I would suggest, since you are new to training, that you not train two dogs at the same time. I learned so much (and made so many mistakes… not that I don’t still make them!), on my first dogs. While it would certainly keep things exciting, it will also keep things more challenging. If you are planning on participating in Schutzhund (or agility, or most any other dog sport), you will not have any trouble keeping things exciting, at least for the dog. You would probably want to join a club to learn, to expose the dog to new environments and to acclimate the dog to other dogs and people. If you are doing any type of dog sport, joining a club is essential! I have had two dogs in training before, but rarely did I have them out on the obedience field at the same time. Schutzhund obedience is fairly complicated, much like agility, and I could not see the benefit of unnecessarily challenging one dog who is still learning (especially a young dog) while working the other. If one of the dogs was older and trained to such a level that it was safe to leave in a very long down stay and you were proofing a younger dog for trial work, then I can see it would benefit the younger dog to have the distraction of another dog lying on the side of the field. But, then again, this is the benefit of working with a club where you will have other club members and their dogs on the field at the same time.

When I have trained two dogs, one is usually a pup I am just starting while the older one is nearing their first trial. This is more for my benefit since the dogs do not socialize with each other, nor are they on the field at the same time. I just like to have one dog up and coming.

And, if you are thinking of doing Schutzhund, the work of laying tracks and tracking two dogs becomes rather time consuming, but not impossible, especially if one is a pup and the tracks are shorter, and the other one is older and more experienced. Then you can track the older one less often, like 3-4 days a week.

Hope this helps! Thank you for reading Laila’s blog.
-Lorna

It is a Bottcher harness (sometimes spelled Boettcher). It loops around her belly and a line runs from the belly loop to the collar. I find it helps keep her nose down. It also keeps the line in a better ‘close to body’ position compared to clipping the line directly to the collar. I also find this position closer to the rear of the dog helps keep her straighter on the track and eliminates most issues of the dog stepping over the line. It is acceptable to use a tracking harness in Schutzhund trials. I do not know whether it is accepted for AKC tracking trials.

As far as the ‘cons’ of using it, I haven’t yet found any with Laila. I have heard others say that some dogs are hesitant to lie down because they feel something weird (i.e. the clip/harness strap/ring) beneath their belly. This would be a problem for dogs downing for article indication in Schutzhund tracking. The timing of correction is a little different because instead of the line directly to the collar, you have the line clipped to the Bottcher line which is in turn clipped to the collar. Imagine a railroad car effect. I have found that I need to pay really close attention to give a timely correction.

I’ve just started using the harness with Laila. She is one year old. It is the first time I’ve used it in Schutzhund. I believe I will use it on all future Schutzhund prospects unless they give me a reason not to or unless there is a rule change that would prohibit its use. As far as introducing the dog to the harness, there are several factors to consider;

The dog’s size (the harness comes in one size and only sizes down so far)

Whether the dog has graduated from ‘puppy’ tracks to ‘regular’ tracks. (Puppy tracks are meant to be fun and ‘self discoverable’ to the puppy or young dog just learning.)

If the dog can accept and understand corrections. You don’t use the harness and/or the collar to ‘hold’ the dog in the track or keep them from going too fast. This will backfire and increase speed on the track which can prove very detrimental. The harness is a tool to encourage correct tracking through proper line placement and meaningful corrections.

I hope this helps. Thank you for your comments and for following Laila’s blog!

-Lorna

btw, here is a link to a site that sells the harness I use. Bottcher harness

What is the strap you have around her? to hold up the tracking line? I’ve never seen it use – Could you give me pros and cons of it, how it works, when you introduce it, it it acceptable when trialing or just used for training purposes.
Thanks so much Sharon