vikingdobermans.com Blog

Back in the saddle again

Back to reality and training and tracking in the rain and….

Saturday dawned wet and rainy and I thought long and hard about getting my butt in gear and heading to training early.  I wanted to track with Butch so I could get some insights on what we were doing on the track and what we should do and in general, get directions.  Obviously my track last week during the Schutzhund trial told me I needed help!  So I pulled my sorry a_ _ outta  bed and gathered Charlie and our gear and headed to Rosaryville. 

Just as I was getting ready to lay my track a woman from the Hyattsville Dog Training Club stopped and told me there was going to be an AKC tracking trial Sunday at Rosaryville.  Bummer for those of us who had planned to track at Rosaryville, but we had to honor their need for untracked fields, so we were off looking for another place to track. 

There was a group of us and when we resettled at a different place, we each staked out an area for our track and once I finished I waited for Butch to come back from laying his track so Charlie and I could show Butch how we were doing and get his advice on the track, the handling, …. but it was not to be.   Butch didn’t find a place to track where we were, so he went to a different field and I went ahead and ran the track with Charlie myself.  Not what I’d planned, but Butch is getting ready for a trial and he needed to get his dog tracked while the conditions were good.

We went to the DC Club field for our Obedience and Protection and I was a tad late getting there… I met Tori, Mike and the boys at Rosaryville first and then we all went to the DC Club.  It is always great to see Tori, Mike and the boys and right now, with Tori going through the FBI Academy, their sightings are few and far between.  With luck we will see them again at our Club Trial in two weeks.  Another delight was seeing Snipes, Tori’s 10 year old bitch who looks like she is going on 5!   I love that dog.  And, of course, Frodo, who at 7 months is growing up, but is still enough puppy to play like a silly boy with Charlie and Zelda.  When he gets a tad bigger and older, he and Charlie won’t be able to play, but for now they are both silly boys.  Frodo looks like he will grow into a big dog, with lots of substance and bone and a wonderful, social temperment.  Can’t wait to see him when he begins to get serious!

Obedience was just a tad of heeling, retrieves and a go out.  All were fine.  I plan to work on Charlie’s retrieves over the jump and wall to proof him and reinforce–over and back, not over and around….

Protection was a quick bite and slip and sending Charlie straight into the blind for the bark and hold.  Butch told me to call him out of the blind with a heir, fuse…  something we had never done…ever.  I gave him a strong heir, fuse command and I’ll be darned if he didn’t come and go straight to the proper heel position.  After the escape bite, Butch said, ok, now for the back transport (again, something we have never done)….  and again, Charlie did pretty darn good for the first time.  I was happy and we called it a day.  On to our II.

Charlie earns his Schutzhund I

Ch. Viking’s Charlie Brown, VPG I, ROM, CD, TT, ZTP1A, CGC
      On Saturday, November 1, 2008 at the WAG Trial in Waldorf, MD under Lisa Little, my boy, Charlie Brown, earned his Schutzhund I with 72, 92, 96a and High Protection in Trial.      In terms of tracking, the score tells it all—a squeaker.  I left Charlie’s tracking articles behind and had to borrow two at the last minute.  Thank goodness it didn’t seem to faze him.  He did the first leg and turn and second leg to the article ok.  He jumped up after the article on the second leg and was too fast, got confused, ate deer poop and thank goodness refocused and kept trying.  It was a struggle, but he never quit trying and if his mother had been more trusting, it might have been less stressful.  33 feet behind your dog is one lonely place to be when you dog is having a hard time and you can’t do anything but hope he works it out before it is too late, or he is too confused or…. But Charlie, if nothing else, was willing to keep working and he found the final turn and made it to the last article and went down.  Charlie and I need LOTS of work, but I learned more about tracking, trusting your dog and the importance of reading your dog!!!!! in this one trial than the entire time I had been working with Charlie on tracking. 

     Thank you Sue Maturo for taking the time to teach me trial day line handling and making sure I had it drilled in my head what was allowed and what was not.  I never touched the line anywhere but at the handle after Charlie began, except at the article.  I stood in the right place and did the right things because of the Sue’s late night calls asking me to recite the do’s and don’t! 

     I knew Tracking was the area we were most in jeopardy and figured if I passed tracking, I’d relax… nope, nada, not to be….  My nerves were just as raw for Obedience, in fact, so much that Charlie, who is usually very animated in obedience, was flat.  He did it and his heeling position was correct, but not with his usual, let’s rock and roll attitude.  One or two crooked sits and finishes and a slow sit were his worse faults until the wall.  I threw the dumbbell and it rolled left.  I should have left it there.  We never do a re-throw in training since I want him to learn to come back over the wall from any direction…. But, when offered a re-throw, I took it and the darn dumbbell rolled to the right—ugh.  Charlie is a right-pawed type guy and he always turns to the right.  Had I left the dumbbell when it rolled left, well, who knows if he would have picked it up, turned right and been perfectly set-up for coming back over the jump…who knows.  He went over the jump, turned right, picked up the dumbbell, stared at the judge and came directly to me.  Subtract five points.  His go out was fast and his down on the first command was impressive.  I was pretty happy—92. 

     By the time it was our turn for Protection, my stomach was in my throat.  This trial was my first time trialing in the sport of Schutzhund and a green dog with a green handler, well paint me GREEN… my stomach was in turmoil. I took Charlie to the area for the next dog going on the field and put him in a down.  We waited for the dog leaving the field to exit and Charlie was so up, he started barking to release some of his excitement.  I took his leash off when we entered the field and he heeled to the center (and trust me, his animation level was HIGH). 

     When I sent him around the number five blind, I was sure to give him a strong command and to keep my hand out to guide him forward.  He flew around the blind and blew by me with my command to “revere”.  As he rounded the corner of the hot blind, he erupted in loud, forceful barking.  I dutifully waited for Lisa Little to signal me to come and went straight to the spot she indicated, Charlie barking and Jurgen Winkler, the helper, doing a fantastic job of keeping him engaged.

     On the escape bite, I had a bit of trouble getting Charlie lined up the way I wanted. He was locked and loaded and I just wanted to control him.  He wasn’t positioned well, but again, Jurgen’s safe helper work allowed Charlie to do the job convincingly. 

     The long bite-courage test—was the last big test of the routine for us and I heeled him down the field, turned and held his collar.  I hate to keep saying it, but Jurgen’s helper worked allowed Charlie to dazzle and shine and his final bite and bark and hold were really good.

     Transport to the judge—leash on and complete!  96a and HIGH PROTECTION IN TRIAL!

     I won’t even bother to tell you how I felt and still feel!  If you’ve done it yourself, you know.  If you have not, but plan to—savor the moment—it is wonderful. 

     Some insights and thanks:

     First, this is a sport that takes a village.  Like raising a child, it is not an easy thing to do, it takes time and dedication and PATIENCE and lots of help.  It is three very difficult phases and the time and effort are huge (and I’ve just gotten my Sch I—the II and III will be even more work and time).  Days in the rain, the wind, the cold, the heat, but don’t be fooled, it is done with friends, training partners, helpers, training directors…

     HUGE THANKS TO Butch Henderson for believing in us and for accepting our goals, my priorities (Charlie’s breed championship held us back on tracking and protection) and on our lack of knowledge.  Without Butch as my training director I don’t think we would be where we are now.

     Thanks to Sue Maturo, my buddy, my mentor and my teacher for her belief, her insights, her time and her efforts on our behalf.

     Thanks to Jurgen Winkler and Jennifer for opening their club and their training field to me and for working so very diligently with me and Charlie to help us fix what we still needed help with before the trial and for making sure we knew what to do, how to do it and for truly making the experience positive for both of us! 

     A special thank you to Lisa Little.  Trialing is stressful under the best of circumstances.  Lisa’s desire to see us succeed and to enjoy the experience was awesome.  Lisa went out of her way to be sure Charlie and I were a team and that this, our first every Schutzhund trial as competitors, was a GREAT experience.         

     Thank you all and to those I didn’t mention and you know who you are…. Thank you…. We took two days to bask in the warmth… now to work on our tracking, learn new routines for the II and enjoy ourselves, enjoy the sport, enjoy our training friends and continue to rock and roll!

Whooo hoooooo Charlie ‘da man’ Brown, VPG1

CHARLIE IS NOW “OFFICIALLY” A DOG TITLED IN SCHUTZHUND!

Yesterday we competed at the WAG trial for our Schutzhund I….

Green dog, Novice handler/trainer/breeder

It was a GREAT experience and I’ll take the time to write it up proper

but for now I want the world to know–Charlie Brown got his Schutzhund I title and he went High Protection.  I’m so proud of my man.

72-92-96a High Protection (story to follow in a day or two )

 Lots of individuals helped us get this far and again, later I will write more on that, but for now

A huge thank you to Butch Henderson, our training director for believing in us and for giving generously of his time and knowledge.  Sue Maturo, my friend who got me started in Schutzhund and has been my friend, my mentor, my cheerleader…you get the picture.  Jurgen Winkler and Jennifer for inviting me to their club for training sessions and again, to Jurgen for working with me and Charlie for the last two weeks to help us get ready. Kristina for giving up her bed on more than one occasion to allow Zelda and Charlie Brown to sleep with me while her own dogs were put up and she slept in the guest room (no dogs allowed in order to keep the dog dander out of the room because her parents are allergic)… and finally a very hearty thank you to Lisa Little, our judge.  Her helpful comments, her wit, her ability to put me at ease and her true appreciation for the dogs, the competitors and for the sport were appreciated and are an inspiration.

Thanks to all and a longer, more entertaining missive will follow soon.