Hi all,
I am looking for some advice regarding our GSD and an upcoming Flinks seminar my husband and the dog are scheduled to attend. First of all let me say that we are new to the sport of schutzhund and relatively new to the GSD breed. Since the purchase of our first GSD in 2000 we have become devout enthusiasts of the breed. Our boys, aged 12 and 15 show and train in 4-H and we have most recently begun participating in the AKC shows as well. We have a beautiful black male from mostly west german/east german and some american lines that my husband is hoping to take to the Bernard Flinks seminar in may. The problem we are having is that "Coal" was never raised to play tug or build drive. He is almost 2 yrs old now. In fact we followed all the accepted etiquette to discourage his drive so that we would discourage any potential dominance probs. We are currently watching and using the techniques on the "building Drive and Focus" Dvd. At first Coal showed no interst in the orbee ball at all. However, after several sessions he was finally focusing on the ball and wanting to go after it. He does quickly drop the ball, however, instead of holding it. We also tried working him with another GSD we have that is our sons obedience dog. She is "Ball crazy" and loves to play. This seems to help also. My question is this: My husband will be a handler for Bernard all three days of the seminar. Mostly he wants to learn proper technique for training and someday we hope to be able to compete in the sport( we also have a nice DDR pup that we are raising to be a working puppy, just now 8 wks). We will keep working with Coal according to the dvd instructions but if we can't get his drive up would my husband be better off taking our "ball crazy" dog to the seminar instead? I am sorry to make this so long and thank you for any advice you may be able to provide for us and Coal.
Laverne

The dog you take is up to you? I think I would take the one that I had the most to learn from. May I suggest teasing the dog with the drive problem for a week or so by not letting him have it but showing it to him (in his kenell with you outside) to help build a desire. After this time period put him on a tie out and run the toy past him or away from him but never at him. If he makes any move toward it praise the heck out of him, even if he only looks at it. Be prepared to sound like a dork because it's what some dogs need: however only you probably know what level of praise your dog needs for encouragement.

Mike Reese

Thanks Mike, for your suggestions. I will certainly give them a try. Coal is my husbands pride and joy so of course that would be his dog of choice. We still have time to work with him and he is so very intelligent and eager to please. Also it is funny to see how he brightens up at the sight of the tug when before he would have ignored it. But you are also right in that my husband should take the dog that he can learn the most with.
Just don't want to look like a fool if everyone else has big impressive pedigreed DDR dogs, LOL!
Well thanks again. I will post and let everyone know how it goes. I am sure there are others with similar probs in starting their dogs.
Laverne

Hi all,
Wanted to give you an update on Coal. We have purchased a horse whip and attached the orbee ball to the end. Wow! Coal loves it! He begs to play now and I have even caught him sneaking into the closet where we keep the training equipment to get the orbee ball! When we just show him the ball, the whip or a tug he now gets very excited. I don't think he will ever be an off the wall crazy drive kinda dog but the change in him has been nothing short of dramatic. So to anyone who hasn't tried the ball on a pole method....your dog will love it!!! Thanks for your advice and encouragement.
Coal is heading to the Flinks seminar
Laverne

let us know how that goes for you three. learn lots!