Xena and I went to our first puppy class tonight. Um, no one else showed up (the others can't start till next week, so we pushed it back a week) BUT on the up side the instructor is very knowledgeable about Dutch Shepherds and is quite used to training working breeds (she used to train police dogs). Xena did great, and I learned quite a bit!
I feel very confident that she can help see me through this puppyhood!
Tell us about yourself: I am a mom of 6 life forces - 2 kids and 3 dogs 1 hamster. I live in Ct. I have trained Ringsport and Agility and have 2 DS, one 15 and 7 and a Basset Hound Cookie who is 2
She kept asking me what Xena's JOB was going to be... I realized that I was thinking , "hanging out with us when we work, and not eating the chickens (or rabbits till slaughter) and guarding the house when we are gone".... But my heart was saying..."I have ALWAYS wanted to do Search and Rescue!! I want to do THAT with her!"
so i said it out loud.
And do you know what she said??? "That would be a great use of her working ability! I know the lady that is in charge of SAR in this area and I will introduce you." (!!!!!!)
Tell us about yourself: I adopted a Dutch Shepherd mix (without knowing what she was) from the SPCA here in Victoria BC and am now trying to learn everything I can about this breed. My husband and I work from home most of the time so I thought it was time to get a puppy! We have his 2 boys here half the time and we wanted a nice family dog.
Sugar looks like a miniature Dutch Shepherd with floppy ears, and has every ounce of DS traits in her little body!
I hope to learn from other DS owners and share doggy experiences.
Tell us about yourself: We current own 1 Dutch Shepherd - ThunderHawk's Child of Lilith "Mazikeen" And we have loved and lost 3 - Vrijheid's Amie "Vada", Vrijheid's Hafwen "Letty" and Sather's High On Life "Narcotic". We train/compete in mondioring and agility.
Maybe you could go meet up with her and watch some of the SAR training.
Our local SAR group organizes public tracking seminars once a month in a park. People come out and for a donation to the team learn how to track, many come back every month with practice in between and continue to progress. You get to hang out with the whole SAR team and their dogs, chat, and learn about training.
Tell us about yourself: I am a mom of 6 life forces - 2 kids and 3 dogs 1 hamster. I live in Ct. I have trained Ringsport and Agility and have 2 DS, one 15 and 7 and a Basset Hound Cookie who is 2
Choochi wrote:Maybe you could go meet up with her and watch some of the SAR training.
Our local SAR group organizes public tracking seminars once a month in a park. People come out and for a donation to the team learn how to track, many come back every month with practice in between and continue to progress. You get to hang out with the whole SAR team and their dogs, chat, and learn about training.
That is great ! I wish someone did that around here!
Oh, I would love it if someone local did seminars or if some kind soul would take me under their wings for a bit.
As it is, I am trying to make up tracking exercises while I do the on line required courses.... We will see, she is very agile and would do great with agility (on our walks, if she sees a rock wall she jumps up and runs the top of it (without my asking, it just makes her happy). But I really would like to try this SAR.
Any ideas on what I can do to start my girl properly?
(the others can't start till next week, so we pushed it back a week) BUT on the up side the instructor is very knowledgeable about Dutch Shepherds and is quite used to training working breeds (she used to train police dogs). Xena did great, and I learned quite a bit! 
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