Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures or video but I just wanted to share the story of how excited and proud we were of Schumi on Friday night at Schutzhund club. Last Friday Warren wanted to let Schumi start to work on send and bites; this was the first time Schumi has ever done that. Well, Warren instructed Nick to approach Schumi in an aggressive stance (a month ago this would have not even gotten a response from Schumi) and then when Schumi barked Nick was to turn and run and I would drop the leash. So we did this three times, each time Nick would get further away by the time Schumi reached him, and each time Schumi jumped and latched on to the sleeve and did not let go. I was so proud and happy that he did this so well. From when we started going to the club until now Schumi has gotten much better, thanks to Warren’s training instruction and Becky putting in time at home. It really is impressive and like a flick of the switch when these dogs “get it”. Like I mentioned earlier, Schumi wouldn’t even really bark and only went after the bait in prey drive, now he is barking and going at the sleeve. I think watching Kira come out and bark her head off helped him to understand also. Thanks to Warren and Nick for being great trainers and helpers, even though Warren has to remind me of the same things nearly every visit (Schumi learns faster than I do apparently).
As an aside, to those of you who were at club on Friday we are pretty confident Schumi had/has Kennel Cough. He had been vaccinated recently and we aren’t sure where he got it from but we apologize for putting your dogs at risk. We were a bit ignorant on the whole issue until recently.
Sorry for the rambling post!
Way to go Schumi! (except for the kennel cough!)
Schumi looked really good on Friday. He was doing mini-long bites! As long as a bite we can do indoors.
Don’t feel bad about the kennel cough. Nikon is hacking a bit but I take him to the pet store once a week and often to our other training club so who knows? I’m sure it’s going around, he could pick it up anywhere. All my dogs get vaccinated too and Nikon was vacc’d in December, so much for that, lol! I think it’s just one of those things where we have to balance keeping the dogs active and socialized vs. picking up the bugs that are going around. Now maybe Nikon will know better than to lick other dogs in their mouth (probably not!).
As soon as my tax money is deposited I’m getting a D90 and we can take videos….
I wish I had been there to see Schumi’s first sends. Very exciting!