# Only one trainer for Schutzhund??



## My5dogs (Aug 30, 2013)

My husband will be training our future pup for Schutzhund and handling him as well...does this mean when he is not home I cannot do any of this training with the puppy?? Will it confuse him or can I do it as well? Will ask my breeder but would like other opinions as well. Thanks!


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## LoveEcho (Mar 4, 2011)

The puppy will be fine. In fact, it's better if you're both involved in his training.

Edit: I meant in the aspect of basic obedience and whatnot. Though I do know several dogs who are handled by different people in IPO (usually husband/wife teams), I'm not sure how it impacts the dog's training at that level.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

My husband does not train my Schutzhund dog(s) (or any of my sport dogs, really, whether it's SchH or agility, flyball, etc). He can of course do basic obedience or whatever commands are necessary to get them to obey around the house, go for a walk, go in and out of the house. You should both be involved in the basic obedience, house manners, crate training, potty training. Beyond that I don't "share" my dogs so I can't say whether it works or is confusing but I don't think it's very common.


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

Liesje said:


> My husband does not train my Schutzhund dog(s) (or any of my sport dogs, really, whether it's SchH or agility, flyball, etc). He can of course do basic obedience or whatever commands are necessary to get them to obey around the house, go for a walk, go in and out of the house. You should both be involved in the basic obedience, house manners, crate training, potty training. Beyond that I don't "share" my dogs so I can't say whether it works or is confusing but I don't think it's very common.


 
This is basically the way we do it as well. I have very little interaction with my fiancé's competition dog and she has very little interaction with mine. As Lies said, just enough for her to listen to me when she's free in the house and vise versa.


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

What Lies said.


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

My SO doesn't train our dogs anything except house manners and basic obedience. He's not into training and prefers to just play with the dogs and have them as companions, so it's not really an issue here.

However, back when I first started Duke, he did come and get involved with a little bit of it.... enough to see what the dog was learning and he had some reserves on the type of training we were doing (he didn't understand what Schutzhund was and got nervous about training the protection phase). This did not change anything with Duke and he never showed any problem with both of us working him. Before I pulled him, he was also used to show other people how to train some of the obedience commands... since he was very forgiving with mistakes, he was perfect to learn from instead of a puppy/green dog that's trying to learn as well. I've seen a TON of dogs out at training that are shared with couples, or trained by others on a weekly basis. All of them do great as long as both handlers are on the same page with training.

With that said... I do not, and will not share Storm. :blush:  My SO is not allowed to teach her anything other than simple home manner stuff and basic home/pet obedience. IF he knew what he was doing, and did the training with me.... then sure. But, since he doesn't.... I won't allow him to "mess her up"... I do enough of that on my own! lol!


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

I would add to what others have said; to have separate commands for "SchH training" and "house commands." My wife doesn't get involved in training my dogs and will not reinforce commands. I use German for my commands and she uses English. If two people will be involved with the dog, both must be on exactly the same page and extremely consistent. I use "come" when I am in the house and my wife can use that command. I use "HIER" for a lightning fast recall and only outdoors. Since my dog can not run full speed through my house, Hier is not used. Down is used by my wife for the dog to simply lie down. I use "PLATZ" which means down and stay, immediately. Separate commands make things a lot easier when one person will not enforce the commands or expect the same level of performance. 

My wife has taught my dogs one command and that is "treat." The dogs run to the kitchen when she says that word. 

If you are going to be serious about training and competing I would recommend a different set of commands then you use everyday around the house for certain exercises. Especially, if others in the household will not reward / enforce the type of precision and performance that you want from those commands.


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## My5dogs (Aug 30, 2013)

Thanks for the replies I think it's best as well that hubby only does the sport training I understand there are totally different commands between regular house training and sport training. I stay home so he will be with me the majority of the time and will learn from us both house manners and the basic indoor rules.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

A couple I see at training have individual dogs they train in IPO. 
The dogs sometimes have a hard time when the handlers spouse is in view...it is a huge distraction. And they don't ever work both dogs at the same time because the dogs would rather interact with each other than the handler. I know this is management on the family's part, and can be easily dealt with...but these people seem to have issues almost every time they train!

One other thing that happens, if a spouse goes to a trial but seldom goes to the training, during the trial that person(or family members) may be a huge distraction for the dog.
I think dogs need to work regardless, but I've seen it happen quite a few times where the dog is so concerned(air scenting) about family being there that it won't focus on what is going on with the handler.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

Maybe I'm weird but I always have my SO on the field when I train. He's usually my spotter in obedience and tracking. And sometimes he is out working his dog at the same time. My dogs have had to learn that work time isn't a social hour, whether you know the other person/dog on the field or not. Only issue is my female not taking him seriously enough in protection, since he is typically our helper as well. 

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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

GatorDog said:


> Maybe I'm weird but I always have my SO on the field when I train. He's usually my spotter in obedience and tracking. And sometimes he is out working his dog at the same time. My dogs have had to learn that work time isn't a social hour, whether you know the other person/dog on the field or not. Only issue is my female not taking him seriously enough in protection, since he is typically our helper as well.


And that is the way it is with my clubs TD and helper...They are husband and wife and are on the field together often, he works her dog, they spot each other in OB and they track together. 

I know it is a management issue w/ the couple in my previous post(they are at a different club I go to).


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## My5dogs (Aug 30, 2013)

Oh geez maybe it's better I'm just outside standing there while he's training him etc or I won't be able to go to a trial. We joke around saying our pup will see me at a trial and not perform but it sounds as though it can actually happen


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## mycobraracr (Dec 4, 2011)

GatorDog said:


> Maybe I'm weird but I always have my SO on the field when I train. He's usually my spotter in obedience and tracking. And sometimes he is out working his dog at the same time. My dogs have had to learn that work time isn't a social hour, whether you know the other person/dog on the field or not. Only issue is my female not taking him seriously enough in protection, since he is typically our helper as well.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


 
Not weird to me. Kiersten and I are the exact same way. The dogs don't seem to care if we are on the field. I also decoy for her. I try not to but sometimes it happens. I also wanted to add, that for some reason Kiersten really likes sending her dog to bite me 


Alexis- Kiersten is always asking me if a new Carma video is up. I think she likes her


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

In cases where I've seen a dog basically blow trial exercises because a spouse was nearby, the dogs were already showing stress and kind of checking out. I don't know that the spouse would have been an issue if the dog was having a decent trial day, it just seems like the dog was already drifting, mentally, out of drive, and focusing on the spouse instead was another calming signal.

My husband has almost zero interest in dog training but often gets enlisted to help in various venues. He's dabbled in protection work and he often gets dragged along to flyball. I honestly think he could box load for Nikon's team and Nikon would not notice or care (and likewise, Jason who had done a lot of helperwork and suitework with Nikon and I was box loading for Nikon many times and Nikon never batted an eye). I've had him spot for Schutzhund obedience or help me with tracking. It's kind of nice because he's pretty good at using my camera and getting photos and video for me. Since I'm normally the photographer for everyone else I have to bring someone along if I want 2 pictures of my own dogs. But as far as the actual training of the dogs...nope, he does nada.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Slamdunc said:


> I would add to what others have said; to have separate commands for "SchH training" and "house commands." My wife doesn't get involved in training my dogs and will not reinforce commands. I use German for my commands and she uses English. If two people will be involved with the dog, both must be on exactly the same page and extremely consistent. I use "come" when I am in the house and my wife can use that command. I use "HIER" for a lightning fast recall and only outdoors. Since my dog can not run full speed through my house, Hier is not used. Down is used by my wife for the dog to simply lie down. I use "PLATZ" which means down and stay, immediately. Separate commands make things a lot easier when one person will not enforce the commands or expect the same level of performance.
> 
> My wife has taught my dogs one command and that is "treat." The dogs run to the kitchen when she says that word.
> 
> If you are going to be serious about training and competing I would recommend a different set of commands then you use everyday around the house for certain exercises. Especially, if others in the household will not reward / enforce the type of precision and performance that you want from those commands.


Good post. My wife is very serious with training Zoey and now Ranger, correct commands are a must. Im a bit of slacker when it came to this and just made stuff up when training Tuke. Tuke is very good with her OB, but it frustrated my wife and confused the dog when she tried to do anything with her.


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