My new dog is on his way from Germany!

[Sunflowers]

Even I can see he is not what you initially said you were looking for.
I foresee you having to make time for a lot of training with him.
Hope we are all wrong and that you will be thrilled with the dog when he arrives.

[onyx'girl]

If you don't have the time to invest in working with him to bring out his potential...you will be doing a disservice to the dog. He still has a puppy brain at two! Please find a club to work with you on this.

[Mrs.K]

Klz, your family sounds like mine. My family used to be heavily involved in competition with dogs but then us kids got into competing with the horses. Both my sisters are professionals in dressage and jumping. My sister earned the golden award for winning ten S-dressages and S-jumping competition. And my other sister is a very succesful trainer whose studends were at thr regionals and nationals in youth competitions. My little sister took over my parents horse farm and runs the business now. I do realize that you cannot do both. If you are seriously involved with horses, yes there is no time outside the sport. I know that best since I have seen the transition.

Dino, however is a young dog. Like Chris said, he has a decent foundation but there is a difference of a dog being reliable on the field and a dog being reliable in every day life.

I do hope that he is the dog you are looking for. I would advise to get a trainer and to continue to train so you learn how to handle the dog. Think of it as buying a new, green horse that is somewhat broken and at an E-A level but you want to compete at an M and S level. You cannot get there without a trainer.


Now this dog will be a family dog. Since you are a competitor I understand that you don't want anything less than perfection. You wouldn't let you daughter ride into the woods with an unreliable horse. Test the dog yourself. Get a trainer, check the dog like you would check a horse and then make your decision. Buying such a dog is no less of a hassle than buying a competition horse. Put the same care of selection into it than you would with a horse.

[Sunflowers]

Great advice from Mrs K.

[Elaine]

He appears to be a nice green dog, but you got ripped off on the price. You can get a much better trained dog for that price.

[bocron]

One thing we stress to our clients is that a dog (especially a green dog as in the video) is not trained, he is started. The skills need to be continually worked. Without work, not only won't those basic skills improve, they will deteriorate and/or disappear altogether. Being a horse person, this is probably not new to you, but with a prey animal (a horse) the mind set is vastly different from a predatory animal (a dog, especially a herding/working type dog). The dog needs further input and training to help him understand the big picture, when to protect, when to obey, etc.
He looks like a nice boy, find a club and continue his training, you won't regret it I'm sure .

[qbchottu]

Originally Posted by Elaine

He appears to be a nice green dog, but you got ripped off on the price. You can get a much better trained dog for that price.

haha I didn't want to say it so I'm glad you did

[Sunflowers]

Originally Posted by Elaine

He appears to be a nice green dog, but you got ripped off on the price. You can get a much better trained dog for that price.

Do we know how much OP actually paid for this dog?

[Mrs.K]

Originally Posted by Sunflowers

Do we know how much OP actually paid for this dog?

If it was 10-12K the OP could have gotten a fully titled dog. Even up to IPO3. That wouldn't have been a top notch competition dog but you can get a solid dog for that money. I wish I had 12k to spend on a dog.

[qbchottu]

Originally Posted by KLZ86

Their starting price for the GSD was about 10K and that is what my friend here in TX who also has a GSD ended up paying for his so I figured that was about the standard rate for what I was looking for.

I'm assuming around 10k - can get some lovely dogs for this price (titled!).