# BH Plan Opinions



## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

I have done my math and will be able to take in my new shepherd puppy in January at the earliest  I know I would like to do sports, etc. with my pup (which I have mentioned often). But I have a question for the members who have done/do SchH, breed, do obedience, etc.

While I was with my coworker on Thursday, helping out with the club shepherds, I noticed most of them had their BH (American showline dogs). Now, of the dogs with their BH only a handful were actually working in SchH. 

My idea is this: Even if my pup lacks the SchH temperament (to participate in the sport itself), I would like to try and get him/her a BH title. I want to do this mainly as a bonding and training experience. I know that the BH is a thorough test, so I figure that if he/she and I are able to pass it at the proper age that we at least have training and socialization down.  Any thoughts?


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

A BH is hardly a thorough test, but it's a good start. No reason not to do it if you want to. It's fun and good training, so go for it.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

The BH is temperament and obedience only and I would work on that even if your dog isn't going to excel in protection. 


> I want to do this mainly as a bonding and training experience.


An excellent reason to give it a try! 
And with the right helper starting the foundation on your pup in the protection phase, maybe you'll be surprised! 
Don't forget about tracking, that is a great way to bond, and learn about your dog.


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> The BH is temperament and obedience only and I would work on that even if your dog isn't going to excel in protection.
> 
> An excellent reason to give it a try!
> And with the right helper starting the foundation on your pup in the protection phase, maybe you'll be surprised!
> Don't forget about tracking, that is a great way to bond, and learn about your dog.


 Great!!! I was wondering about other activities like tracking... I'll definitely check it out  I know I'll be doing CGC (more as a trial of how far along training and socialization are coming), and some obedience competitions (IF the pup enjoys it, of course).


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Get Purely Positive Training by Sheila Booth, great puppy chapter/foundation training.


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

onyx'girl said:


> Get Purely Positive Training by Sheila Booth, great puppy chapter/foundation training.


 Will do!!! If I'm not mistaken, they have it for the Nook. Thank you for the tip!!!


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I have a pure working line dog that got the short end of the genetic stick and has never been a prospect for protection work, but instead I did a ton of obedience with her. We did the FO which is SDA's version of a BH and the OB1 which is their version of SChH1 obedience. I would have also done a normal BH and SchH1 obedience but never got around to getting her yet another scoreboard so we just did the SDA obedience (very similar and in some exercises the exact same as SchH) until I retired her from competing. So YES you can do just the BH/obedience stuff and have fun!


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

Liesje said:


> I have a pure working line dog that got the short end of the genetic stick and has never been a prospect for protection work, but instead I did a ton of obedience with her. We did the FO which is SDA's version of a BH and the OB1 which is their version of SChH1 obedience. I would have also done a normal BH and SchH1 obedience but never got around to getting her yet another scoreboard so we just did the SDA obedience (very similar and in some exercises the exact same as SchH) until I retired her from competing. So YES you can do just the BH/obedience stuff and have fun!


 Awesome!!!  I'm glad to see that someone else had the same idea, especially one of the more knowledgable members. I'm definitely going to go for it


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Yep she was pretty good for obedience, and she's a SUPER tracker but at the time I knew nothing about tracking. She also really loved Rally Obedience. I think regular AKC obedience would have been too competitive for us (past the Novice level) but she liked rally because she's a dog that performs for the owner and the praise. I use treats to help train her new skills but she REALLY wants is attention and affirmation, never cared about any toy, never tugged anything. She is almost 9 years and retired from training and competition but she was a good dog for me to learn stuff with, very calm-tempered and not easily distracted even in a chaotic environment like a rally trial.


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

Liesje said:


> Yep she was pretty good for obedience, and she's a SUPER tracker but at the time I knew nothing about tracking. She also really loved Rally Obedience. I think regular AKC obedience would have been too competitive for us (past the Novice level) but she liked rally because she's a dog that performs for the owner and the praise. I use treats to help train her new skills but she REALLY wants is attention and affirmation, never cared about any toy, never tugged anything. She is almost 9 years and retired from training and competition but she was a good dog for me to learn stuff with, very calm-tempered and not easily distracted even in a chaotic environment like a rally trial.


 I'll definitely be looking into those, too. So far I've observed SchH, BH, show, herding (which is what Dakoda does), and agility. I've also looked into flyball. But I just feel a strong draw to obedience events, not so much for competition as for a good bonding experience and training in general. I'm about to head to B&N and buy the book Onyx'Girl suggested, so I'll see if I can find anything on rally, tracking, etc while I'm there. When I get home I'll see if I can find any events nearby within the next few months that I could attend and observe


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

We have a few people in our club who are working toward a BH and never plan to title beyond that. Each has different reasons, (one was rescued as an older dog, one has a missing canine tooth, etc) but as long as they want to do it and the dog enjoys it then we are great with it. We've had a few that started out this way and then decided to continue on to doing some AKC obedience titles as well, so it wasn't the end of the line by any means.


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

bocron said:


> We have a few people in our club who are working toward a BH and never plan to title beyond that. Each has different reasons, (one was rescued as an older dog, one has a missing canine tooth, etc) but as long as they want to do it and the dog enjoys it that we are great with it. We've had a few that started out this way and then decided to continue on to doing some AKC obedience titles as well, so it wasn't the end of the line by any means.


 Well, I don't plan on getting the BH and then just stopping. I want to try out a few different things. I just feel a draw towards getting the BH, to bond with the pup as it grows and we work on training. And I also feel that because it is so thorough, that it would not only be fun, a good training/bonding experience, but it would be a very good measure of how far we've come in training. 

Right now, I plan on doing puppy classes, then obedience classes, getting BH, CGC, and finding an activity/sport that we can both enjoy and bond over!!!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Kymmey, B&N probably won't have that book in stock. Dogwise would be my source for it. 
Another great source is bowwowflix, you can rent dvd's very cheaply and they have a wide selection....check it out!


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## GsdLoverr729 (Jun 20, 2010)

Yep, I didn't see it there. I'm going to order it from DogWise  Thanks for that!!! I'll check out Bowwowflix as well. Thank you so much for the tips!!! Keep them coming if you have any other suggestions!!!  
I'm also thinking of doing Mind Games. I've seen a lot of positive reactions to it on here so I figure it must be worth a try


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