someone else....regardless of which option one's chooses. My personal suggestiion is that you go through training with your dog as you both learn. Ideal conditions include a local club that will accept you and take you under their wing as you enjoy the adventure, together(You and your dog). Learn from those mistakes with your first dog and your future dogs will reap the benefits. But that was not the advice that was sought. The best school option was sought and I offered one option(out of hundreds available).

Layla, Yes, lala is young and we don't start training now. I'm already going weekly to the local Schutzhand club here in Florida and let her watch as well. I know I can learn allot by doing the training myself but I think I may make too many mistakes and don't think I want to go that route. Sometimes it's just better to recognize your own personal limitations and get the best to help out. Cathy.. YGM. P.S - new pics on lala's site. I try to update daily.