"Hold" in Pleasant Valley

Took another trip out East to Pleasant Valley to get some tips and an evaluation on all the training I've been doing from the guru's. Met up with a couple fellow addicts and their dogs.... Zac and Grizz and Justin and Kaz.Everything is going very well! We are right on track! Those are nice words to hear when you are new to handling dogs. Turned out to be great weather, we were wondering at first. Hessian got to go for a real run chasing four wheelers, behind the pack now i bet a few more sessions of that and he will be leading. Was able to get there impression of his search and basic obedience, he even Platzed(down with chin on ground) when fellow addict Zac just spoke it in conversation! Impressive. We were able to get the HN certification done and over with, just waiting on the paper trail now. HN is a toughness certification (Haertenachweis) in which the dog must demonstrate its fearlessness and toughness in the face of furred predator or feral game in a hunting situation. All part of the breeding system and mandatory for breeding certification. Next on the agenda for breed certification is the Hip Dysplasia where i will need to have x rays of his hips examined in Germany, more on this later.

 I was also able to get some tips on FF. I found out that during my training of the "hold" command I was repeating it over and over, (hold, hold, hold...) and saying hold before i put it in the dogs mouth, that is fetch.Hold means hold whatever i tell you too, fetch means reach for it, go get it, on one command only. So after a few tries we were opening the mouth placing the object inside commanding hold once and walking with it. Excellent! Also got help transferring over from the ear pinch method to e collar, which i think is especially important because on "hold" if item is dropped it needs to be an instant correction and I find this much easier than fumbling around to grab the dogs ear. We have been practicing since and as you can see in these photos he is holding everything now, no mouthing no dropping and he is more comfortable in the holding situation. Just about ready to move to fetch!

 Last two notes. Grizz is looking great, training is going well, running with the pack and closely behind the leader who was Nic. Searching well, whoaing and obeying nicely. FF has officially began for him too with hold introduced this weekend!

 Received an email from a man named Jim today (posted in this posts comment section) wanted to talk to me. Talked with him for quite a while doesn't have a dog yet but is addicted none the less.He has been doing his research and enjoyed the sites info. People like this is exactly why I started the page. Looking for a pup now and hope to see him around soon.

 Thanks again Jon and Brian see you soon!

 Oh ya check out the slideshow Fellow Addicts i have added 3 more Jon, Brian and Justin with dogs.