Xena's Tracking

I know it has been some time that I have posted anything about Xena and her training. We have been working on her tracking. She is doing absolutely wonderful. She loves to have her nose to the ground. We are laying longer tracks for her and she just can't seem to get enough. I am allowing her to be a puppy and making her training fun for her. I believe that you can have a Schutzhund trained dog and a house pet at the same time. I got Xena initially to train her for home protection but she is showing me that she can do anything she puts her mind to. She is excelling at everything we have thrown in front of her. We are finding that Xena is NOT sleeve driven. She will go after your arm regardless if you are wearing a sleeve or not. Kind of helpful when that attacker comes into our home and he is not wearing a sleeve. LOL. She is still very much a puppy and am staying away from tugging games until she stops teething. We don't want to discourage her bite work.

Ok..interesting day...we took Xena to her first club meeting..she did wonderful as i knew she would..although she was being slightly stubborn and wanted to do things her way..sounds familiar for some reason...lol...We started Xena on her tracking this morning...she did terrific!! we also worked with her on getting her to focus on me...that's when she decided that she wanted to do things her way no matter if you had hotdogs grilling on the grill..lol..i think when she saw me give her "The Look" she started to think "oh crap mom means business"...we got her to focus on her commands in the box...we then did some puppy bite work...more like puppy play to them but it lays a good foundation for when she is ready for bite work...it was a warm day and she was feeling a bit hot so she really didn't feel like chasing a tail for her bite work..although she did for a little bit and did great but she told me in her Xena way that was all i was going to get out of her..

Which is fine..we went over to the wading pool and she dove in like she was an accomplished swimmer...she splashed around with her paws while diving into the pool with her head..well it was just a wading pool so she couldn't go very deep but she tried..she did manage to soak me..she must have thought i was hot too...she was right...wow...a dog that can read my mind...awesome...so all in all Xena had a great session today...we would have taken pictures but of course i got all wrapped into what i was doing and forgot to bring out the camera...hopefully i will remember in the future..

I hope that you all have a great 4th of July and again thank you for reading my blog on Xena's training...

Xena learned how to stay and come here within 15 minutes and she retained it. We work with her every other day on her commands and on the off days we work on her tracking. When i can get a decent camcorder I will record her training but for now it has to be pictures.

Xena

My love for dogs has been around I believe since I was born. I decided to start this blog to show the progress of Xena's training in Schutzhund and the hurdles and the irritating people I have thus far come across. I hope that you will find this an interesting blog and even have any suggestions to help me along the way with her training. At any time Xena's training will stop in Schutzhund if she shows any non interest in any part of the training. I refuse to use aides such as shocking my dog to get her where she needs to be. I believe in positive reinforcement and thus far has been working in training my dog. At 10 weeks of age she weighs in at 30 pounds and she knows her hand commands, voice commands, and is even potty trained. Yes you heard right..potty trained..She is one of the smartest German Shepard's that i know of or any dog for that matter. She is eager to learn. We have started her on her tracking and she loves it. I have already ran up against people in a Schutzhund club who; how can i put this politely, shocked their dogs to the point of them yelping and just didn't care for newcomers into the sport. Needless to say I moved on and in a search for a reputable club to aid me in her training. All i have to say to that group is wait til you see us on the field..