Well, I just spent two hours at the Tom Rose Kennel to see what they thought about my pup. I know some of you respect his ability so I wanted to let you know what he said. He had me come into one of their "Dog Trainer" classes so everyone looked him over. They tested him quite a while on prey drive, etc.

At the end Tom Rose told me he was very impressed with my pup's potential for Schutzhund, as did a couple of other teachers there and some of his students. They also liked his structure a lot.

I told him that I needed as much training in Schutzhund as did my pup - so we have worked out a training schedule. He is going to teach both the dog and me as we go along so that I will be the owner-handler. We will start on obedience and they want to also get us started in tracking.

I know that it is to his financial interest to say these things, but the expression on some faces and other comments made me think they were being truthful. They are going to loan me several tapes, give me some books and off we go. I will have weekly sessions with the dog at his facility and then practice daily at home.

It's been a long time since I have been this excited!!

Doyle

i know tom pretty well.
if he's impressed by your pup, it's genuine. he has been around long enough, and he has seen a lot of dogs that aren't quite able to do the work.
he's fairly straight forward about what he sees and what he thinks your and your dog's abilities are. if he didn't think your dog could do the work, or if he thought it would be barely passable, he'd most likely say so.
he's an educator and he likes to see his students learn and do well.

Tom has some great books out. If you feel comfortable the go ahead with the training if at some stage you dont feel right speak up.... to them or everyone here. Your dog comes from a working bloodline? Have fun with learning with your dog. :-)

I'm in the St. Louis area and first heard of Tom Rose over 20 yrs ago. It's always been positive comments.