Can you tell us how to pick a good Schutzhund club? We have several to choose from.

Not a lot of people are lucky enough to have more than one club to choose from. If you live in an area where you can choose it makes it a lot nicer. Selecting a schutzhund club is something that should involve some serious consideration. It’s like picking a girlfriend or boyfriend.

Clubs are like people, they have personalities. The best thing to do is visit a club for 3 or 4 training sessions. Go and watch a trial to see how the club dogs perform. You do not need to bother people by asking a lot of questions. Just go and observe. A lot of times a quiet mouse in the corner learns a lot more.

Most schutzhund clubs are not commercial businesses. Keep in mind that people who are in a club are there because they enjoy training their dog. They are not there because they want to educate new people. So if a new person is constantly interrupting and demanding time, they can quickly become a pain in the butt and not welcome.

If the personality of the club fits, then look at the quality of the helpers. This can be difficult for people who are new to the sport. I don't have a good solution to this problem, other than get some training tapes and start to learn at home. Maybe look at The First Steps of Bite Training or the tape titled Training the New Helper. These are going to give you some ideas of good and bad helpers.

Watching the people handle their own dogs is also going to tell you a lot about the experience level of the trainers. I prefer to watch a person work a dog rather than listen to someone. Talk is cheap and everyone who has been in this sport for a year is an expert.