Some of you know that I have adopted Keeta from the shelter when she was about a year old. Guessing from some of the behaviours she exhibited at the time, I think she may have lived her entire life up to that point chained in an isolated area or small yard. She was friendly and sickly when I got her. As she got better and put on weight, she became friendly, overbearing, challenging, confrontational, out-of-control. I turned to obedience training with her in hopes of taming the beast, and the changes were nothing short of astounding. It was like someone had reached into her brain and flipped a switch! Interested in continuing the training, I joined our Schutzhund club, and have been having a lot of fun working with her. We do all three phases, and obedience is by far her best one. We do bite-work with her also, and though there is still a long way to go, she loves it, I love it, and Keeta keeps showing improvement at a steady rate.
This last weekend, our Schutzhund club had the pleasure to host one of Canada's top international level competitors for a three day seminar. He has been here before, and we always enjoy his training wisdom, dog knowledge and personalized help.
He said that he is amazed at what we have done with Keeta, how far she has come, how far we have brought her along in a year. Keeta will never be as strong in any of the phases as the Working Line GSDs, but for a dog of her ability, temperament, and mental make-up, we have brought her PAST her innate maximum potential in both obedience training and in protection work. He does not believe that anyone else that he knows, or any club that he is familiar with, would have been able to achieve this much with the type of dog that Keeta is (I take it he meant by "type" a pet quality dog, as opposed to a bona-fide, specialty-bred working dog). He repeated several times, to several people, that Keeta has passed and exceeded the level of training that she would reasonably be expected to be able to achieve.
And the club concensus always has been, and still is, that Keeta is the best darn heeler in the whole club! My friend keeps jokingly kicking herself over it "We have NOTHING but working line GSDs in the club, and when it comes to heeling, Keeta puts them all to shame!" Well, what can I say, I got a pretty special little girl.
This last weekend, our Schutzhund club had the pleasure to host one of Canada's top international level competitors for a three day seminar. He has been here before, and we always enjoy his training wisdom, dog knowledge and personalized help.
He said that he is amazed at what we have done with Keeta, how far she has come, how far we have brought her along in a year. Keeta will never be as strong in any of the phases as the Working Line GSDs, but for a dog of her ability, temperament, and mental make-up, we have brought her PAST her innate maximum potential in both obedience training and in protection work. He does not believe that anyone else that he knows, or any club that he is familiar with, would have been able to achieve this much with the type of dog that Keeta is (I take it he meant by "type" a pet quality dog, as opposed to a bona-fide, specialty-bred working dog). He repeated several times, to several people, that Keeta has passed and exceeded the level of training that she would reasonably be expected to be able to achieve.
And the club concensus always has been, and still is, that Keeta is the best darn heeler in the whole club! My friend keeps jokingly kicking herself over it "We have NOTHING but working line GSDs in the club, and when it comes to heeling, Keeta puts them all to shame!" Well, what can I say, I got a pretty special little girl.