Norman - a couple of years ago the sport lost one of its pillars when Egon Volrath died. For the last 20 years I have watched Egon and his sons become leaders in the sport of Schutzhund. Egon told me more than once that the success of his boys was because he bought them the best trained adult dogs he could afford. He wanted them to have success right from the beginning. The dogs taught the boys not the other way around.

To compare allowing a young person working a sport dog to "handling a loaded gun" – well that’s rather extreme. Doesn’t proper training and supervision count for anything?

My son is 18. He has already joined the Army and is leaving on June 10th - has orders for the 82nd airborne. He has been around loaded guns his entire life and could shoot a prairie dog in the head at 250 yards when he was 13. He has never had an accident nor have any of his friends. Some people live with trained dog, some people live with guns, some people live with both.

Norman, with all this said – get your daughter a nice titled female and you raise the puppy.

Thanks to all. I guess this is a decision I will make for myself. There are those who grow up and never experience life because someone never thought the time was right. A lot of you refer to maturity the others to age, there is no clear cut answer. I started hunting on my own at 11, I'm 42 now and I haven't killed myself or anyone else. As I said before the reason for this board, books, Eds videos, clubs and seminars is to learn but you don't learn by not doing. An adult can be injured as easily as a 12 year old given the right circumstance.
Ed if you're out there when did your son begin. I bet he wasn't very old. I'll say it again, it's all about learning.

Thanks Ed,
Your post went up before mine while I was typing.