Archive for July, 2008
Rommel comes out of retirement?
Sunday, July 13th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Well……Rommel got to go to training tonight. :) I have been taking him on and off, mostly I just brush up on obedience and maybe tracking here and there. It is more just for him to have fun than anything. His bitework is not what I think it should be, so I kind of “retired” him to the life of a house dog…
Now, I am feeling a little pressure to bring him back out and maybe do his Schutzhund I. We have a trainer at our club visiting for a few weeks (who I respect very much as a trainer, and as a person) and he said, oh come’on just bring him out and lets give him a few bites. Rommel has always had a very strong bark, nice tight bark and hold, and a solid “out” off the sleeve. Those I would say are his good points. His grips are kind of hit or miss though. Could we work through it? Probably…..but I dont know. Anyway, said “trainer” thinks that Rommel could attain a Schutzhund I, with a little effort. Maybe even farther, who knows. I have had several people tell me this. Maybe I just dont see it? I dont know. Rommel is my boy, he is my pet, I love him dearly, he sleeps in my bed, and I will have him until the day that he dies…..he will always be HOME with me……but he is not MY idea of what a schutzhund dog, especially a doberman SHOULD be. So, I guess that is where I am torn. His obedience is actually pretty nice now, and he has great focus. His tracking is so-so, and the bite work……well……I guess we will see. I know he will not be the next big thing…..I am not expecting a V rating, actually I have NO real expectations. Maybe that is a good thing. I think I will just bring him back out and we will see where it takes us. Either way, he is my heart. I love that dog.
Ziris - Well, my little ZZ is just amazing. She is a nice young dog, and I have high hopes for her. She hates obedience, but I think that is just a fact of life that I am going to have to live with. She will hopefully be trialing for her BH at the end of summer and maybe a Schutzhund I sometime this winter.
Brownie - He just rocks :) I also have very high hopes for him. He has been going through a bit of a funky stage lately. He thinks he can growl at people and is not super social. He is improving though. It is going to be something that I am going to have to keep a very close eye on. Once he knows you, he is a lover and a big goof ball though. He did some bite work tonight, and he did awesome. He has tons of drive. It was almost comical to watch. He would get frustrated in the puppy circle when the helper would not come to him, and he would just bark, then start bucking like a bronco trying to escape his harness so he could find his OWN way to the helper. LOL. We are also starting back at breed handling classes next wednesday. We have had a two week break. The classes were cancelled. But, we will be back to normal next week.
My husband had back surgery on Thursday, so things have been a bit hectic. But, I have been able to make it out to training in the evenings still. My mom came and stayed with him while I was gone the first night, and now he is mobile and up and moving around. He cant wait to get back in the seat of a helicopter and is hoping that all of this is over and done with and he is back to work VERY soon!
I guess that is about it……….I promise to try to update more frequently. :) We are training almost everyday while our awesome helper is in town 