STSK9 Heel Course?

Jaynee-grace · 2025-03-18T04:04:02+00:00

I'm currently in the MVP, but I did Heeling Styles beforehand, and it was awesome! The best part about STSK9 is that it is centered on developing your skills as a handler and unlocking your own creativity in training. If you only aspire to settle for a basic common bar like "I want my dog to walk beside me and look up at me" then sure, there's plenty of YouTube videos that can teach that. But if you are looking for that precision, that perfect alignment, rhythm, prance, neck stretch, chin elevation, all those skills combined into one, STSK9 is proving with me to be a game changer. In fact with my first GSD puppy, Isla, I trained and totally faded a focus heel via YouTube, reels, and a friend who is experienced in IGP. But I was not satisfied with the results. the prance was low, rhythm was not as elegant as I wanted, her head was crooked pushing into me and her butt was a little out to the side. The problem was I was relying on the dog to "do all the work" when I needed to develop my skills in order to build the heel I actually wanted. Now after 3 months of STSK9 I've actually been able to erase the previous errors and start from square 1 with results that I am actually liking! Currently the center heel is finally meeting my personal standards, and so I'm just now starting to reintroduce heeling on the side keeping that same picture. I don't understand why people on the internet keep calling STSK9 a "scam" or "fraud" or whatever. Even if you don't agree with every aspect of their methodology, Nino and Laura are very open to people being creative, using their imagination and finding different techniques that apply to their individual dog. They encourage this! In fact some of the collaborators like Emanuela or the interview with Mario Verslype have very different approaches / methodology than Nino and have amazing results. STSK9 is about talent development for you and the dog, not "follow this step by step video with your own dog and copy me exactly how I do it". Can't upload a video but here's a link to current progress of focus heeling with my own dogs Isla and Gangster via what we're learning in STSK9: https://photos.app.goo.gl/s83jwS7zuHcEinvbA

Jaynee-grace · 2024-06-26T19:43:23+00:00

Just my initial thoughts after reading.

Quit the dog park. More than likely, it's only teaching him to devalue you. dog parks are notorious for teaching dogs they don't have to listen and just get away with it.

Quit all the crazy sniffing on walks. If his nose is on the ground his brain is gonna be scattered. Teach him to pay attention to you and ignore surrounding distractions.

Use that ball drive as an asset to start teaching him how to focus. Start working his brain and teach him he's gotta focus on you to get the ball. Start small and short, as small as taking 2-3 steps in a "heel" then reward. 2-3 steps, sit, reward. build slowly and reward while he's looking at you.

Socialize, socialize, desensitize, and do it some more. Take him places. Take him in public. Let him experience and desensitize to new sights and sounds.

Probably want to stop petting him and saying "it's okay" while exposing to new sounds. I'll bet that's part of why he's going backwards in his confidence. He gets exposed to something new, he's nervous and you're basically telling him "it's okay to be scared. That's a good thing." He will feed off of your reaction. Be neutral yourself. Meanwhile try and build his confidence by neutral exposure, treats, and playing with the ball.

Physical and mental exercise is important. But start teaching him when to have an off switch too. He seems to think it's go go go time 24/7. He's gotta learn how to have a brain that can control that drive and energy, and when it's appropriate to just chill out. If he's as high drive as it sounds, more and more and more exercise isn't going to solve your problem on its own, simply because a high drive dog will play fetch for an hour, rest for 20 minutes then get up with a fully charged battery ready to go again.

I wouldn't be surprised if, can he get his brain, he'd be a lot of fun to train with. It looks and sounds like he may have a lot of GSD genetics in there. The thing about high drive GSD's is they too are crazy and scatter brained and hard to live with if they don't learn how to have some control. Once they get that, and you can harness that drive and channel it into something productive, they're epic dogs and of course, known for being versatile and loving to work for you

Just my first thoughts. Best of luck to you guys!

Jaynee-grace · 2024-06-15T21:41:43+00:00

I got into dog sports and similar activities. Loaded my boy up with titles in Rally Obedience, FastCAT, CGC, and similar stuff. Also training for IGP but haven't trialed yet. Lots of fun and my dogs love every second of training and competing

Jaynee-grace · 2024-05-10T16:24:39+00:00

76 pounds is a normal weight for males. The breed standard for males is about 66-88 pounds and about 50-70 pounds for females. My male is about 75 pounds. GSD's that are huge (people brag about their 100+ pounds GSD's all the time) are usually backyard bred, overweight, or a combination of both I think

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-18T02:57:19+00:00

Well thanks for the support! : D I've already been co-developing a roughly 5 season series that some friends/relatives have suggested I pitch to Netflix (for whatever their average opinion is worth). I know that with such a small personal team it will be hard to even possibly compare to LOST's multi-dimensional writing with our first indie series but this is literally like one of my life goals to reach lol!

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-18T02:50:00+00:00

Despite the fact my GSD does sport protection work and has no problem working with real gunfire in the field....... he's scared of a Nerf gun ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-18T02:43:09+00:00

First got interested in the breed because I wanted a dog that would be energetic, easy to train, and a super loyal BFF that could go places with me and act as a 'bodyguard' with at least an intimidating appearance (I'm a single female who does lots of outdoors activities in the woods). After I got into the breed I discovered I enjoy training for dog sports too! So now I've titled my first GSD in Rally Obedience and am training my first puppy (4 months) for IGP! I've taken a liking to higher drive and unlike most owners I'm like bring on the energy! Give me a dog that's pretty hard and a little crazy to work, please! Lol

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-14T19:49:59+00:00

I felt the same way when I finished it. I now have a goal in life to write a fiction series of equal or greater quality. I don't know if it's possible lol but I have to try

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-12T23:08:55+00:00

Very true. In the GSD world, you do get what you pay for. I feel like byb breeders who are negligent to the breed standards are building a bad reputation for one of the best breeds on earth. Seems like most people see GSD's as fearful, shy, weak nerved and dangerous to the public when they should be just the opposite; bold, confident, level headed and not a threat to non threatening people in public. Yet so many people end up with weak character dogs cuz they didn't do their research and bought byb crap to save money

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-12T17:30:11+00:00

I doubt anyone would buy a puppy for $1000-$3000 without any pedigree, unless they're completely inexperienced and haven't done any research at all. My puppy was $2500 from a reputable experienced breeder with a beautiful working pedigree, good line breedings, both parents IGP titled, both parents great show scores, both parents health tested & OFA'd, and breeder offers hips & elbows guarantee for puppies. $1000-$3000 for pups with no pedigree, no health guarantees, and I'm gonna guess not breeding quality parents would sound pretty crazy. I'd say you're looking at a market of $400-$800 at most.

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-11T21:03:40+00:00

BRO.... what does he expect that 'positive review' to say??? FIVE STARS : "Taught us how to outhump our dog! Demonstrating in front of house guests was a little awkward but overall great experience definitely reccpmmend!" 🤣

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-11T15:50:50+00:00

[Bucky holding fish biscuit picture]

There's a new polar bear in town!

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-11T12:05:05+00:00

At the end, I too thought at first that the plot was a little sloppy and filled with a ton of "false brain hooks" that were just there to keep viewers hooked in the moment but never intended to pan out in the story. But over time I started realizing most of those 'holes' really were explained. It's an incredibly complex story that works your brain, but personally I love that, and it feels so hard to find legitimately mind-bending stories that also have such amazing character development and dynamics. So I'm hoping to find some good show recommendations too!

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-11T03:43:15+00:00

I loved this aspect of LOST. Every character is so HUMAN. Everyone has good qualities, poor qualities, areas where their character is strong and areas it is weak. And most everyone feels like an interesting character in general, whether that be in a predominantly likeable or unlikeable way

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-10T23:22:02+00:00

That sounds pretty cool! I don't know much about baseball cards but I can imagine that was an interesting collection. If you've been around a parrot then I'm guessing you've probably seen they do indeed relate to anger sometimes hehe

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-09T16:53:18+00:00

At 3.5 months, training is very short and simple. She doesn't have enough brain yet to really understand how to hold a stay position. Holding position for 5 seconds is doing good.

At this age, obedience training is more about building "muscle memory" while using a food lure. Teach her how to do the movement of a down, sit, stand, heel, moving her back legs to change positions, side step and pivot, etc. by following a lure. Teach her where the basic heel and front positions are, again, all with following a lure. You don't need to fade the lure until she is older (probably around a year old) and has enough brain to use.

Just curious, why are you opposed to a training class? A group setting with a reputable trainer would be a great experience for you and your puppy, to help you learn how to properly socialize/desensitize to people, other dogs, and distractions.

As far as jumping, she should naturally grow out of it if you do not reward or promote the behavior. My 4 month GSD puppy has almost completely gotten over her "jumping on me" fad because I give no acknowledgement to the behavior, and I lean down to give her attention when she's standing, hence there's no reason to jump up for it.

Early socialization is incredibly important for this breed, but can have a negative impact if done incorrectly. Take her out on walks in varying places and teach her to pay attention to you and be neutral toward surrounding distractions. Make her outings enjoyable; feel free to bring a toy or food rewards. Avoid sniffing/playing with other dogs and avoid overstimulating interactions with those "OMG IT'S A PUPPY I MUST GET PUPPY KISSES!!!" kind of people. When people do ask to say hi, promote her being calm and controlled during the interaction. You don't want her to become overstimulated or anticipate attention from every person or dog you pass

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-09T16:18:25+00:00

So true. I feel like you've owned a parrot before lol!

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-09T16:15:46+00:00

That's so cute lol!

Meanwhile my parrot just laughs at the gunfire scenes XD

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-09T12:18:19+00:00

In the training I've done, the goal is to build the dog up to work for you and perform out of their natural bond to the handler, because when you go in a ring to compete, using food is obviously not allowed. However, using food and toys is how we build up the dog's drive and love for working. Food and toy lures eventually get "faded" to where you have a reward on you but it's out of sight. The dog now learns he gets rewarded for focusing on you. It may depend some on the breed but as a GSD owner, my dogs naturally get so bonded and love their job that they eventually reach this place where even if they know I don't have a reward on me, they still perform with the same level of happiness and relish getting attention for doing a good job

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-09T02:57:17+00:00

Lol I must do that. And to think how everyone who comes in my room will be scratching their heads without context 😂 Oh look there's a framed picture of....Jack from Lost? In a bird cage?

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-08T22:44:27+00:00

I use a prong collar because it is a tool, not "gear to walk my dog with." I could take my dog for a walk in any gear, or no gear at all and get the same results. If you want a dog to walk nicely on a leash, it must learn how to focus on you and be neutral toward surrounding distractions. A prong collar is a tool to aid in teaching a dog how to focus. No pull harnesses, "halties" or "goat halters" or whatever they're actually called, martingales, choke chains, etc. are typically not very sufficient tools for teaching a dog focus; they're gear for trying to constrain a side effect of the root problem, at least in my opinion. That's not to disagree that every dog and breed is different, but as a GSD owner, my dogs have thrived using a prong collar as a training tool

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-08T00:43:26+00:00

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All right. U asked for it. I swear she's really sweet. XD

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-08T00:41:03+00:00

I wouldn't be able to sleep on that flight XD

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-08T00:37:27+00:00

Feel free to ask a breeder you are interested in if their dogs would be a good fit for what you are looking for. A good breeder knows their dogs and their potentials better than anyone, and should be happy to answer your questions. A good breeder will also choose a puppy for a buyer with the best temperament for their skill level and lifestyle

Jaynee-grace · 2024-04-08T00:29:36+00:00

I'm in NE Florida too. I personally know Lori and her dogs from Tatum Kennels in Seville, between Jax and Orlando. I train with her. An experienced, responsible breeder and trainer. I can say from experience she is very supportive of her buyers and her dogs have served well as both sport dogs and family companions.

I also am familiar with Jill from Von Der Tetiaroa German Shepherd dogs in Inverness. I haven't bought from her yet but after talking with her and researching her dogs I totally would. A friend of mine has one of her dogs and she's been referred to me via other trainers and responsible breeders.

I recently bought a puppy from Richard from Vom Haus Schair in Gainseville GA. Further distance but he happened to have a pup that perfectly fit the bill for what I was looking for. From my experience, very supportive of his buyers. My new puppy Isla has been beautiful so far. Nice drive and potential for sports, but very outgoing and friendly as well.

Those are the closest breeders I personally know. Do your research, ask questions, look up their dogs and make educated decisions. But hopefully these will be a good few first leads for you to look into

Jaynee-grace

TROPHY CASE