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Indras Day

/ Sturmfalken / 6 Comments
Since I couldn’t work Indra during the week I simply sucked up the pain and went to the Schutzhund training. Since my helper quits in a couple of weeks I went to the new helper, even though I am not sure if we will continue to go there. There are a couple of things I don’t agree with. I asked him to come out to my current club so he can see how Yukon is worked currently. Especially with a dog like him the helper should know what is going on so we can go from there but he said he wouldn’t do that and I am not sure if I like that. He’s a good helper, but his method definitely doesn’t work for my male.

I also told him that Indra was never worked with the whip before. It did confuse her a little in the beginning but overall she’s not doing the worst job. She’s actually doing pretty good. But I would like to have her build more security before anyone is doing anything to build her drive. She’s got drive enough and is not even six months old.

Maybe it’s me, it’s got to be me. I am very insecure when it comes up to Schutzdienst and helpers, especially since that is something where I am not as experienced as in socializing and rehabilitating dogs. That’s something I am good at but Schutzdienst (protection training) is very new to me, well not Schutzdienst itself. My parents used to be very successful at Schutzhund. What is new to me is training a dog in Schutzhund myself and I am somewhat like a greenhorn so I am insecure and don’t trust helpers easily, which is probably a good thing because you don’t want a bad helper mess with your dogs. Bad things can happen and I’ve seen it first hand how dogs get messed up.

To be honest, I am not even sure if I should continue with Schutzhund at all. It’s a good way to train them and that is what GSD’s are so called “made for” but I don’t know if I really want it for my dogs. I am debating whether I keep doing it or completely quit with Schutzhund and do Tracking, Obedience and Agility instead. There are so many other disciplines that won’t mess with your dogs like Schutzhund does.

The Dog Handler

I don’t need no Gym!

/ Sturmfalken / 3 Comments
This is my workout and I really need no gym.
The dogs keep me active and healthy and just because I am a big girl doesn’t mean that I can’t run and compete. I may not look as graceful as the skinny girls but I love the training and it’s definitely worth it and paying off. However, that doesn’t mean that I feel comfortable with my weight and the way things go. I simply prefer the dog club over any gym out there!

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Yukon and me made some huge progress

/ Sturmfalken
Even though it was pouring down I went to the training. It’s crucial that dogs learn to work under different circumstances and a little rain won’t kill us.
However, one of the girls took pictures and you can see that we’ve made some huge progress. I know that we could probably be a lot better already but since he first had to learn how to play, all the socialization, and tons of other work in between, I am taking it slow. We have all the time in the world and taking it slower is sometimes better. Especially in Yukons case.

Anyhow, check this out. That picture was taken last summer which was almost a year ago.

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And this one was taken today. As you can see Yukon has a much better focus on me and the way I am holding my body has changed completely. We both are much more confident in ourselves. I am literally taking Babysteps.

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Big difference, huh?

Anyhow, here are some more pics from todays training session.

Good boy! It is very important that they get a reward when they have done a good job. Besides the clicker and the treats I use a rope to reward him. Sometimes a big ball that he can’t swallow. There’s been to many horror stories about dogs that swallowed their ball and passed painfully away.

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Running
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Nice headshot of Zenzy

/ Sturmfalken
For people that don’t know about it. When she was a puppy, just a couple of weeks old, she had a bad infection. She lost her nose partially due to the infection. I was asked a couple of times if she was fighting another dog and if it was bit off…No! It wasn’t bit off, it was an infection. 😉

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