Schutzhund!!

In a drive, ignore me- Im just trying to stay the hell out of the way!

Amazing! 2 weeks in a row, it was fantastic!

I didn't go to the club for tracking- we had company over, so I stayed home and had a nice family breakfast. :)

OB was... entertaining to start with. It's the first snow of the year (hell, last year too!) and Koenig L O V E S the snow. He had about 0 interest in OB, especially doing bench work (stepping on and off benches for hind end awareness, stationary position changes on the bench) and would have much preferred to snuffle around in the snow. Goofy brindle!

Eventually, I got his attention back up on me- at least a larger % then what he was giving to the fluffy white stuff. The bench work was funny at first. Koenig LIVES to jump. Why bother stepping up on the little 1' high bench, when he can JUMP, and LEAP, and BOUNCE onto it? Ugh. I attempted to slow him, by taking his collar, and guiding his feet up one at a time, asking 'step' with each foot. It got better after a few reps, but occasionally would end up with the brindle butt launching off one side, as I attempt to grab the 80lb dog out of mid air, and place him back up onto the bench. I got a laugh out of it, and I'm fairly sure we entertained the club-mates as well. It was minority successful by the end of the session, so we'll work more at home. Position changes on the bench were nice, and he's not bopping around so much- more comfortable staying stationary (helped that I was using food, not a toy, so he wasn't sky high in drive), and holding the position I asked for.

Did some heeling, started average, with his focus lacking, and improved to some pretty nice heeling by the end. Backed through the weave poles, which I think went much better then last week! (Video here, you'll probably have to be my FB friend to see it. I can try to get the person who took it to stick it on YouTube for me though!)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=306383456063730

REVIER! (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

Protection was even better then I expected with our new bestfriend-decoy! Gosh, he's awesome. He just KNOWS what each dog needs, and how to get the best out of each and every dog! Koenig's revier was NICE, for a dog who's been out of bite work for over a month! (minus the work last week, of course) Didn't have blinds today, so we'll likely re-start the blind search next week, and working on staying clean in the blind. I've moved Koenig back in to harness in protection. He seems to strain to breath/bark much more in a collar (even a big, wide, padded Agitation collar), and I've got a harness, so I'm back to using it. I know that some people see it as a crutch, or as unnecessary. Ultimately, the goal is a dog working free of leash/collar/harness, so I guess I don't really have an issue accommodating him and using a harness. I guess my other reasoning, (as much as an excuse as it may sound like) is he's built different then the majority of GSD's out there that dominate the sport. Koenig is a belgian breed. He's lean, he's long and lanky. His neck is a mile long ( and if you've ever seen him get squirrley in a long down, you know exactly what I mean!)... anatomically, that means he's going to Trachea is going to be closer to the surface. He's going to be a bit more prone to a collapsed trachea, and breathing problems could be exacerbated by putting extreme amounts of pressure on his neck. With that said, I suppose some people might say he's not suited for the work. I disagree. Koenig will work in a collar. He'll work in a flat, fursaver or pinch. He does not care. Last week, we had an equipment malfunction, and his fursaver was actually choking him.... he didn't understand, and was obviously worried about the feeling, and coming back to me rather then charging in for a bite, but the dog still wanted to work! He couldn't take a breath, but he was still trying his damnedest! (Got it fixed, and he was back to his normal wild self in short order.)I dunno. I'm totally rambling. Today, he worked in a harness with a agitation collar on as well. I used 2 lines, and for any pulling work the pressure was on the harness.

Niiiicccceeeee grip, brindle buddy! 

To help him carry, and for a leash correction I used the collar line. I figure if I can handle a horse in a double bridle, then I should realistically be able to handle 2 6-8' leashes on my dog. I didn't fall down, and my boy had a NICE couple of runs carrying the sleeve! (Did I mention I love this decoy? We're getting full solid grips, a good revier, and our out is coming back)

Pictures. :) Thanks to Richard, for braving the cold, with the kids, to take some pics for me! <3

And we have a carry!!

More Revier

Great day. :)