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Obedience at a competitive level

MischasMomma

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Someone give me the good the bad and the ugly! I want to get into something with Gemma (hubby already said no way for IPO :mad:) and conformation is out- shes working lines and (so I've heard) sable GSDs aren't "accepted" very well since there's really no specific coloring/markings. Anyway, obedience has really been intriguing me, and curious what all I could expect! At what age should we start formal classes for it?
 
How old is Gemma? Most AKC obedience training toward competition can begin at any age, but most AKC trainers prefer 6 to 8 months for first classes. Asha has been in a weekly class for a couple of months now, could probably compete in beginner novice, but I would rather her be more reliable and crowd/dog stable before I do a show. I'm a little confused, Gemma is a Dobe? Who is the sable GSD? If you have an IPO/IGP club close by it is fun, and you won't make a dog "mean" by protection sports. And the obedience BH (have to pass that to do IGP) is way more demanding than AKC obedience for beginners. Also the IGP club will emphasize obedience and tracking (also fun and challenging!) as well as protection. But you said Hubs said no, so I'm digressing. @Obanner does competition Ob. and may have lots more to add. My bottom line is Do It!
 
Why not conformation in UKC? They are generally much more accepting of the working dog (they have a total dog award) and other varieties in breeds. I know they allow the white shepherd for example so I'm sure sable would be too.

Ive run into trouble with starting obedience young as that's what I want to do too. I started teaching Ripley heel at 9 weeks old by shaping the position with a baited hand and rewarding for small steps up to down and back the hallway, then moved outside. Well most classes around here won't let you start until 6 months. Um, in high distracting areas she can pull and hurt me NOW, why wait?? So my advice is start as young as you can. Now now now. But keep it short and fun for the younger puppies. Involve plenty of praise and play after a good job. I've resorted to taking advantage of her puppy class and doing heeling when people are busy and talking. I also started going to the feed store to begin working with her. Waiting until 6 months is way too late, imo. She would be a pulling disaster.
 
I start puppies as soon as they have all of there shots. If you are looking to compete you need to build the bond where you are the most important thing. I say this to my pet people too but it is even more important for competition people. Your dog is not out to meet people or other dogs but must be ok playing with you in public when people and dogs are present. This teaches the dog that you are the only thing that matters and they won’t get attention from anyone else.
Make each training session fun by playing chase a catch games for rewards.
 
I did all the training myself. I got a physical copy of the AKC obedience guidelines and went from there.

One problem stemming from my loner approach is that in choosing my own commands (which you're allowed to do), and in issuing the commands softly (which I'm a believer in doing), some judges took issue with it and I got dinged maybe once for it.

I did practice on a few occasions with an obedience club in an indoor setting, but they understood that I wasn't there to take instruction, rather to get my Dobe experience with doing the exercises around other dogs and indoors.
 
At a trial in Pennsylvania, I got to see The First Lady of German Shepherd Obedience, Winifred Strickland and her pack of off-leash GSDs just walking around and relaxing. I don't know if you'll be so lucky :p
 
How old is Gemma? Most AKC obedience training toward competition can begin at any age, but most AKC trainers prefer 6 to 8 months for first classes. Asha has been in a weekly class for a couple of months now, could probably compete in beginner novice, but I would rather her be more reliable and crowd/dog stable before I do a show. I'm a little confused, Gemma is a Dobe? Who is the sable GSD? If you have an IPO/IGP club close by it is fun, and you won't make a dog "mean" by protection sports. And the obedience BH (have to pass that to do IGP) is way more demanding than AKC obedience for beginners. Also the IGP club will emphasize obedience and tracking (also fun and challenging!) as well as protection. But you said Hubs said no, so I'm digressing. @Obanner does competition Ob. and may have lots more to add. My bottom line is Do It!

Gemma is the GSD! Shes 17 weeks now- definitely plan to do "regular" training and CGC before anything else, just looking towards the future awhile! Unfortunately there are no IPO clubs less than 4 hours (one way!) away, which may be partially why he says no :facepalm:
 
Why not conformation in UKC? They are generally much more accepting of the working dog (they have a total dog award) and other varieties in breeds. I know they allow the white shepherd for example so I'm sure sable would be too.

Ive run into trouble with starting obedience young as that's what I want to do too. I started teaching Ripley heel at 9 weeks old by shaping the position with a baited hand and rewarding for small steps up to down and back the hallway, then moved outside. Well most classes around here won't let you start until 6 months. Um, in high distracting areas she can pull and hurt me NOW, why wait?? So my advice is start as young as you can. Now now now. But keep it short and fun for the younger puppies. Involve plenty of praise and play after a good job. I've resorted to taking advantage of her puppy class and doing heeling when people are busy and talking. I also started going to the feed store to begin working with her. Waiting until 6 months is way too late, imo. She would be a pulling disaster.

Very good points!! She is a monster already... usually walks well on the leash, but heaven forbid she sees a squirrel, she's almost pulled my arm out already and at only 17 weeks!! We will be starting puppy classes soon, even though he thinks it's a "waste of time and money, because we can train all that at home"...

I'll look into UKC! Didn't even think of that! I do know white GSDs are an accepted color for the breed, unlike for Dobes, so not sure or not if that makes a difference.
 
At a trial in Pennsylvania, I got to see The First Lady of German Shepherd Obedience, Winifred Strickland and her pack of off-leash GSDs just walking around and relaxing. I don't know if you'll be so lucky :p

Ohhhhh i wish I could have!! I did get to see DPCA trials when they were here in PA! Now that was an experience, and man was i in heaven with hundreds of doberman around me! :love:
 
Gemma is the GSD! Shes 17 weeks now- definitely plan to do "regular" training and CGC before anything else, just looking towards the future awhile! Unfortunately there are no IPO clubs less than 4 hours (one way!) away, which may be partially why he says no :facepalm:
Yeah, me too - 3 hours one way to IGP! My dog really is benefitting from the local classes with an AKC trainer though, so I'm just going forward with what we have. I WILL go over one day, I did go over for a meet & greet when she was 5 months, and they liked her and I liked them, but the shut-downs happened & I never went back, but I will. IGP work is a goal, and I have no doubt I have the dog for it. LOL, hard & drivey makes AKC a little bit harder.... Keep posting what you do with Gemma - I did Star Puppy - yes, the training was "what you can to at home" and I thought this is a waste of time and $ too, but for my dog it was the other people & dogs that she badly needed exposure to and it was a game changer for me to find out just how reactive she was and how much work I needed to do in public. Then I did CGC and passed CGCA as well. Barely, but that's another story. Then on to obedience. I cannot say how much everything changes for the better when you do classes with other dogs & people, especially if you have a hard dog with some working drive.
 
Yeah, me too - 3 hours one way to IGP! My dog really is benefitting from the local classes with an AKC trainer though, so I'm just going forward with what we have. I WILL go over one day, I did go over for a meet & greet when she was 5 months, and they liked her and I liked them, but the shut-downs happened & I never went back, but I will. IGP work is a goal, and I have no doubt I have the dog for it. LOL, hard & drivey makes AKC a little bit harder.... Keep posting what you do with Gemma - I did Star Puppy - yes, the training was "what you can to at home" and I thought this is a waste of time and $ too, but for my dog it was the other people & dogs that she badly needed exposure to and it was a game changer for me to find out just how reactive she was and how much work I needed to do in public. Then I did CGC and passed CGCA as well. Barely, but that's another story. Then on to obedience. I cannot say how much everything changes for the better when you do classes with other dogs & people, especially if you have a hard dog with some working drive.

I definitely think she needs to work with the distractions!! This is the most high driven dog I've EVER had... and I thought Mischa had a strong drive :shock: hopefully we can start some formal classes soon, but I know our trainer is working with a very limited schedule due to covid :( she can only have 3 students per class inside, so most of the time shes holding them outside to be more spaced out but the weather is getting chilly too. Not sure how the upcoming months will look!
 
I definitely think she needs to work with the distractions!! This is the most high driven dog I've EVER had... and I thought Mischa had a strong drive :shock: hopefully we can start some formal classes soon, but I know our trainer is working with a very limited schedule due to covid :( she can only have 3 students per class inside, so most of the time shes holding them outside to be more spaced out but the weather is getting chilly too. Not sure how the upcoming months will look!
Same here on every statement you made. Covid is ruling and our ob class only has a couple of dogs/people and is always outside. Now numbers on the rise again so lots of events shutting down again or restricting entries etc. Why I'm content (well, not really content) to stay local and just keep working on having a good obedient dog. Even tho I badly want to go to the IGP club! My first high drive dog too. She's my 3rd Dobe, 2nd one was 20 years ago from working lines, I thought this one would be just a notch or two up. Nope, 20 notches up from anything I ever imagined. (Between Ashas 2 parents & 4 grandparents 3 have IPO/IGP3's and 2 are IPO1's). They will make or break you for sure. I would for sure say get into whatever puppy classes are offered just for the controlled exposure to people and dogs and different situations as long as you know that it's an On Leash environment.
 
I think we have discussed this before but throwing this at you again.

Distractions/high drive/reactiveness-
Walking/training outside of the dog park fence is a great place to work and desensitize. Initially, 6month Ragnar was all over the place....nutz and crazy. Took many trips, many treats, many prong collar hits, many ECollar stims, many ripe tug games but he finally started watching me instead of the dogs. No, to this day, his focus on me is not perfect like you see in IGP but it’s a lot improved.

Great thread by the way.
 
You live in a Pennsylvania? How far are you guys from Joeri Veth and Katie (Von Schwartz Dobermanns) Joeri would be worth a 2-3 hour drive to train with. He is awesome. Katie breeds really nice Dobes too.
 
I think we have discussed this before but throwing this at you again.

Distractions/high drive/reactiveness-
Walking/training outside of the dog park fence is a great place to work and desensitize. Initially, 6month Ragnar was all over the place....nutz and crazy. Took many trips, many treats, many prong collar hits, many ECollar stims, many ripe tug games but he finally started watching me instead of the dogs. No, to this day, his focus on me is not perfect like you see in IGP but it’s a lot improved.

Great thread by the way.

I think we have talked about it before too!! What age would you start the prong? With Mischa i was scared of it, and didn't use it until she was almost 18 months. Now, I know the value of it and ready to start at 17 weeks :rofl: but I think that's still a little too young.

What about nose/scent work? I think that's something you can buy a kit for and work on at home. Something that should come naturally, not too physically demanding on young bones, great for mental stimulation, etc.

AKC Scent Work

Thanks! Yes, that was on the list of something to do at home for sure!! She definitely has a heck of a nose on her! I was just watching Rubies barnhunt videos, and had talked about some point trying Barnhunt as well!

You live in a Pennsylvania? How far are you guys from Joeri Veth and Katie (Von Schwartz Dobermanns) Joeri would be worth a 2-3 hour drive to train with. He is awesome. Katie breeds really nice Dobes too.

I do!! But theyre a little over 4 hours one way :facepalm: she is at the top of my list for our next doberman! Definitely doable for a pup, but not realistic for weekly training :down: I LOVE watching Joeri work with the dogs though! I follow both of them, and the kennel, on Facebook! Im really hoping to someday have a Ferro puppy! Just love that boy, but not sure if he'll still be in their breeding program by the time we're ready
 
I have been doing nose work at home, one online class for about 6 weeks, and the rest just winging it with my friend who has a NW2 title. It's great for mental stimulation but as @LifeofRubie is finding in Barn Hunt, it's VERY independent work, so doesn't replace the work of being the most important thing to your puppy. Probably why Asha loves it, I don't get to tell her what to do. :rofl::rofl::rofl: I have some old videos from when we first started, but nothing recent. If Gemma loves to use her nose it's crazy fun to watch them develop.
 

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