Background - About 13 years ago I bought a 2 year old GSD. I was ignorant and got took. Hoppie was a very good dog but that was all he was. He had no working capabilities. He died a few years ago and I have been without a dog since.

Current - The wife and I had been discussing getting a pup but had wanted to wait till spring or at least till after Christmas to stay away from holiday breeders. We have 4 kids (8, 8, 13, 15) and live on 5 fenced acres.

Well about a week and half ago a friend comes by to pick up a motorcycle. He has a friend with him. The guy makes a comment about how he would love to have our property for his shepherds. My wife said my ears perked up like a dog. Long story short, this guy had 2 female pups, I did some research on the lines and now we have a pup.

The lines are all working titled except for the mother and father who should both have their SchH1 by spring. Of course the most notable in the line is the mother's sire, V Bastin vom Kokeltal which was mated to Xena vom Gralla See. As for the father, his sire is Arras Michaelus and the dam is Ajra Spis-Hrad with no information on her dam, her sire is 5CVQ1/P Tom z Pohranicnej straze CS. Did you follow all that?

I would love to have a full blown Shutzhund dog but the nearest training facility is over a hour and a half away and then that depends on Atlanta traffic. So almost if not all the training will be done from home.

Anyways, I don't want to screw Anka up. What we would like out of her is a companion dog for me and a protective dog for the property. We have never had any problems per se' just people crossing the property for what ever lame reason they can come up with.

The best scenario is for Anka to be cold to others. Just not care. Also, my wife has 2 yorkies and I would love for her to be neutral to other animals.

I also want her to have plenty of drive. She already hits a rope and just does not want to let go. I have used distractions to get her to release thus far.

So for the guidance. How much can a novice really do? How far is safe to go?

This is the order I am putting in on Tuesday, it's already in my basket, let me know if I need to add to or take away from.

How to raise a working pup
Your puppy 8 to 8
Building Drive & Focus
Orbee Ball Medium
2 Handle Mini Tug
Thin Puppy Tug
20' Training lead

I also see people using a lead with a cloth for the dog to chase. What are they using or what is it called?

Below is a picture of Anka (11 weeks), this was taken her 1st hour home. I am already impressed with her. She already knows that come 10 PM she is going for a walk and then to her crate. She has no problem with it. She is so very interested in what I am doing. My parents stopped by today and with my father in the yard she was more worried about what I was doing or where I was going than she was with the new person in the yard.

Thanks for the help.

Ron

I just want to say that you have a lovely sturdy-looking pup there. Wishing you guys all the best!

Ron,I want your yard too for my shepherds ...
Your pup looks very nice , she'll get darker as time goes by she was the same color when my female was a pup and now she is a black sable.My female also her dam and sire are the same color.How funny is that.I think from looking at the pedigree you can't go wrong with this pup, I'm happy to say it's nice that you got a pup with "A" "pedigree" a very nice one I might add.
Let her be a pup and don't be too heavy handed , good protection dogs are best growing up with lots of confidence and independence.Good reassurence is good too.It's been along week for me and I am out of juice for writing but you'll have tons of good advice coming from people who have raised PPd dogs .I have 3 shepherds, one trained for ppd work and other in Schutzhund, well one is very young (1 year) and they all are very protective of their family and our property but very confident.They know how to turn it on and off nicely.I wish you the same,good luck and keep in touch with your progress
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r77/cadogancna/

You might want to throw in some treats with your order, my pup loved and still loves these - he'll do anything for these:
http://www.leerburg.com/1078.htm - the tiny size is perfect for small pups
http://www.leerburg.com/869.htm#allerganic
You might want to read this article as well:
http://www.leerburg.com/pupbite.htm which references this DVD:
http://www.leerburg.com/108.htm
My pup also loved and loves this ball:
http://www.leerburg.com/730.htm He would take the end of the rope and shake the ball back and forth, hard, and the ball would smack his sides and he loved it! I got the 6" size. The ball's weight is such that it's momentum doesn't allow for rapid shaking, but methodical "wham, wham" into his sides, hard. He loves doing it deliberately.

Don't know what you feed your puppy, but there are some excellent supplements on the Leerburg site as well.

Ron, you also might want to read Ed's article http://www.leerburg.com/introducingdogs.htm just so you can avoid any problems down the road and make the transition for all your dogs easier.

Thanks for the information and compliments.

As for food she is on RMB with a slight veggie in there. Just a few days off kibble and on RMB you can see a difference.

I did read the article on introducing new dogs. Had a lot of good information. We are still sorting through this. Right now they are seperate.

I added the Romp-n-ball to the order and reading on the puppy bite training DVD.

Thanks again
Ron

Ron,
Is the nearest training facility the South Metro Atlanta Schuthund Club? Even if it is an hour and a half away from you, I would recomend visiting them. I believe Walace Payne trains there. While I don't live in Georgia, I have attended a seminar with Wallace and suggest at the very least checking them out.

Good Luck with your pup!
-Elliot

Elliot, that is the closest club. I have heard good things about Mr. Payne and at least want to visit as often as I can.

I plan to check them out but regular attendance would be a near impossibility. I have to drive through the heart of Atlanta. That hour and a half is with no traffic. Any construction, wrecks or hiccups and that travel becomes a minimum of 2 hours.

Ron

Hi Ron! Congratulations on your new pup!

In one of your posts you asked about a line with a "rag" on the end of it. What I have seen often that you might be referring to (and we use one here with pups in our training program) is a buggy whip with a "toy" on the end. I've seen leather bite rags, as well as a couple other things made of sturdy fabric on the end. It's effective for making very fast movements to stimulate the pups prey drive.

I "feel your pain" with the commute time issues getting to a good club. We had that problem too. Joliet is on the far southwest fringe of the Chicago metro area, and our trainer is near the WI border - about 2 hours each way, depending on traffic.

Since you have the land for it, you might have an option to do something like we did with Joliet Schutzhund. Our trainer comes to us - we formed our own training group. Since you're near Atlanta, there might be lots of other folks on your side of things that would be interested in something closer to home.

Of course that is only possible if you can structure a worthwhile plan to get a good teaching helper - assuming from the farther away club - to come to you. If you are interested in more info about how we put that together, I'd be happy to share more details. You can e-mail me at Training@JolietSchutzhund.com if you are interested.

Beth

Sorry to be so lengthy but I thought of something else I wanted to share.

A guy joined our training group several weeks ago with a Malinois (Grizzly) who is now around 1 year old if memory serves me right. Tim was in the same position as many of us on the southern Chicago fringes - couldn't find a good club to train with in a reasonable distance for him. He owns many of Ed's DVD's from the puppy oriented ones onward. He did an AWESOME job using the DVD's to get his dog started. Building Drive and Focus is a great one!

Tim is glad to now have a trainer who can help him one on one with specific questions and issues. BUT...I wanted to let you know that I have now seen FIRST HAND how truly possible it is to make great progress with the resources available here.

Beth