May 19, 2011

I want to train my 8 month old Rott in Schutzhund. Can I do this with your DVD's? If so, what ones do you recommend?

Full Question:
Hi, My name is Chuck. I have a 8 month old Rott. I was looking into having her and me trained for the sport of Schutzhund. I have taken her to a trainer. He says she would do good and should handle the training. I just don't feel he's a good trainer.

With that said, I have two questions.

First, can I train her using the DVDs?

Now to the a Problem I am having. I have two Toy poodles and I can not keep Treasure from going for them. She's not being mean just wants to play, but she's to big for them. I am ordering your beginners DVD tonight when I get home. I found out I have her partly trained. Been a long time. I use to be a K-9 officer, 10 yrs ago. Anything I can try till I get the DVD?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Chuck
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
Hi Chuck.

Good points and I give you credit for doing the research. There are more people out there that don’t know how to train in the sport than there are that do know how.

The answer to your question on the DVDs is this:

The handler needs to do ALL of the bite development himself - in prey drive - at home in his back yard. This means from the beginning to the time it is about 12 to 13 months old. If you do your work yourself then the dog will be prepared to meet a helper. Too many people let helpers do the training on their dogs - A BIG MISTAKE!!!

So, if your dog has prey drive and good nerves - my DVD's will most definitely get you to the point of introducing your dog to the helper. When you reach that point you will need help - either this guy you talk about - if he will listen (and a lot won't) or you need to train someone. By that time I will have more DVDs to show what to do.

There are 2 training videos I recommend people get to start the protection training process.

Training Drive, Focus and Grip

Preparing Your Dog for the Helper

I produced both tapes based on the training of Bernhard Flinks. He is a German police K9 handler and top Schutzhund competitor.

The beauty of this training program is the handler does all of the foundation work in protection training himself. With young dogs this can start at 8 weeks and go to about 12 to 13 months of age. Older dogs receive the exact same training as young dogs they just proceed through the program quicker. These videos teach handlers how to do prey drive work with their own dog through drive exercises. Dogs learn the foundation of the exercises that they will need to know when they meet the helper for the first time. I compare this to a father teaching a child karate. He is not really fighting with his children, he is teaching them the moves to use in a fight.

I recommend starting with "Training DRIVE, FOCUS and GRIP" It is one of my best training videos. It's the first is a series of tapes done with Bernard. It is the foundation of Bernard's training program It teaches handlers how to build a relationship of trust and understanding with the dog. Bernard is the only instructor I have ever seen that places so much emphasis on building a bond between the handler and dog.

The Drive and Focus video teaches you how to build drive in your dog. Every dog inherits a genetic level of drive, this varies from dog to dog. The training in this tape shows how to bring your dog up to its own genetic level of drive. The tape then teaches the dog to show self control while in drive. If you think of it when a dog shows self control when he is in drive this is in effect working under extreme distraction and that's the foundation of obedience training.

Every dog MUST learn to control it's drive if it is to become a competitive Schutzhund dog or a Police Service dog or a Personal Protection dog or a Competition Obedience dog. The later videos in this series will train the dog that heeling, sit, down and come are drive commands and not compulsion commands.

Through this training we show how to work at building a calm solid grip from day one. A solid grip shows a clear mind. We teach the dog to be comfortable in maintaining the calm grip in the presence of the handler. If a dog can't have a solid grip in the presence of his handler he has a problem with the handler. We show how to address this issue. We also teach the dog in the first steps of the OUT command.

It takes 3 to 5 weeks to work through the training in this video. When the dog has finished this work he is ready to move into the training in the second video, "Preparing Your Dog for the Helper."

There will be a continuing series of about 10 tapes with Bernhard - they will walk you through the process. These videos have all been filmed it's just a matter of getting them edited. The next release will take up where these videos leave off.

The announcement of new videos being released is always done on the table of contents of my web site at http://leerburg.com/table.htm.

The cat issue is also a simple issue. Get a DOGTRA 1700NCP - this is what I use every day. I am training two 6 month old pups right now - high prey drive pups. I use the collar on LOW LEVEL NICK and the issue is done RIGHT NOW!!

The key is to set the dog up properly for the collar Take 1 week or 2 and put the collar on and take it off 4 to 6 times a day - rotate collars - prong, flat, electric - So the act of putting the collar on means nothing. We do not want the collar going on to be the TRIGGER to mind. Just sticking a collar on for two weeks is old school training.

Check my equipment page and you can read about the Dogtra. I like it better than Innotek and Tri-Tronics and I sell them all.

Good luck

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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