Importance of titling your own Showline dog and then campaigning in shows - Page 1

I would love to hear others' thoughts on just how you feel about training your own Showline dog. We see a lot of Working line people discuss serious training and titling, I presume, because that was their goal from the start- to TRAIN in one venue or another. That is their passion. My passion is showing the best dog I can breed myself or acquire, however I DO love training as well. I learned fairly early on that it was much easier to buy a fluffy black and red Showline GSD to place in the ring (not Sieger Shows), than to buy one that was trained the way I wanted reliably. This is not just a matter of "paper titles" or even sending them off to someone else to be trained and titled, but more of an opinion question- who among the serious show competitors trains and titles their own and who doesn't, and why? Theresa

I have invested over 9,000 in obtaining pups and raising them trying to get that dog I take hot all the way as my goal. Pups are a crapshoot but it is important to me to take the dog through each step myself. I own a dog that has done it all and I am not the one that did it with him. I do not take credit for such. I do not even though he is sound and able to go out and trial him to say omg I got this and that with a dog I own. My goal is to take puppy to adult and train him/her myself all the way through. I may finally have the pup I can do it with this time around. If not he will be  beloved pet like the others for life and not dumped. I will try again. I am not about chasing the titles just to have them. I used to do sar and love working with my dog. I would in future obtain a female or breed to a female if he does well and I find the right female and keep a pup to train all over again. I have no interest in a kennel or big breeding operation. The next step would be just keeping his line and trying my hand at the next dog.

To me there is no better feeling than taking a young dog and doing the training (show/work), titling, and showing yourself.  The sense of accomplishment is my motivation. 
I love doing it this way and doubt it will change for me.

I think the main reason that more people don't do this is time.  It takes at least twice as long to do it yourself. 

Best Regards,
Cheryl

Awesome, I agree with both of you. :-) Theresa

Great topic.  When you train and title your own dog you have invaluable information about the character of the dog.  You know your dog with all his/her strengths and weaknesses and if your dog is breeding material it's helpful information when it comes time to choose breeding partners.  The downside is that it takes much longer in this country.  Perhaps if showline owners trained and titled their own dogs we would see fewer fail bitework at the sieger shows.  Under pressure a dog always reverts to his foundation and if that foundation isn't solid failure is more likely.
Judy

I've owned a senior dog that was already HOT titled. She was a very good "learner" dog and I've always given credit for that to her previous owner/trainer. I would encourage anyone who has never trained and titled a dog themselves to not dismiss the possibility of giving a home to an already trained older dog. If you've trained and titled a dog, you won't need to do that, but I have not. It was good for the dog too. She was excited to go to training class, was used as the demo dog for agility and OB. I took her to shows, she got her CGC, her TC and 2 legs for her novice rally before she died suddenly. She taught me a lot that I can apply to my new dog.

 

Blitzen I agree with you. I think having a learning dog is a really great idea for some people. For me using my pitbull as a means to learn through was a great thing. no one taught her before me but having her as an easy to succeed dog in the sport of schutzhund has really helped me so when I got my first showline I knew exactly how I wanted to raise it. 

My TD always recommended people get a learning dog either fully trained first, or a dog with potential to practice on and make mistakes on when it isn't a big deal to that dog. 

As for the OT. I commend those who get out there and HOT their dogs. I am currently working towards that myself and I have a new found respect for those that do it. It is a lot of work, takes a lot of time, but I think in the end its all worth it. The bond, the experience, the knowledge all gained in the journey is priceless. 

My dogs breeder does this and it feels great to be a part of a very family type feeling that we are all in this together working on it. I feel my breeder knows their dogs very well because they do this themselves. 
Showing yourself can be harder because of politics. So I hold even more respect for someone who can do all of that themselves. Even if they don't place the best, its the fact that they have built a long lasting bond and trust with their dog and worked so hard to get where they are. Anyone who titles their own dog and shows their own dog is a success. Even if its not to the top, you have my sincere and complete respect for doing so. 

Love it, some excellent points! T

I can only add this to S-hund's post. If you want to walk the walk you have got to dedicate a certain time frame every single day for training. Got a headache? Tough, get out of bed anyway. Anyone can brag about what they are going to do or have done, but where's the beef. Show me a title. Titles are important and they validate claims. I am convinced that most well bred GSD's can do anything asked of them. It's up to the handler, owner, trainer to take them as far as they can go and that doesn't get done from the keyboard of a computer.

I'm looking forward to all of us sharing our progress with our HOT dogs.

 

Shamefully, I do brag a bit about my accomplishments with my two young dogs. We are very early in our journey, but we are doing it. It may not be much by others' standards... yet.. but I am BHOT of both of my dogs. My female is 2yrs old, and so far we have her AD and BH. She is very immature, so we are going slow, but at a minimum, she will achieve some tracking titles, as that is her true love. I LOVE tracking her. She is a joy to track. My male is almost 16 months old, and we have accomplished his BH at 15 months and one week. I have high hopes for him, but need to remember he IS only 16 months old...patience, patience.... sometimes the hardest thing to remember is to train each dog according to THEIR time table..mentally and physically, not ours.