Xander
(Hard's Richard)
Xander was my first Schutzhund dog, and I feel very fortunate to have found such a forgiving dog to learn on. I made many mistakes in his training, and in spite of this fact, he didn't bite me (very hard) and continued to work for me. He was not an intelligent dog, which probably helped him to tolerate so much bad training.
In the end, Xander and I placed second at the 1999 DVG Nationals and qualified for the DHV Meisterschaft in Germany. This is our story:
In 1991, I decided I wanted a dog to trial in Schutzhund. I wanted a German Shepherd and was looking at Dog World Magazine, which led me toward some German-style show dogs. Thank God I waited to buy until I learned a little more. I quickly learned the difference between show and working line German Shepherds and started looking for a young dog from working lines.
In my search, a friend mentioned that a good young dog might be available but he was a Malinois. She had more experience than me and convinced me that "Xander" would be a great first dog for me.
So I bought the 22-month-old male Malinois and started my Schutzhund career. Xander was a good dog, and very forgiving of all my early training mistakes. He was not a super strong dog in the bite work and he hated tracking, but he was easy in obedience and had lots of drive to work. I trained a lot and titled him to SchH3 with some good scores along the way.
Next, I wanted to trial the DVG nationals that were scheduled in San Diego in the summer of 1997. I knew I needed help in the protection and I had found a great trainer in Sacramento, Brian Mowry. Brian agreed to coach me, and for several months I made the 6 hour drive north every other week. I would go for two or three days training and work Xander several times per day. We trained every phase together and over a period of months made some really significant improvements in Xander's work.
The sun, stars and moon all aligned in San Diego that June, and Xander made a 287 for 2nd place at the DVG Nationals. This placing also earned us the chance to compete at the DHV (German) Meisterschaft.