Ed sent me my first clicker, and told me to use it. There is a lot of misconceptions about him on the net as well, I find it funny that a lot of people have said don't listen to him, he's downright abusive!!!. I can fairly assume that you haven't read too much on his board, and haven't read anything too recently. Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't breed that much anymore, he mostly sells equipment and videos. He had two litters at the end of last year, of which he kept almost all of them back for himself, he did not sell them to make money.
His views on other dogs and people are too very often misunderstood. The reason for not letting other people pet your dog is not a dumb thing to do. THere is a huge difference in not socializing and not letting people pet your puppy or dog. Being around people and letting every tom dick and harry on the street come stick their face in your pups face and grab their ears and roll them around on the ground is not a good idea, especially when raising a working dog.
I've never had a dog that wasn't extremely stable around all people whenever where ever. 4th parades, firework shows, county fairs, home depot, menards, walking down the street, etc, EVER. and I don't let strangers pet my dogs. ON the other hand, He's one of the first to tell you that if you have a fearful or shy dog, that everyone passing you on the street should be tossing treats at the dog, and when it can be done safely giving treats and petting it as well, it depends on the dog.
As a working dog you have it imprinted that people are just people, they are nuetral. They aren't something to be sought out, or shyed away from. They can't have it imprinted that every stranger on the street has treats or fun things for them when they're out doing an area search. They also can't have it imprinted that they need to submit to every stranger on the street as well, which happens when everyone is towering over them and sticking their faces in theirs.
the dog issue is also misunderstood as well. If you ever care to read more he often says that if you get an 8 week old, it shouldn't be around other dogs much till 5 months or so. WHy does he say this? cause if you care to raise a working dog, and your turn the puppy loose with older dogs all the time, things can happen. This puppy that you want to grow into a confident, thinking its the ruler of the world dog, will be put in its place by other dogs. It will also bond with the other dogs, not you, that's not a good thing. Being around strange dogs is defineatly a no,no. Interacting anyway, again being around them and interacting with them are two different things. other dogs should be neutral, something not to be desired by a working dog, nor something to be afraid of or aggressive towards.
I can see why he says these things after being around a while. I can see the difference in the dogs and what's happening at home. I can tell when the rules are relaxed or from week to week when a certain dog has been left alone with other dogs a lot when it comes out to train. The really good dogs, well it doesn't really matter, but with other ones, you do have to be careful to bring them up right, with the right confidence, etc. and when you give people the exception they always make it the rule. I give my puppies time with older dogs. Sometimes, not long and not often, and always 100% eyes on them at all times. Tell that to people and suddently they're letting their dogs run with the other ones 100% of the time, and the other dogs do train the younger one. Most times those same peopel write back with the same questions or problems over and over again. My puppy won't listen to me, my puppy seems more bonded to our dog than to us, what am I doing wrong?
There is a method to the madness over there, and when you get into it a lot of it makes sense. I think it is a very good place to learn about Schutzhund. Most people in AMerica probably wouldn't even know what Schutzhund was if it wasn't for Leerburg and his videos. If I wanted to learn about Indy car driving I wouldn't go to a NASCAR track and listen to the drivers there, i'd go to the INDY races. Same thing with Schutzhund, go to where people are doing it. You aren't going to get very good advice about Schutzhund from people that have never trained in it, or titled dogs in it. There are a few on here, but not many. There are 1000 ways to get there, find what your'e comfortable with and do it. You'll always be honing your skills, it never ends.
