# Where do you guys train at?



## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

Hi! I know I haven't been on this board for a while. I'm busy trying to form a Mondioring or French ring club here in Tucson. We have a good group of people who are an experienced trainers. I'm sure you guys know some of these people :-D 

I've been trying to find a park to train since I was told that it is very hard to find one. I think I have a luck with this park that has a horse property. I talked to a co-worker and asked for the office phone number. He said they might want to see a demo first before we are given a permission to use the enclosed pen. I really hope we get to hear someone from the office! I'm keeping my finger crossed. 

We used to have a schutzhund club that tend to train at Ft lowell park, but that had to stop because of complaints. Have you had similar problem to this? How did you manage to get a park or find somewhere to train? I was told by several that cops would stop by and asked them to leave. No one was getting hurt at the park and their dogs were not attacking civilians or anything.

Where do you guys tend to train? How did you manage to deal with civilians that walk by and see you people doing something scary or crazy? ](*,)


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## Julie Ward (Oct 1, 2007)

We train on private property. One of our club members has acreage in the country and he privacy fenced it and put up a clubhouse building complete with heat, a kitchen and living room with big screen tv and dvd player.


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## Kristen Cabe (Mar 27, 2006)

I train at a local girls summer camp (that's where SchH club meets), so no one can see us unless they get lost. :lol:

Tracking and OB are the only things I do in 'public,' aside from Jak's drug training, and I do that away from people, so I don't usually ever have a problem.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Lindsay Janes said:


> Where do you guys tend to train? How did you manage to deal with civilians that walk by and see you people doing something scary or crazy? ](*,)



We don't have problems finding training areas so I can't really help with that, however, when people see you, use that opportunity to educate them about your sport. Invite them to watch and explain a little about what you are doing. Dogs, as you well know, can be a real magnet to people. Rather than let them get some weird ideas, let them know what each step accomplishes and how it helps attain your final goal.

DFrost


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

We rent a field (fenced) from a farmer. It as a barn/shed on one corner. We put up some not-great lights too.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

David Frost said:


> We don't have problems finding training areas so I can't really help with that, however, when people see you, use that opportunity to educate them about your sport. Invite them to watch and explain a little about what you are doing. Dogs, as you well know, can be a real magnet to people. Rather than let them get some weird ideas, let them know what each step accomplishes and how it helps attain your final goal.
> 
> DFrost


Thats happened to me before. One night we were in an industrial parking lot and some folks came to see what the screaming was for.

Another night a cop pulled up to see what we were doing, she was cool with it.

Another night somewhere else a cop pulled up to see why there were 4 cars parked near a bank at 6am LOL. We showed ID's and explained we were tracking our dogs in the grass field. She was cool with it too and hung out for a bit before going home.

Talking to people and letting em see how normal and social the dogs are (well, we leave the antisocial ones in the truck LOL) really makes a huge difference.


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## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

Connie Sutherland said:


> We rent a field (fenced) from a farmer. It as a barn/shed on one corner. We put up some not-great lights too.


 Umm, how did you know this farmer? How did you guys find him or her? I might can ask some farmers around, but I know I will need to adversite somehow. I don't want to be so rude. How much the farmer charge you guys for renting his property? (Just curious) I'm not going to give up if we didn't get the park with a horse property. I got the number from the co worker and hand it to Ben. I had a good conversation with the co worker who works at the park. He is pretty open to the idea even though I told him about the complaints. I was being HONEST about everything. I don't want anyone to find us suspicious or anything. 

I asked him to call the office, but I think he is trying to avoid calling the office. I don't mind to call the office today, but I don't want to make people at the office frustrated with the operator. I have aim that I use to make phone calls and an operator's job is to interpret what I said on the IM. It can be very frustrating for hearing people who don't like to wait on the phone too long. People who aren't used to IP relay will hang up on me. :-s I think he is scared for some reasons. I don't know if he had a good experience with previous park. :-s

I have thought about creating a big banner that lets everyone know that we are a MR or FR club. Anyone with questions are welcome to ask. Something like that. I don't know? Do you guys think that is going to be helpful? I wish I can hear and talk so I can educate other people. I think someone will have to do that job, but not me.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

We pay about 100 bucks a year at a public park. It has been a schutzhund field for the past 15 or so yrs. Blinds and light were put up by my TD and his brother at the beginning.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

If I recall correctly, we kept our eyes open for a few months for a farmer (a little south and inland from me is major farm country, where just about all the lettuce, artichokes, strawberries, etc., in the US come from) who had a big fallow field with some kind of shelter on it and a fence.

Then we went to him and asked. 

In fact, he was one of the local farmers' market people, and we asked him at the farmers' market. (The stands all have the names of the farms on them.)


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## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

Bob Scott said:


> We pay about 100 bucks a year at a public park. It has been a schutzhund field for the past 15 or so yrs. Blinds and light were put up by my TD and his brother at the beginning.



I can't understand why we can't do the same thing with the park here in Tucson. What's the name of the public park that you guys use? Don't you mind if I can pass the park information to those people in office as a reference? I want them to know that other clubs have used a public park and no problem for 15 years right? 

:grin:


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

We pay him $200 a year.

Not as cheap as Bob's, but pretty darned cheap.... under $4 a week. And it's just for us.... we have the gate key and the shed key.


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## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

Connie Sutherland said:


> If I recall correctly, we kept our eyes open for a few months for a farmer (a little south and inland from me is major farm country, where just about all the lettuce, artichokes, strawberries, etc., in the US come from) who had a big fallow field with some kind of shelter on it and a fence.
> 
> Then we went to him and asked.
> 
> In fact, he was one of the local farmers' market people, and we asked him at the farmers' market. (The stands all have the names of the farms on them.)


 You guys are so LUCKY! I'm not going to give up! Once we get a park, I can start on looking for a dog to train! :grin:


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## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

Connie Sutherland said:


> We pay him $200 a year.
> 
> Not as cheap as Bob's, but pretty darned cheap.... under $4 a week. And it's just for us.... we have the gate key and the shed key.


 Not bad, it is better than having no place to train!


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Lindsay Janes said:


> You guys are so LUCKY! I'm not going to give up! Once we get a park, I can start on looking for a dog to train! :grin:


Well, yeah, we are ...... but we made it happen. I mean, we searched out the field, then searched out the farmer..... 

It took us almost a year from deciding to find a place to actually having the keys in out grubby mitts.


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## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

Connie Sutherland said:


> Well, yeah, we are ...... but we made it happen. I mean, we searched out the field, then searched out the farmer.....
> 
> It took us almost a year from deciding to find a place to actually having the keys in out grubby mitts.


 I'm going to keep on looking and I know I will find somewhere. I'm sure it takes a while. Does the farmer get to watch you guys training? Just curious


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Lindsay Janes said:


> I'm going to keep on looking and I know I will find somewhere. I'm sure it takes a while. Does the farmer get to watch you guys training? Just curious



He certainly could if he wanted. He never does. The field is probably a half-mile from his house.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Lindsay Janes said:


> I can't understand why we can't do the same thing with the park here in Tucson. What's the name of the public park that you guys use? Don't you mind if I can pass the park information to those people in office as a reference? I want them to know that other clubs have used a public park and no problem for 15 years right?
> 
> :grin:


It's Lone Wolf Park in St. Peters Missouri. They've never had a complaint about us. The Jr league football leage that also trains on two other fields at the same place are another story. Macho, Walter Mitty, wannabee coaches. :lol:


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## Sharon Adams (Nov 6, 2007)

I have been leasing/living on/renting space on farms for the past 30 years now .
The going rate in this area(Md/Pa line) will run around $150.00 an acre per year for land space, have to work out other details if you use buildings, use their electric etc.
I either place an ad in the local community papers stating what I am looking to rent and why, or will actually stop a farmer when I see him out in the fields, and/or drive up to their barn or house and knock on their door.
There are many farms that has land that sits idle, govt pays them not to farm for years at a time. Other times they have land that is not suitable to use for crops or grazing, so they rent it cheaply to cover their taxes for the year that way.
Don't be shy, the most they can do is say 'No'! 
Good luck finding a place to train!


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## Erin Sullivan (Jul 24, 2007)

our club usually uses a state park that has a few semi-remote fields that aren't overly busy most of the year.


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

I've trained at quite a few locations over the years. 

Fields near an industrial park - different places, but same basic theme, many times they don't mind renting out an empty field, and since they were in industrial parks not much traffic and nobody around to really complain

Horse facilities - some will have an arena that can be rented a few times a week, currently I have a rodeo grounds that I can use whenever I want. Since it's not used for lessons or anything on a regular basis, only for horse shows or rodeo's, it's vacant most of the time. In the summer I just have to find out their weekend show schedule since I can't use it those days, but we can use it weekdays pretty much year round. I've trained at other horse facilities also, we either rented an outdoor arena, pasture or indoor arena area.

Farmer's fields - in my area many times we just pull over to a produce stand and ask if we can use the field for training or tracking. 

State parks - sometimes you run into problems, but sometimes you finally find a park that training at isn't an issue. My FR club currently trains at a park, and we are looking into actually renting part of it for trials in the future. 

Other state owned facilities, I've trained and trialed at a number of state run "business parks", usually agricultural related.

Agility, obedience, etc facilities. In this area, many obedience clubs have a facility and it's not in use 24/7 So they rent it out to other dog related clubs to make a little money, or help cover expenses. 

Schools - Some schools will allow training at their facility after hours. The best ones to look into are ones that are already allowing a dog club to rent a field for a trial/show, but others will also allow it sometimes.

One thing you can do is ask the Sch clubs in your area where they train. Sometimes they are using a facility that is available on other days/times and you can rent the same facility.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Kadi said
"One thing you can do is ask the Sch clubs in your area where they train. Sometimes they are using a facility that is available on other days/times and you can rent the same facility."

There are two clubs that use the park we train at. It's been in use for Schutzhund clubs for 15+ years now.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

The first Schutzhund club I trained with, which is now disbanded (or so I hear), trained on the big open field in front of the county sheriff's department. No complaints that I know of, but a few portapotties separate it from some youth soccer fields, so every so often, we'd get someone wander over and take a look. The road in front gets occasional joggers and people riding their bikes, so they were once practicing the long courage test for a Schutzhund III dog and a jogger ran past. Scared the crap out of the jogger, I bet!

Our Dog Scout troop meets at the leaders' houses (which is nice, because one has a full agility and rally course set up and the other has a two acre pond where the dogs can swim). We're discussing getting a horse training facility for the winter though as it is heated.


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## Lindsay Janes (Aug 9, 2007)

I want to say I'm happy that we found a park near I-10 (a highway). I'm not sure how long we can use it, but I hope forever! 

I have been told that TPD handlers do go there to work on their dogs. (TPD=Tucson Police Dept) :grin:


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