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A couple of months ago I wrote an article about how AKC shows aren't about "the dog" any more (feel free to read it here)
The sad thing is that it isn't just limited to the AKC show ring. Let's talk about the schutzhund world.
First of all, the politics in the schutzhund world will make the AKC shows look like a "model UN" from a local elementary school. (The good news is that not all clubs are as political - if political at all).
We know a local "trainer" (and I'll use the term loosely). First, he does boarding training (people leave their dog at his place for months to be trained). He had a client drop of their female dog and pay him thousands of dollars to train it.
First, he used the female to breed to one of his dogs (deliberate mixed breed) without the owners permission or knowledge but is also working with a well known (world wide) schutzhund trainer to falsify the papers to claim that the dogs are purebred. Even though the breeds are very similar, they are NOT the same breed.
Now, do you think he did any training on the dog while she was in his care and pregnant / nursing?
He also has quite the ego - he claims that no other trainer is as good as he is and all the others will "mess up" (well, he uses another 4 letter word that rhymes with truck). One of his students came back from a seminar (a good one) and was working his dog. The dog was performing great - better than it ever had and it went around the blind and did a great hold and bark. What did this trainer do? He punched the dog on the nose (very hard) and the dog went running back to the owner (the owner didn't see it since he was still on the other side of the blind trying to catch up). And of course, the trainer yells at the guy that the seminar "f-ed up his dog" and that he would require months of work to "fix it".
Yeah, right.
I've also seen the bad and good. The club my wife used to be a member of hosted the schutzhund nationals a few years ago. We saw one person who treated his dogs like crap - he flanked one of his dogs (if your dog is paying attention to something he shouldn't or something like that, sometimes you can grab their flank (the are of "webbed' skin on front of their hind legs) - it's uncomfortable and instantly grabs their attention (and you can pull away before they can get their mouth near you). Well, this guy flanked his dog tot the point that the flank was over the center of his back and the dog was in pain, plus he held it there for several sections (corrections with dogs should be quick and "done with".
But - we've seen the good, too. We had one person whose dog just wan't himself. No, didn't act like he was in pain, discomfort, or otherwise sick, just not himself. We gave him the number to our vet (IMO one of the best in Florida) and he called them and RUSHED his dog there - over a 90 minute drive from where we were. Turns out the dog wasn't sick or anything - just a little burned out (so he gave the dog the two days before the trial "off" - no working, just playing and "lounging around". So, there are good people in the sport, just too much crap IMO.
The sad thing is that it isn't just limited to the AKC show ring. Let's talk about the schutzhund world.
First of all, the politics in the schutzhund world will make the AKC shows look like a "model UN" from a local elementary school. (The good news is that not all clubs are as political - if political at all).
We know a local "trainer" (and I'll use the term loosely). First, he does boarding training (people leave their dog at his place for months to be trained). He had a client drop of their female dog and pay him thousands of dollars to train it.
First, he used the female to breed to one of his dogs (deliberate mixed breed) without the owners permission or knowledge but is also working with a well known (world wide) schutzhund trainer to falsify the papers to claim that the dogs are purebred. Even though the breeds are very similar, they are NOT the same breed.
Now, do you think he did any training on the dog while she was in his care and pregnant / nursing?
He also has quite the ego - he claims that no other trainer is as good as he is and all the others will "mess up" (well, he uses another 4 letter word that rhymes with truck). One of his students came back from a seminar (a good one) and was working his dog. The dog was performing great - better than it ever had and it went around the blind and did a great hold and bark. What did this trainer do? He punched the dog on the nose (very hard) and the dog went running back to the owner (the owner didn't see it since he was still on the other side of the blind trying to catch up). And of course, the trainer yells at the guy that the seminar "f-ed up his dog" and that he would require months of work to "fix it".
Yeah, right.
I've also seen the bad and good. The club my wife used to be a member of hosted the schutzhund nationals a few years ago. We saw one person who treated his dogs like crap - he flanked one of his dogs (if your dog is paying attention to something he shouldn't or something like that, sometimes you can grab their flank (the are of "webbed' skin on front of their hind legs) - it's uncomfortable and instantly grabs their attention (and you can pull away before they can get their mouth near you). Well, this guy flanked his dog tot the point that the flank was over the center of his back and the dog was in pain, plus he held it there for several sections (corrections with dogs should be quick and "done with".
But - we've seen the good, too. We had one person whose dog just wan't himself. No, didn't act like he was in pain, discomfort, or otherwise sick, just not himself. We gave him the number to our vet (IMO one of the best in Florida) and he called them and RUSHED his dog there - over a 90 minute drive from where we were. Turns out the dog wasn't sick or anything - just a little burned out (so he gave the dog the two days before the trial "off" - no working, just playing and "lounging around". So, there are good people in the sport, just too much crap IMO.
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