# Planning



## kelsey cooke (Jan 2, 2011)

Be prepared for tons of probably dumb beginner Schutzhunder questions, I could possibly have a pup coming home in the next few months if everything works out well [as well as my Epagneul Breton starting training in it...fun journey!]

For people with Schutzhund pups, do you have a plan of what you want the puppy to have down by 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, etc? Or a month to month plan? If so, could you share the general idea?

I understand that my club/mentor will be helping out a ton with the training, but just on a home basis. Did you teach basic obedience, or just work on tug drive/impulse control [I'm probably talking in agility terms there! lol].


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## Tracey Hughes (Jul 13, 2007)

No stupid questions! #-o

I start pups on a table or bench to teach positions with food, and do puppy “go outs” as well. I also reward for attention to me and teach a bark on command, as well as some tug stuff. I want a pup to pull so I teach them to win the tug with a strong pull. 

If the weather is nice I would start tracking too.

That’s about it for me. Our club trains in a very specific system, so I don’t have to think too much about a “training plan”. It is all laid out for us right up until trial time.

Enjoy!!


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## Kadi Thingvall (Jan 22, 2007)

There is no such thing as a stupid question. That said, if you need to ask, you are probably better off just getting together with your TD and working the pup on their plan and with their guidance. Different methods are going to result in different timelines.

I could tell you that with my 3.5 month old pup we are working on sit, stand, down, retrieves, focus, finding heel position, send away and "place". But if you take that list to someone that teaches with a lot of compulsion, and tell them you want your puppy doing the same things, you can destroy the pup before it even gets started. Where as if you talk to a trainer who says "we do nothing with the dogs until a year old", and that's because they do train with compulsion and want the dogs mature enough to handle it, but you are going to use a marker approach to training, then you are loosing a lot of time you could be doing foundation work.

I'm a believer in teaching the pup as many skills as I can right now, but we don't have a timeline really. Depends on the pup and what they are showing me. This pup has a great natural retrieve, can get a little possessive at times but nothing we can't work through, so "check, retrieve foundation done" and I can move on to something else. I've had other pups that didn't have a natural retrieve and I had to spend months working it.

Oh, I guess I should add I'm not specifically prepping my pup for Schutzhund


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