First Schutzhund Class???!!!

Before Gitta had an puppy class, obedience class, or agility class, she had a Schutzhund class. Though I got Gitta specifically for agility (looking for those high drives and athletic builds), watching Johanna and Anu in Finland piqued my interest in Schutzhund. Though I planned only on doing agility, when everyone commented on what a nice 'bite' Gitta had, I felt an obligation to at least not ruin it - even if I don't train it. I thought that the beginning drive work of Schutzhund could only help build her drive in agility.

Years ago - Esteban had been interested in Schutzhund and had looked around for a club but couldn't find anything very local. However, in surfing the web these days, he came upon the Good Shepherd Schutzhund Club which meets on Satudays about an hour away. The founder and training director is a guy named Joe Tackett, who is credited largely with getting Schutzhund going in the US. We got a babysitter, packed up Sammie and Gitta, and headed out this past Saturday (Aug 30th).

Watching a class sometimes breaks the mental block I have that says I couldn't possible do this thing. Watching a class shows you that regular people are doing - it just take the time to train. I don't mind taking time to train and going to class, it's just Schutzhund was so foreign - I couldn't even imagine how to go about it. We watched the class work on the Obedience exercises in pairs (one dog on a long down stay) and then the puppies and new dogs headed far away to practice sits, downs, tiny heels, and attention. This part was nothing new - and in fact we learned later that the guy who helps with the puppies had trained at Dogwood (where we train obedience)! But it was nice to jump on in with Gitta.

The really exciting part was the protection training. For the new dogs, this consisted solely of drive building by swinging a toy, leather rag, or burlap bag just out of reach of the dog, but occationally letting them get ahold of it. This is where it became clear that Gitta is bred for this kind of thing. She showed not an ounce of fear or hesitation, even when the toy landed by her or on her when she wasn't paying attention. She launched herself at the toy, pounced on the bag, and didn't seem inclined to let go. Esteban thought she did amazing, and she received many compliments.

I'm already looking forward to another class this Saturday! (Johanna and Anu are going to be so excited ;-)