[laurlitt]

Originally Posted by jazzking1971

thanks Laurlitt. The real reason I'm looking to do schH1 in July is because I will be back home visting with my family for two weeks. Only my parents have seen the dog but when he was looking more like a puppy. They've never seen him work. Plan A is BH at end of April schH1 in July. Plan B is BH in July. My orig plan was BH (fri) and sch1 (sat) in Nov but he's been doing the BH routine for weeks and the guys tell me he's ready now.

So the trial in July will be 'away' from your normal training field at someone else's club? in another state? This is a whole other level of 'rushing' and 'stressing' a dog. You are risking a really bad trialing expereince for your dog that may be very slow in the repair process... It is your job to set your dog up for SUCCESS... Please reconsider not putting your young dog thru this situation. If you are a novice handler you will need ALL the support you can get from your local club environment (no matter the dog's age). I would consider comprimising your goal to BH (in April if you think you can do it???) and SchH1 in Nov, especially if Nov. is your local club.

What would be a really great experience for your dog is to go to the club near your parents and ask if you can 'train' with him on a strange field. Do some fun obedience (let it be positive). Work w/ your current training director and ask him what would be a good exercise (protection) for him to do in front of a new helper on a new field... I would take the training back a few steps when going to a new field and make it successful for him... You will get so much more out this experience that trialing w/ him away from home... He may have all the drives in the world, but he's still a young DOG..

At the same age... Maddie would have been considered ready, but not 'READY'... if that makes sense... not trying to discourage you... just be reasonable.