First off, sorry! I saw your FB post and kept thinking I'll respond when I get to a computer because I truly suck on my phone but now that I see this and I'm on my computer I'll just respond here.
Does it sound crazy that I would really like to try Schutzhund with Cricket just to see how she does?
Nope, but there are a few things to consider. While Schutzhund (IPO, DVG) is a fabulously fun sport it is very extensive and take a lot of training. If you have any desires to compete (why not?) then you'll need to make a pretty strong commitment, of course decide if you like it first though!
My club trains wednesday night from 7-10 pm (a lot of talking gets done too, which sucks because I work Thursday at 6 am) and Saturday at 10 am til we're done and Sunday at 6 am for tracking then usually 8-9am til we're done. We *should* be tracking more than once a week but we're limited on land for tracking here and the patch we track on is only open on weekend (business park).
When I think of Schutzhund, I always think of protection type breeds since that's what seems to be most common. One of my coworkers tried schutzhund with her two dogs when she was at a school in Texas and out of her GSD and her little Aussie, her Aussie actually did the best. She mentioned I should try Cricket out just to see how she does and I think it might be fun to give it a shot.
An Aussie might be actually pretty good at the sport, they're tenacious assholes, but I worry about their bending to the handlers will. The dog needs a fair amount of "what next?" in their mentality and when you get a dog that is too head strong and says "screw you, hooman, I got this" it can become a battle not worth taking, imo. (This can go for any heavy control sport)
What kind of things do you look for in a dog you might try schutzhund with? I know Cricket is super stable. She does great in public settings and more often than not she only reacts (growl/bark) to people that are truly being sketchy. She does love tug and surprisingly is pretty strong for a dog her size.
I want a dog with a nice food and toy drive. I want a biddable dog that is excited to be with you and be around people. I want a dog that enjoys tug and has a nice and high prey drive, all of our dogs, most clubs are started in a teasing manner for bite work that sparks prey drive. I want a dog strong enough to carry a dumbbell over an A frame and a meter jump. This could pose an issue for Cricket but it may not depending on her size and determination. I used to train with a jack russell that was trained in PSA (another protection sport, light on obedience) because he was a flunky from Sch (their words) and supposedly where he couldn't keep up was the OB portion where the dog must retrieve a wooden dumbbell over the flat, an Aframe at full height (much higher than agility) and a meter jump.
One of my neighbors owns a Belgian malinois (who Cricket absolutely adores) and even he said he'd be interested to see how Cricket does. He also mentioned something about French Ring which I know absolutely nothing about.
Jennifer trains in FR I think, or mondio, also Stafinois trained in the sport, they can help with this better than I. I know the fundamentals but not the details. I would say however Mondio and FR are not as odd breed friendly as sch, in some ways these are much harder sports on the dog.
So... How do you get involved with trying out schutzhund? How do you find a good trainer?
Start with a google search, that is where I found mine. Then if that doesn't work start asking the dog community. I have even seen a few inquiries on CL. Be VERY comfortable with shopping around. I fell into a pretty good trainer right off the bat but I'm lucky and I know it now. I have watched one of the other trainers in town the "GSD expert" and he will grab a young dog by the prong and drag it over a frame, he will also smack the ever living crap out of puppies with a tug for god knows why (probably defense?). Things that are just wrong and I cringe when we train next to them but it happens often, small community with limited open areas.
If Cricket doesn't do well or even enjoy schutzhund then of course we wouldnt continue. I just want to try her in a bunch of things to see where her niche is.
Always good to try! Honestly if you follow sch ob you'll have better control of your dog than 99% of people you meet. The tracking is a blast and a great skill to have if you have patience. It's amazing for the dogs and it's a place where you step back and let them do the work. It's fun to watch them process (usually, sometimes I come back to the car cursing the ever living existence of dogs LOL). The bitework is a blast, there are no questions about it and the dogs love it.
We have 5 malinois, a tervuren, a GSD, 2 knpv dutch, and a border collie as our regulars. Of course the GSD, dutch, and mal are predictable but the terv and border are fun too. The terv needs a lot of work but the border collie is actually coming along very nicely.