DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Posted by: David Harris

Story by: Jerol Skinner

Video by: Travis Pettit
Saturday the 16th in Little Rock proved to be a wet but wonderful day.  The forecast was for rain but when we arrived at 6:30 am to report for tracking, the sky was holding back.  Excitement was in the air and the dogs were in a heightened state.  I finished laying my track at 7:20 am and at 7:40 am Boy and I were on the scent pad.  I have to say I was nervous.  “If he finds articles we’ll be all right”, is all I could think.  Four weeks earlier I had injured my ankle and seriously thought I might not be able to show.  Come trial time I was physically ready but I doubted the training up to the trial.  During that time I wasn’t able to track Boy like I had planned.  Five tracks in four weeks doesn’t make a Schutzhund dog.  So, I was positive the dog could find the articles and indicate as he should but I wasn’t sure how the rest of the track would go.  Two articles, two bad corners, and one leg walked with his nose 12 inches off the ground later we had our 83 and were off to the obedience phase.

I’m fortunate to have a dog that comes out-of-the-box ready to go.  Hurts me in tracking a bit but suits him well for obedience.  The approach to the field took teams through a gauntlet of vehicles and people.  I was a bit concerned, but as we moved through the crowd I could see my dog had not taken his eyes from me, assuring me he was in a good frame of mind.  We paused at the edge of the field, put the leash away, and took the field to report in.  After reporting to the judge we were the first team to do the long down stay.  As I moved to the designated long down the sky opened.  Rain began to fall just enough to make my dog stare at me like I was a terrible person for keeping him there.  Down he went and down he stayed.  When it was our turn he was ready.  Heeling was acceptable,  group was solid, motion exercises were nice, recall was fast but the finish was a bit off. Retrieve on the flat was fast, retrieve over the jump was clean, but retrieve over the wall didn’t have a return over the wall.  Send out was fast with a hesitation on the down but he did down.  It cost us as we set up for the retrieves over the obstacles, resulting in a loss of points.  A few points in the healing combined with the slow down on the send away left us with a 87.  Hey, we were on to the protection phase!

Protection has truly been the least worked phase in this dog’s training.  My training partner and I tried a little different approach with this dog.  We decided to work guard and have faith that the obedience training would underlie all, therefore making obedience in protection clear for the dog.  90% of this dog’s training has been table-to-blind away from the field.  We wanted a strong bark and focus on the man in all guarding elements. I’m not saying that how we got to this point is the best approach for all dogs, but it worked great with this dog.  It can be a problem in a dog like this if he is worked in protection obedience too often.  So, we put the call outs and side transport on this dog in four sessions.  I’m not satisfied with the dog’s side transport but it was nice enough for twenty five paces.  The call out for the Sch1 is a simple heel out of the blind in which he did fine. I was very pleased.  The call out was nice, the escape was fast and he outed.  The re-attack came quick and Boy answered.  The drive was nice and he outed again.  Obedience must underlie all that we do in Schutzhund.  This control is what makes the sport.  Part of this dog’s foundation work has always been for the dog to look at me - an elementary function that makes or breaks teams.  If I tell him to sit, come, fus, platz, etc… he knows he must look at me.  It was key in developing this dog’s protection work.  As I moved to the dog’s side, I gave him the sit command and he immediately stopped barking, sat, and looked at me.  When he does this I know I have him in obedience.  This is Helmut Raiser 101.  All in all it was a nice routine.  I double commanded him which I may have gotten away with not doing but I felt I needed to for the dog’s later training.  This probably cost us a V-rated protection routine but I was still thrilled to have the 95. 

If anyone has the chance to show under Lisa Little, DVG, I recommend doing it.  She was very consistent and her critiques were to-the-point and dead-on.

So, we ended a cold, rainy day with a score of 265 out of a possible 300 and in good shape to move on for our VPG 2. 

I owe a lot to my Tulsa club brethren (Travis, Nick, Mike, Clay), Nathan Frazier, John Roboni, and Dean Calderon.  Every one of these people have helped me with this dog.  I know no dog is trained alone so my appreciation of their time and effort is deeply felt.  

To view video of the Protection Phase of Jerol’s and Boy’s Schutzhund 1 trial adventure CLICK HERE.

Please feel free to ask questions or make comments.  Schutzhund is a sport where no man or woman stands alone.  It takes support and a team of players to take a puppy to a Schutzhund title.  It is a challenge that requires a lot of effort and sacrifice.  But, the relationships built, the enjoyment of good friends and good times shared and the end results far outweigh the effort involved.

Jerol Skinner