Noah’s and Isaac are progressing me not so much
Noah spent two days observing and working as a helper for a total of 3 dogs. Isaac got some time on the sleeve, barked from the car, and you can see after 3 years the light bulb has come on! Read more
Isaac and the helper
Isaac is making a little progress in the bite work – he’s a little over 3 yrs old. He’s a slow learner and the learning curve is pretty steep for Marmaduke!
Noah is working on becoming a helper
Noah went out to Indian Creek Schutzhund Club on Saturday to work with Bill Kulla and Jennifer Acevedo with his new sleeve. We purchased the sleeve from Sound Canine Services ebay store and it fits him very well (Noah’s 11). I would recommend it for young or soft dogs that might be struggling with a trial sleeve, though the surface isn’t as good as jute, it’s also easier to carry. Again if you’ve got a good dog it might not be needed, but if your dog struggles like Isaac in the third phase it’s a definite option. I would also recommend Sound Canine Services as a vendor on ebay.
Prior to going out to Bill and Jen’s Noah got Isaac barking and biting during three different sessions here at the house (two thumbs up). Noah has always been convinced that if he had a sleeve Isaac would bark and bite for him and it turns out he was right. I’ll admit a real helper might just shut him down, but only time will tell. Isaac is biting full, carrying well, and barking (not as good when he’s told to sit and bark for soccer ball). So we’ll see how it progresses. Here is some video of Noah and Isaac (it’s password protected so good luck if I don’t want you to view it)
With Bill and Jen Noah worked Isaac: did a couple escapes and was able to slid the sleeve on as Isaac came around while carrying. He did well – Once we got done with Isaac because my fat ass couldn’t run in circles any longer, Jen brought SG IRMHILD VON DER STAATSMACHT SchH3 “Hilde” and let Noah work her.
Noah started in the blind with the bark and hold and gave some good grips (maybe a little early), he then did 3 escape bites with her, and did a shorter modified long bite (fell over in the snow once), and then did some outs and regrips. Hilde seemed to really enjoy herself and once all the official stuff was over let Noah tug her around the field (they both ended up quite tired). Noah tried to drive both Isaac and Hilde and needs a little work – Isaac is a tard and doesn’t know what to do, and though Hilde cooperated it’s a definite art-form that Noah will need to work on.
Bill commented on Noah’s speed and athleticism, Noah was pretty excited to learn from someone who actually knows what their doing (as opposed to me). Hopefully as Noah gets bigger, stronger, and faster (if that’s possible) he’ll continue to enjoy doing helper work – would be quite handy to have a live in helper 
On the way home I asked if Noah was nervous and he said “no, because I didn’t know what I was doing so I just figured I’d stand there and do what they told me”. As someone who has actually worn the sleeve (only twice) I know what he means, there’s a lot going on when you’ve got a dog barking or running at you, your holding a stick, covering your wiener, focusing on not falling, listening to instructions, and focusing on not hurting a dog. All in all he held up well and seemed to enjoy himself – He really liked Bill’s new dog Jackson – and Jackson enjoyed Noah’s hat, coat sleeves, ears, and snow pants.
2010 USA Nationals
ON THE FLIGHT BACK FROM 2010 NATIONALS. WAS A GOOD TIME AND WILL POST A FEW PICTURES WHEN I GET HOME.
Well I’m home and have looked at the few pictures and video I took and will share what I have. First and foremost I’m new to the sport and everything here is my opinion and does not represent or reflect the United Schutzhund Clubs of America, Indian Creek Schutzhund Club, or the North Central Region. It seems it’s very easy to drum up controversy amongst certain dog people and that is not the intent of this post or this blog for that matter, just sharing the experience I had.
Let’s start with a little video that was posted of Henk vom Hufeisenberg and Andrea Hashimoto Protection 98 pronounced. High protection. Andrea is 16, finished 3rd overall, took high protection and trained her dog herself! For those who don’t know much about Schutzhund this is a full Schutzhund 3 protection routine. Blind search, Front Half (bark and hold, escape, re-attack, rear transport, side transport) and back half, long bite/courage test, re-attack, and side transport. I’ll try and find video of the obedience phase of one of the competitors so you can see that.
Here are the results from the event – Sean O’Kane won with 97/95/97 289
I showed up on Wednesday afternoon to watch the helper selection process and show support for Steve and Don. There are videos of all the helpers out there so posting it here would be redundant, let’s just say that helper work at the event was safe and solid in my opinion and if you disagree you can kiss my hiney bright and shinny!
On Thursday I attended the event as a delegate from Indian Creek Schutzhund Club and as a member of the newly formed Technology Committee, this means I sat through the GBM on Thursday and voted with a purple card and/or secret ballot – I felt so powerful! It was long and at times a little passionate, but was an overall good experience. During the meeting I found out why I own a Droid and not an iPhone, check out the battery the iPhone uses – cumbersome is an understatement.
During the GBM lunch break Jen and I headed over to the stadium to hang out with Steve Romard (front half helper), this is when I first met Olaf Frankemöller. Other than being knowledgeable in the area of dog sport Olaf is one of the funniest people I have ever met in my life! Spent the majority of the next couple days and nights listening to Olaf’s commentary on everything from ‘tails’ to overweight humans
Here are some shots of the venue, I found the sign at the entrance to the stadium quite entertaining -
 What? "No Animals allowed" |
 Shot of the flags at the end of the field |
We enjoyed some good food at the Rum Jungle Buffet at the Casino Fandango, it was so good we ate there two nights in a row. The atmosphere was quaint and quiet!
Cropped Steve out, claims it wasn't taken from his good side
I gambled one night and won 3 cents high roller
Will go through the photos and video from the stadium and will post shortly…….
Found video of the OB phase, this Henk vom Hufeisenberg and Andrea Hashimoto 94 point routine
The following videos are of Maya vom Gilbach and Katie Gillies – fun to watch plus Katie bought me a shot Saturday night! Actually she bought everyone around the blackjack table a shot, she had no idea who I was. Tossed up awesome points and handed out alcohol, what more could one ask for?
Isaac and the future –> SchH 1 anyone?
Now that Isaac has passed his BH and seems to be barking a little bit for the sleeve it seems we’ll be moving forward with bite work towards a SchH 1. It seems apparent that we’ll have to do everything through prey drive and he’ll have to be barking for the sleeve as a toy – at this point it seems obvious he’s not going to work for the man. In fact in my estimation at this point the man is just going to shut him down – he’s too soft. He’ll bark for the soccer ball, strike the soccer ball, and even take drive and stick hits from me. Now would he do it for someone else? Also the soccer ball is a lot softer and more pliable than a trial sleeve (but it’s progress).
He’s got a solid bark for the ball and is also barking when people who don’t belong around are around – for example when the ComEd guy showed up at the meter he had a very solid bark, not backing down and would have been interesting if he had gotten out of the kennel. Here is a picture of Isaac and Noah doing some bite work It’s Noah’s version of the escape combined with the courage test – the bad part is that he’s not wearing a sleeve (though it hasn’t seemed to curtain this activity – Noah is kind of thick).
So moving forward here’s what needs to occur (in no particular order)
- Clean up his obedience – begin applying more pressure – automatic corrections (i.e., sit)
- Make more OB when not doing official obedience (needs to have OB when checking in and receiving critique) did this while at the park on Sunday with kids and Kerry’s friends (on lead entire time)
- Work on retrieve – start with dowel rod (eventually on flat and over obstacles)
- Add in the jump and wall (I know he can jump because on walks I have him jump a fence onto a picnic table at pavilion at the park – it’s a meter high)
- Start doing more longer tracks (these were going well for awhile, but I stopped in the heat of the summer and was too focused on the BH) – of all the phases this is the one Isaac seems to excel the most at
- Bite work (need to figure out schedule with soccer and training days at ICSC so I can actually do protection work on a regular basis or else it’s going to go nowhere)
The items that will be totally new to Isaac are the retrieve and the wall – he’s had exposure to everything else.
The real challenge is going to be fitting in time to do protection work at the club with the soccer schedule, total nightmare! Need to just get Noah and dog and quick soccer….
Isaac vom Geistwasser BH H.O.T
Isaac is now Isaac vom Geistwasser BH H.O.T – for those non-schutzhund people below in BLUE is the skinny on the BH.
Isaac and I attended the North Central Region Championships hosted by Fox Valley Police & Schutzhund Club which was judged by Frank Phillips, USA. Isaac and I were very late entries due to unforeseen circumstances and I was a little (understatement) nervous showing at a regional event - FVPSC members and spectators were gracious and supportive, they even had to bring out a dummy dog because there were only 3 BH entries and I drew 3rd.
Below is an article that was posted where our performance got a mention -
Chris Duffey also handled a German Shepherd that was feeling spunky but remembered his manners to successfully complete the routine, doing a nice job of it.
Chris Duffey, Isaac vom Geistwasser BH H.O.T and USA Judge Frank Philips
Isaac got a nice medallion for passing the test -
Noah attended the event – though he had to hide during the OB portion of the test because Isaac likes him better than me. Once Noah stepped to the fence to listen to the critique Isaac got a little “spunky” which is code for acted like Marmaduke! I suppose that’s better than biting the judge when he checks a tattoo (which I had memorized, but didn’t need to rattle off).
Here is video of the Obedience portion of the BH – If you’re interested in comparing Isaac and me to what a 97 Point SchH3 OB Phase at last years Regionals looked like click here.
Steve Romard’s Leaked workout routine
Lenny and Erik van Gogh – since the video is kind of busting Steve’s balls I figured I give him props by posting a good pick of his son and his dog enjoying a bike ride.
James playing catch with Isaac
Kerry had James tossing the ball for Isaac while he was over tonight – the strange thing is that James is afraid of Stella (the miniature schnauzer) but doesn’t seem to be bothered by Isaac.
Latest updates
Just posted recent activity and progress here under Schutzhund Training Updates. Bottom line is that we’ve been plugging away and are making some progress. The OB is a lot better and he’s matured enough that he’ll do a little barking for the helper.
Shooting for a BH in August at the Indian Creek Schutzhund Club fall trial – info for the trial can be found here.
Bark Bark Barking!
Here is quick video showing the progress – it’s not a hold and bark, and it’s not even a puppy sleeve – but it is progress. We’ll just keep plugging along and hope for the best – oh – Denise and Paivi I’ll cut his food back a little bit.
OB on 4-26-2010
We’re making some progress in the area of obedience – ball drive has improved because I continue to learn to play with the dog.
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