Ok, Elea is now 9 months old and I've tried training her. The obedience is coming however....I'm stuck. The closest schutzhund club is about 2 hours away, no prolbem, I'd drive it, however, I can't get any response from the club people for info. I call, get no return calls. I've never talked to anyone.lol Ok, so we switch to maybe trying ob showing, email the "new" upstate gsd club, no response, go to their show, see the ugliest gsd I've ever seen. Maybe ugliest is harsh, not really ugly but the behavior bothered me. Shouldn't a show dog (3 years old) be able to walk thru a crowd without freaking out? Any way, back to the response factor, no response from this club either. Is this normal when trying to find a club to train with? I'm really at the point where I need help training and no where to turn unless I take her back to the Ob puppy classes. I know I'm screwing up her training left and right and every time I try to fix it on my own I think I"m screwing up something new. lol I've got Ed's tapes but quite frankly, I"m so green it's probably really doing more harm then good.
Example, when I got her she wouldn't retrieve (5 months). Finally got her retrieving using food treats, now she runs like a bullet after the object runs back to me, drops the ball about 3 feet from me and sits infront like a trooper. Now how do I break this dropping the ball? She totally focused on getting the treats. It's like she's missing the middle part of the exercise.
Any suggestions on how to find a club or even a trainer? I've asked the vet, he recommended the puppy ob classes, Ive asked other gsd people that I've seen in like pet smart and they said the upstate club (which didn't answer). At the show I went to I was told even if I got a response from the schutzhund club they wouldn't train or help me since Elea is show lines.
I'm in South Carolina, so anyone knowing any good reliable trainers would be great.
At this point I'd like someone to evaluate Elea to see if she has what it takes to do schutzhund or if at this point I've screwed her up too bad for anything.
Thanks all.
Bev

Bev, I live in Georgia - feel free to PM me about clubs that might work out for you.