Updated March 2009 ....

Congratulations to Tammie and Deuce for obtaining their Schutzhund II with the scores 93/86/87a

3/08: Congratulations to Tammie and Deuce for obtaining their Schutzhund I with excellent scores!

96 tracking, 82 obedience, and 97 pronounced in Protection!!!

2/08: See the newest working pictures of Deuce.........

compliments of BJ Spanos,Thank you BJ for featuring Deuce in your beautiful book (see our links page for info)

 

Update March 2009: After recovering from whelping a large litter, the end of 2008 allowed us to get back to training. This weekend (3/7-8, 2009), we were able to obtain our Schutzhund II under USA Judge Frank Phillips. In Obedience, things were looking super, her attitude was excellent, and things felt very in sync, until the sit in motion which has NEVER been an issue... suddenly.... not there...lol. However, the rest of the motion excercises were in good order. Some hydraulics in the basic position of the retrieves cost us some points, as well, as Deuce was loading with each dumbell throw. But, all in all a good performance on the retrieves. The Go Out and Down was a SUCCESS! A big improvement from our Schutzhund I, I was TRHILLED... and we ended the phase with an 86. Protection was also a good showing, a clean blind search, a little bit of bumping on the Bark and Hold and if it weren't for some unruliness when calling the helper out of the blind and when telling the helper to step back for the back transport, we might have been in the 90's! But, after a super courage test, we ended with a respectable 87 Pronounced. Tracking was the next morning, it was a little foggy, but beautiful. Deuce's committment to the track was good, she nailed the first corner... unfortunately some faulty line handling on my part cost me a point with a head check from Deuce, but she went back to work without any prompting from me. The first article was indicated perfectly and then the restart was without fault. The second corner was even smoother... no cruddy line handling on my part this time, so no glance back... and it would have been a perfect leg, had she not drifted to the right with the wind in the last 5 meters, but she was able to find her way back to the actual track, and work it out, just in time to indicate the last article! I was pleased with our score of 93! It was a great weekend, a LOT of fun and afterall, isn't that what it's all about! Oh... I almost forgot to mention... the last day of the trial... Deuce's actual birthday... She turned 6 years old on the day she completed her Schutzhund II... happy birthday Boo Boo!

Update March 2008: Well 2008 is proving to be a good year so far. After getting off track in mid 2007 thanks to life... we got back on track by the end of the year. We were able to obtain our Schutzhund I this past weekend (3/8-9) and finally got the kind of scores that we were looking for. Obedience proved a little more challenging than anticipated due to the uncharacteristic weather for Georgia this time of year... it was an unusually cold morning and the rain turned into snow which means Deuce was exceptionally excited. The cold weather always puts an extra pep in her step. Her normally well positioned heeling was a little forged, but her attention and attitude were great! A few crooked fronts on the recall and retrieves and a Go Out that became and Go Out and Come back cost us a few points and we ended the routine with a very respectful 82. Given the weather, I was happy with Deuce's performance, but know now what I need to focus on. Next came protection, I could not have been happier with her during this phase... a few slow outs, but all in all a really nice picture with strong grips and excellent guards and her control was really nice, as well. I literally squealed and jumped when I heard 97 PRONOUNCED V-rated in Protection ! So, the next morning was tracking and at this point I was a ball of nerves, thinking... it all depends on this phase... will my work have paid off with her? will we get our title? We started the track and it started out nice... 1st article, no problem, 1st corner no problem.... a little change of speed on the 2nd leg and my faulty line handling let her pick up her pace a little too much, but 2nd corner looked good. On the 3rd leg the wind picked up and so did her speed a little, but with the 2nd article found I knew we did it! I was shocked when I heard the score.... 96 V-rating in TRACKING?!!! We ended up walking away with High Tracking, High Obedience, High Protection, High Schutzhund I, and High in Trial! I was ecstatic as it was a great weekend ending w/ 96/82/97a!

Update March 2007: Deuce just turned 4 years old and it has been a busy year for the both of us. We attempted our Schutzhund I and had an interesting weekend where I learned a LOT about why not rushing is a good idea. We passed tracking and protection (pronounced in courage), however, in obedience Deuce decided to save some fun tricks for the very end of the obedience routine and had some fun of her own on the retrieve and go out excercises. We ended up 3 points shy in obedience of obtaining our Schutzhund I. In the end it was my fault for rushing and not proofing those excercises, so now we are back on track and closer than ever to our goal, and hopefully with the kind of scores that we originally wanted. We just attended another GREAT seminar w/ our Belgian friends Gert and Christine and it was nice for them to be able to evaluate our progress and help us problem solve. I'm feeling it.... maybe 2007 is our year (:

 

March 2006: Deuce has just turned 3 years of age and she has proven to be THE MOST FUN dog to live and work with. The past year has been full of changes and challenges, but with everything back on track we are looking forward to a big year. We started 2006 off right with consistent tracking, obedience, and protection training. March began with the best seminar we've ever attended in our time together as a handler-dog team in Schutzhund. Our training group was able to work for an entire 3-day weekend with our new friends from Belgium, Gert Vandermissen and Christine Sonberg. Gert and Christine are members of the Veerle, Belgium Schutzhund club and have been an integral part of the training team that has sent several members of their club to the WUSV to represent their country. Gert is an amazing helper with tremendous presence and feel. Christine is an amazing handler/trainer that was able to make once complex excercises so simple and clear for both handler and dog. Our training group hopes to continue to implement the things we learned that will enable us to not only achieve our titles, but to go on to compete. With the BH under our belt now, Deuce and I are preparing for our Schutzhund I.

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Cumberland Valley SchH and Police Club (USA)-- April 8&9, 2006 Trial

putting on our game faces...

Aaron (w/ Baja BH), Dennis (w/Amos SchH I), Tammie (w/Deuce BH), and Joye (w/Recon BH)

Parker and Tammie enjoying the view from

Cumberland Valley SchH and Police Club-- April 2006

Our training group at the trial-- April 2006

Aaron (BH w/ Baja), Dennis (SchH I w/Amos), Tammie (BH w/Deuce), and Joye (BH w/Recon)

Mar 2006-- Escape bite-- Gert and Christine workshop