I know this is a bit off topic, but I will be attending my first Sch training session this Sunday, and am wondering what I should be watching for in regards to determining if the club is a good place to drop anchor. Other than this board, and Ed's tapes, I have virtually no experience with trainng for Sch, so any info is good info.

By the way, the club is OG Buckeye, in Norton, OH. Anyone here a member?

Thanks in advance for any info
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I posted a reply to a similar question a board member asked awhile back. Feeling particularly lazy today (Friday), so if you don't mind I will repeat myself here:

Dean Calderon advises that people watch the training director's interaction with his/her club members. If the TD's attitude is one of "my way or the highway," it's probably not a good sign. I think this is excellent advice.

Ed Frawley has written recently about TDs who seem to get off on screaming at, belittling, and embarrassing their club members. Another very bad sign. This is no way to learn a sport as complicated, intricate, and even dangerous as Schutzhund can be (dangerous for both dogs and handlers).

Watch the club helpers. Do they appear to be "helping" dogs to reach their potential--or are they mostly showing off? A good helper, even if he or she is just starting out, will work closely with both the training director and the handler (and, of course, the DOG) to make sure that everything proceeds as smoothly as possible.

Another thing to watch out for are clubs that concentrate on protection to the exclusion of the other disciplines in the sport. Obedience and tracking are just as important as protection. You will find out how true this is at trial time!

Last but certainly not least, AVOID clubs where obvious animal abuse is going on. This is not to say that some dogs in any club will not require hard corrections, but I think most of us recognize when dog training crosses over into abuse. TDs should not be abusing dogs themselves, and they should never tolerate abuse from their trainees.

Hope this helps.

Pete Felknor

Good advice! I would add that I also like to watch the dogs. Is the *joy in work* there? Do the dogs look happy and excited to be there?
Every club has a different *temperament* some will welcome newbies and answer questions, others are not interested and are focused only on getting to higher levels of competition.

One other short suggestio.

I would leave the dog home the first time and ask a lot of questions. How those questions are answered, both tone and content, will tell a lot. The other idea is look at how well the dogs work, not just if they are "happy workers". Most likey where they are now is where you will be in a few months.

Watch how puppies and young dogs are trained by the helper and TD. Training a pup and training an adult dog is very different. Out of the 4 clubs I trained at only one was good with pups.

Thought I'd let you guys know how it went.

Everyone at the club was very kind and helpful. The helper/TD seemed very knowledgeable and worked all the dogs with the same straightforward attitude. I did take my dog (6 month old pup). The pups were worked separately from the other dogs. My dog was the "greenest" of the group, so he basically watched the older pups (as in a down/stay) for most of the session. My dog (Glock) seemed very interested in the helper, barking, trying to be a part of the action. When the helper worked my dog, he basically did prey work with a burlap sack. My dog took the sack really well. I believe that watching the other dogs really brought his drive up.

Overall I think it was a positive experience. There was one episode that made me pause. My dog showed some dog aggression towards the first 2 or 3 dogs that were worked when I first removed him from his crate. Two of the handlers told me to correct him for the aggession, while 2 others said to just walk him away from the dog(s). I have not, nor will I, at this point, excercise compulsion on my pup. BTW the one of the handlers that told me to just walk the dog away, has a 15mo old that really performed well all day.

Any questions or comments would be very welcomed.

Dave

Well, all right!!! It's always good to hear about good experiences!
Sounds like things went great. As for the dog agg, at some point, you are going to have to deal w/the dog agg it if you hope to title him. I've actually seen some dynamite working dogs who couldn't title b/c they hadn't been taught to ignore other dogs and there they are, at age 2 and can't get thru the B.
Perhaps the TD can help you w/this.