I’ll code an area soon for image uploads. Look for it soon!

Tabitha is truly a great GS and we’re blessed to have bought her! I’m attaching a photo of her when she was two weeks old, one of her when she was 10 weeks old (and 17 pounds), and then a couple of her now (4 months and a week old at 36 pounds). She is very smart, and although she has a great drive, she loves us (her family) and obeys very well.

Thanks again for all your advice!

PS-I’ve attached photos to my email to you, but didn’t know how to place any of them in this html box, so…maybe you can do it, or let me know what the link is to view them, where ever you place them on your site?

Cindy Page

Welcome to the world of Schutzhund! One of the best things to do first is shop around your area (actually, you just may have to travel a bit to find just the right one for you) for a Schutzhund club that you like. I would also add (and this is just my experience, your mileage may vary!) that for me, I found that if there are members of Law Enforcement that belong to the club, it brings a professionalism that is hard to beat. A bad trainer (junkyard trainers, the ones that will offer you, “We can train ANY DOG in protection!“) are less likely to rip off cops than others.

My husband wants to do the “work” with her though, along side the trainer

Please understand that the handlers relationship with the dog is of up most importance. So, you (or your husband) will have to be apart of the “work”. A fair dog trainer (either Schutzhund/Protection Training, Obedience, Other) will offer to train your dog without you. A good dog trainer will ask you to participate in the training once the foundational methods are instilled into the dog. A Great dog trainer will rely on you to do the work side by side of them, not excluding you, but engaging you every step of the way.

I personally would run the other way if I talked to a trainer that didn’t require my presence/participation in the training of MY dog…

Will it be a problem that she is attached to him and I both?

Attachment to both of you is fine. But – and here is another area of contention between professional protection dog trainers…and why? Well, the relationship between dog and handler should/needs/is the the primary reason why the dog works. But today, there are so many trainers (mostly motivational-only trainers) that recommend many handlers for one dog, and that is due to families bringing their dog, along with the entire family wanting to be the “handler”. So these trainers take 2, 3, or more people and allow them to all be the primary handler. And while this seems good in theory (all members of the household can command their dog an any time, etc.), I go back to my statement:

…the relationship between dog and handler is the primary reason why the dog should work.

For example, my wife and kids can command my two adult GSDs to “Sitz” or “Platz”, or “Gib laut (speak/bark aggressively)” – and they’ll comply. And that’s due to the training I’ve put into them. But with me, the “primary handler”, they will watch me, wait for me to command, and respond to those with a compliance that is very, very, very noticeably more motivationally done. Basically – my dogs LOVE my wife and kids, but they RESPECT me as the handler. Big difference in the relationships.

She tends to follow me whereever I go. She definately knows that my husband is in charge though. She whines when I leave the house (for a few seconds), and then waits by the front door until I get back.

This is GREAT behavior from a 14 week old (is she 16 weeks now?) GSD! Not that whining is good, but the “I need to be with my pack” mentality is one you can harness for training.

So to summarize, I recommend that between you and your husband, you two should vote/agree/demand that ONE and only ONE of you be the dogs primary handler – especially on the Schutzhund training field. Look at it this way, your puppy can be handled by your husband, and the NEW PUPPY YOU GET can be yours!!!

One last thing…build drive and focus on your girl! Building drive can be done by using a bite tug. Play tug-of-war (ONLY WITH A WORKING DOG, and not a “pet”!!! You can build dominance in a “pet” that you don’t want!!!) – and let her win EVERY TIME! But – make her work for that win!!!

Make it the best, funnest game she can ever play!!! And once she is in the heat of the game – - – STOP! Put your (not her toy, it’s your toy!) bite tug away, and kennel your girl. Once she is released again, you will see such a built-up drive for the tug, it’ll be like day and night!

Let me know what you think, and please, send us some pictures of your girl!!!

Martin

Will it be a problem that she is attached to him and I both? She tends to follow me whereever I go. She definately knows that my husband is in charge though. She whines when I leave the house (for a few seconds), and then waits by the front door until I get back.

Thanks,
Cindy

There is a big difference between owning a GSD that has natural protective instincts (and that’s one reason why so many of us love this great breed) – but has never been trained to use them on command – and training specifically for protection.

Owning a fully trained protection dog is a big liability. I’m not saying that having your dog trained in Schutzhund will mean he’ll be unstable around your family, but once you train a GSD (or Rottie, Belgium Malinois, etc.) that it’s OK to attack and bite an individual on command – you’ll need to fully respect this “training” on your dog. There is a vast difference between owning a pet and a working dog. Once you train your GSD in Shutzhund/protection, consider that to be his job.

Most people don’t need a protection trained GSD – and just as you say, your dog before was not trained, so that’s 99% of the time “good enough”. A large barking GSD will be deterrent 99% of the time. But if you are like me, and value your personal and family protection – then I’d do the training. I also believe in owning a gun, and that is a very good parallel view of things.

So – if you are comfortable in owning AND USING a gun for protection…then train your dog in protection, and consider him your first line of defense. But if not, then raise him as a family pet, and let his natural instincts do the rest.

And @ Cindy,
Redirect, redirect, redirect…Allow ONLY ONE family member to train in protection, and the rest can do basic obedience training. The most important piece of advice I can give someone with a pup who has what it takes to do Schutzhund/protection work is this: Build Drive and Focus.

And while many in you family can help, you want ONLY ONE family member to do the bite tug training. You can (very unknowingly) turn a great prospect into just a fair one for Schutzhund because of a (and usually younger) family member that doesn’t know the proper way to play tug of war (AND LET THE PUP WIN EVERYTIME).

And allowing a young dog to win at his tug game will build confidence – and CAN build DOMINANCE! So I say, allow every family member “love time” with your pup, but once he gets into “drive” – redirect him to his tug. And allow only the designated trainer you select to do his future protection training to take over.

I tell people (starting with my own kids who LOVED our GSD puppies!!!) that choosing to raise a working dog is NOT for everyone. A GSD will naturally protect (but of course, not on command nor 100% every time), and that’s usually enough for people.

When my daughter kept a “high drive” sable male, and wanted to do Schutzhund/protection training with him – that ruled out my other kids from playing with him. I wanted to make sure my daughter is the center of his universe. This will tie into his advanced training once he reaches maturity, when we begin our defensive training with a club helper. So he gets all his “love time” from her, and general “interaction time” with our family. He’s 11 months old now, and will follow my daughter where ever she goes, and is VERY stable around the rest of the family.

So you decide…do you truly want a serious protection trained GSD, or a family pet?

Let me know!

Martin

Okay, I have a 14 week old sable, female and she DEFINATELY does the “berserk mode” when playing (not every time, but a lot of the time)! Her father was a trained K-9 and Shutz. We do want to do the protection training with her, but…when should she began and how can we stop her from going “berserk” on the kids in the meantime?? She has very sharp teeth that leave scratches and wounds, and we don’t want to teach her NOT to bite, but…we don’t want her to bite us, her family, even in play, at the same time?

When she gets so wound up, she can’t seem to stop herself!

What should we do??

Thanks,
Cindy

Let’s take this a step at a time:

Step #1 – Appropriate Walking Ages
Getting your puppy trained on leash is very important. But more important is being responsible with their age and build. Especially with our GSDs (as you know), and issues with bone growth in young dogs and deterioration at an older age (which are very much linked together), walking them for short periods of time before they are 6 months old is best. The length and time you walk them can be judged by how you feel after the walk. Was it a bit tiring for you? Then it was very tiring for our young dog’s skeleton. They may show tons of energy, but their young bones will benefit from shortened walks until at least 6 months.

For example, my daughter’s 11 month old sable GSD male just now goes around our large block. He’s BIG and we wanted to make sure his growth-plates get the best chance they should have for his size.

Step #2 – Potty Training
It seems with your tight schedule, your should have less pee accidents. Are you taking him out every 20 minutes? If not, you should. Also, as soon as he wakes up, take him – and about 20 minutes after he eats or drinks, take him.

I’ll be editing this comment to include the link to the new article I’ve written on housebreaking, so stay tuned

Remind me if you don’t see it within the next week!

Step #3 – Berserk Attack!
At 11 weeks old, your puppy is living out the “puppy-hood” lifestyle. And as such, you as the pack leader will set the tone for the rest of his life with you. And as this site is (or at least began as such) geared towards training GSDs for protection (the sport of Schutzhund) – I would say, “let me have him!!!”

As young puppies, evaluation them for what is called a high “prey drive” is vital information if you want to know that your dog has what it takes for that kind of work. And I love to see a young dog get “tuned in” like yours. BUT…

For a pet, if you are not going to work your dog in Schutzhund, then I would simply redirect his biting to a toy, or stop playing with him. So for example, if you are playing with him, and he gets into this “Berserk mode” – simply either give him a toy, and let his attention go to that, or stop the game entirely, and put him in his kennel. BUT this is NOT a timeout in the traditional sense. You are simply putting him away when you are not going to be with him. Plain and simple. A timeout would be a penalty for his behavior, but his behavior – while we don’t like it – is normal puppyhood stuff.

So just kennel him. And take him back out (to go potty) and then begin your training again.

Hope this helps!

Martin

Also maybe you could help me with a couple of other issues. The first is his potty training. I have him on a very tight scedual so accidents are few. He has let me know by going to the door when he has to poop and have had no accidents in that area but when he has to pee he gives absolutly no indication just stops what he’s doing, goes and then continues what he is doing. Is this typical at this age?

My other issue is sometimes when we are playing he will all of a sudden go beserk and start biting sometimes growling at me. I have been told to not use his bed (crate) for disipline and also it is o.k. for “time out”. Which is correct?

Thanks for your time
Susan

First thing I would do is shorten your walks. At 11 weeks old, even walking to the corner, along with plenty of play in your yard, is enough exercise for him. Especially with our GSDs, growing bones are susceptible to arthritis – and it’s recommended by the breeders of working line dogs I know that you “take it easy” with their walks at young ages.

As far as the dragging behind behavior goes, your the shorter walks will definitely help. It’s great that you are using lots of encouragement and praise – that’s perfect. Simply pull him along while he drags his feet. And when he does comply and walk by your side, PRAISE him with, “YES!” and “Good Fuss!” Read my article on “Marker Training for info on that. He’ll come around to the fact that his “pack leader” is not going to take no for an answer as far as his following along leashed. And as far as him pulling when he sees the house…well – patience is called for (and looks like you are showing) when you stop to not allow him to pull.

At 11 weeks, a leash correction is not warranted for this behavior. Just plain and simple leash training

Let us know how your boy improves!

Martin