I came to this site about six months ago with the intention on getting information about GSD's. At the time I was as "green" as they come (still very very rare to say the least), but the amount of info and depth of knowledge here is amazing?!?!? It is at times mind blowing?

I am sort of a perfectionist at wat I do in school and work, so I don't like to mess up of take a wrong turn. The more I read here and the more books I read the more I feel "lost" in dog handling and training.

Most of all about choosing a breeder and dog?!?!? I'm getting to the point where I am ready to get my new best friend and I feel more lost than when I came here? Ignorance is bliss I guess???

Anybody else here feel the same way???

I'm trying not to make the "rookie" mistakes when purchasing a pup, and even more worried about training mistakes when I have him/her??? I don't want a world champ working dog, just a working line dog that he/she can do some sport and obedience to bond and have fun with my new pal??

So again, anybody else here feel same way??

Thanks for he input??

Adam

Well, I can understand how you feel, I have a similar "personality". Yes, this site was mind-blowing when I first found it. I could read for hours and get so into it, that I couldn't remember what I read the hour earlier. I knew I had read it somewhere but couldn't locate it again or remember the word or ways to train it, or the exact reasons why it worked so well.
I guess an encouraging note is that dogs are forgiving and if you mess up, which you will since it's your first dog you really want to train right (everyone makes mistakes), you can always retrain and back up a few steps to fill in the gaps. Yes you want to avoid this and do it right the first time, but think of it as a victory to even find the gaps. Some people have dogs and train for years and never even see the gapping holes in their method, bond, or reasons.

I like to sit and analyze my dog's training and think about how to teach something correctly, or how to fix something I messed up on. I write it down in a training journal with all kinds of factors noted to reflect on later or notice a pattern I need to break. It helps to do this also so you can keep your dog challenged and make sure she is ready for the next step in training or maybe needs a little more work in an area before progressing.

It also helps you to memorize techniques & methods so you can remember on the field or when asking another dog person. I hate it when my mind goes blank and I cannot remember a term or a command describing a future trait I may need for training my dog. I feel like an idiot trying to describe the behavior to someone else. They look at me like, "sure, you know what your doing..." lol. I guess, you could say it makes for better conversation when you can hang with the "big dogs" and actually understand what they are talking about and not forget all you hear. My memory is bad sometimes.

One more encouraging note: Like Ed says, "Dog training isn't rocket science. It's only common sense." This helps keep it in perspective.

 Quote: adam dorn

The more I read here and the more books I read the more I feel "lost" in dog handling and training.

I think a lot of people feel this way when first starting out. I know I did.

Yeah. Good thing they are forgiving?? I work with my G.F's lab all of my spare time and she is a really "good" pup ascompared to some that I've seen. And not to float my own boat, but people always comment on how well she behaves and how willing she is to perform her tasks (although they are easy right now). She always tries to do what she is shown or persuaded to do??

When I see other dogs on these wbsites I just feel as if there is som secret to getting to the next level so I just keep searching, and reading everything I can get my hands on??

Buddy of mine is a really good amature trainer, but he is really breed specific (Fila's) and I really don't like the drive or demenor of these dogs (their natural tendancies). I have him watch me and after tell me what I am doing wrong because it is easier for him to see looing from theoutside in

. He has a really skewed view of Schutzhund and other dog sports so I don't even talk about them with him?


Thanks for the info guys??

Adam

Well I screwed upped twice in getting the dog I wanted, by the time I got to dog three and dog four I became very confident in my ability to Obedience train and train for agility and cute tricks I also learned a ton about reading dogs, particularly stress nerves, and drives. I learned that good breeding damn near manditory if you expect to get a dog to do anything for you. I got my last two thru the club I belonged to. I got to see and feel the bitch and stud upclose and watch them work and hold the actual pedigree in my had insuring that both bitch and stud had nothing but working and sport lines in it. So expect to screw up. If it were easy they'd have Illeagals and third worlders doing for minimum wage. Of course I have TONS more I have to learn but its all about the journey not the destination for me. good luck and good hunting

I feel that way nearly every day

Seriously, having this pup (also a Lab) feels a lot like when I brought my baby home. I read everything I could find before, had all the "right" things at home ready, then bam...baby is home and I'm trying to keep my head above water, trying to not make any mistakes, and feeling many days like an ignorant failure. Nothing ever goes "by the book" and it seems my dog, like my baby before, always comes up with a new challenge. I know for me, trying to be the perfect dog owner/trainer, like trying to be the perfect mother, is a recipe for utter frustration and failure.

When I found out I couldn't have a GSD I researched Lab bloodlines for almost a year. I looked at probably at a hundred breeders, talked to everyone I knew, and was very careful before I finally decided on the kennel and the sire & dam that I wanted. I did all the homework, was as diligent as a person can be, everything checked out and I did get an amazingly intelligent, beautiful pup...with hip dysplasia.

With training it's a work in progress. The things I thought would be easy to teach have been difficult. Behaviors I never anticipated have come up and I'm struggling to deal with them. And most of the stuff I thought would be impossible to train has been a snap.

You do the best you can and you ask questions...a lot of questions...LOL Somehow you just muddle your way through it, finding out what works best for you and your dog. Most of what I've learned here has worked...not always as smoothly as I would like, not always text book perfectly, but we're moving in the right direction.

Hope this is of some help.

And sometimes serendipity occurs and you make a discovery that you can exploit, every dog is different so no magic formula that fits all dogs

It can definitely feel overwhelming. Take a deep breath and look at things like this:

Look at dogs & bitches that have a proven record of production. If you're deciding between litters sired by different dogs, all of which have actually produced a number of good working dogs, then how bad of a puppy are you going to end up with?

Train the best you can. Get to know some 'good' trainers, personally, and learn what they do and don't do in their training. We all screw our dogs up, I just hope I don't scew up my next dog as much as I've screwed up my current one (or at least not screwed it up in the same manner). Watch and see if the dog's are actually learning the behavior by command, or are they learning something in a pattern associated with a particular scenario.

There are no guarantees, but stack the deck in your favor. The best way to learn about training dogs is to actually train a dog, so you can't be so affraid of screwing up that you stall taking that step. Also, don't get yourself so engrossed in pedigree research that you have a disconnect about what the puppy you get is & what you think it should be based on what its ancestors were (especially when most people have absolutely no idea what their dog's acestors actually were since they've never had the chance to personally meet those dogs).

Hopefully this helps & just doesn't add to the confusion.

Adam,
AMEN bud, yes this site is very overwhelming and these folks out here know thier stuff for sure. I am on my second GSD dog and still learning new things every day, make many mistakes and hey you know what, my dog forgives me and moves on. I live here in Texas and my Max is a little over a year old working in SCH and really more of a pet but still a sports dog as well. A few weeks ago I took him to the largest flea market here in Texas and it is very big, we walked and spent a few days going through this flea market. I know that he is at least on the right path, he was surronded by people all day long, he walked at my wife and my side through crowds and crowds of people, never really paying much attention to them but in the middle of lots and lots of folks. Can not even begin to tell you the number of folks who paid my wife and I complements on how well our Max acted at 1 year of age. I also can not tell you how many folks told my wife and I that they had a large breed dog that they could never walk amoung all the folks there. Guess what I am trying to say is have I made errors with Max, yes, can many other people tell not really. So be patient with you new pup once you get them, do not force most things on them but the recall and work each and every day. You will be amazed at how well you can train and Ed does say it correct it is not Rocket Science but it takes you doing and reading and doing and doing before you will get things correct. Expect to make erros but also expect to make progess.
Thx,
Jay

I wasn't a total "newb" before coming here (well, in comparison to some people on this board I was/am, but I did know some stuff)...and the amount of information I've absorbed has been pretty mindblowing (in a wonderful way).

I started out with my vizsla/golden retriever mix when I was 8, and taught myself how to train through trial and error (which is very easy with Digger, I felt like he was reading my mind). My next dog was a basenji, and holy hell that dog was NOT easy. He didn't give a crap about praise, he was the king of food refusal (even from me), and he didn't play with toys. That's when it dawned on me - each dog needs a slightly different approach. Digger had been a flexible learner, and now I had to be a flexible teacher. That was the most important thing for me to learn - it doesn't matter how good your method is, if you can only train one kind of learner, it's not going to last you very long.

After my parents got rid of my basenji (long story, and I was only 12), I spent every waking moment reading dog training books for years and years, and eventually, I ended up here. I feel pretty prepared for my next dog (a rhodesian ridgeback, only 2 weeks away!). So, if you're lost at first, keep wading through it all because it's worth it.