Wallace Payne Seminar
Julie Hesse & I attended a Schutzhund Seminar with Wallace Payne this past weekend. To say that you’ll get your money’s worth attending one of Wallace’s seminars is an understatement. There were 10 handler/dog teams (including Kayla), and numerous spectators (including Rudi). Wallace worked with each handler/dog team one-on-one, with the entire group observing.
The group consisted of people with no SchH experience (me), to people who were Wallace’s competitors. No matter where in your training level, I guarantee you’ll learn something from Wallace. You have to…
Saturday’s session lasted for 15.5 hours, and Sunday’s session was a short one of 9.5 hours.
Wallace’s basic philosophy is, “the will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win”.
No matter if it’s tracking, obedience, or protection, Wallace could not stress enough the importance of building a proper and solid foundation in your training program. He stressed not being in a hurry to move to the next level of training…greatness is in the detail.
Each team worked their dog at least twice each day in Tracking, Obedience, and Protection. In the first session, Wallace wanted to see what you were doing with your dog so that he could properly evaluate and give guidance for future sessions. Tracking was first. When it was Kayla’s turn, he said to me, “Ok. Go lay your track.” I said, “I’ve never tracked before.” “NEVER??” “Nope, never.” “OK, come on, I’ll show you how to lay your track.” Actually, I think it was to my benefit to have never tracked. Wallace made certain that we started with a good foundation…it was done right. From the beginning of the track to the very end, he stayed by my side and made certain that it was done right! From those two days with Wallace, I have no hesitation of starting Kayla in tracking and know that I’m on the right training program.
Detail and discipline is obviously important. Wallace doesn’t care if you are a beginner or an experienced competitor—he’ll spend quality time with you. He is willing to teach you and your dog, but he expects you to pay attention to the details. If you do, you’ll home with a solid game plan. It is also quite obvious that Wallace Payne isn’t doing seminars for the money…it’s for the love of the dog and the love of the sport.
Beauty and the Beast
Maria Spadavecchia-Lezza, the beauty, with Alta-Tollhaus Schumi, the beast, albeit a very loveable, sweet beast! Here is Schumi demonstrating his enthusiasm for the ring. He really thought he should have been first!
Maria is one of the many talented handlers from the Huerto-Hof Team. Here she is practicing with Schumi before going into the ring.
Presentation to the judge in a stand:
I was so proud of Becky and Schumi. First Becky, her first dog show ever and her first time double-handling her dog—a skill in itself. Becky was perfect! I knew Schumi was a good puppy, but I was surprised at the reaction he was getting from other people while we were walking around the show. I was most proud of his confident and happy attitude. The critique from the judge was: Medium size, strong head, good bone, excellent front, good rear, good angulation, good outline, the only negative comment had to do with ring training. So what, it is the baby puppy class they should act like baby puppies!
Heather and Schumi. Becky leaning over talking on the phone to hubby Joe who was attending a dog training seminar:
I thought this was too cute, had to take a picture, both the Chihuahua and the GSD were barking like crazy–until I took their picture—it was a toss up as to which dog seemed more ferocious.
Last but not least the darling of the show, Delilah.
