What an experience we had today! If our good friend Jen Rainey at Vom Haus Huro German Shepherds had not alerted us to the Metro-Detroit Schutzhund Club’s trial today, we would not have had the pleasure of taking our first baby steps into the fun and challenging world of Schutzhund.
To say we passed with flying colors would be far from the truth. In all honesty, we bombed pretty badly and while my goober boy had something to do with it – most of the problems lay on my shoulders. As a good friend of mine once said, “It’s easy to train the dog, but sometimes it’s the handler who needs the real help.” That is absolutely the honest truth right there. Ryker felt my nerves right through every step I took and every move I made since we are so tuned in to one another as a team and we both screwed up – including me second guessing when I was to return to him on the long down and going too soon.
Sadly, it meant we didn’t get our BH title. That being said, it was a very valuable lesson. The lesson that no matter how much you train. No matter how hard you work, you and your canine partner are still prone to error – be it large or small – and at the end of the day, your dog will still look up at you with complete adoration because that dog still had fun. That dog still doesn’t care about that little piece of paper or the pretty ribbons…he cares about you and you alone.
While I am sad I let him down, I’ve realized that there is always next time and we’ll both go in with much more confidence and experience under our belt. Heaven knows I’m not perfect and neither is my wonderful Ryker, but we can strive to embody it every time we go out…even if we fall smack on our faces!
And on an ending note, I have to give my thanks to those who have been there for me – training with me, rooting me on, sharing silly stories of trials past. I owe it to you guys for getting Ryker and I this far – Howard, Beth, Wayne, Jen, Doty, Gabby, and the love of my life, Bruce. Without my wonderful support, I don’t think Ryker and I would have even come this far.