From search & rescue to canicross and finally IPO (IGP), Saga is a true canine athlete. Her preparations includes one or two, sometimes even three training sessions a day. She is a dedicated worker and always gives everything she’s got. Just like human athletes, canines need proper nutrition, physical conditioning and health checks, to stay fit and avoid injuries.

This week Saga had a check up at Dogs4motion physiotherapy centre. So far she hasn’t shown any signs of injuries but I wanted to make double sure before trial season starts.

After the initial interview, where we were reminded that my crazy girl needs to have a rest day at least once a week, she was examined and had her muscles measured. According to her therapist, she shows no signs of injuries, has perfectly symmetrical muscles and is very well muscled over her WHOLE body.

Why is this important? If you only do one sport or activity, only certain muscles develop and there is a greater probability for injuries in other parts of the body. But if your dog is active in many different sports, their whole body is fit and conditioned against injuries. SO, whatever your sport of choice is, make sure your four legged athlete does other activities as well, even if it is just for relaxation and fun.

As for my Saga, she showed some tension in muscles of her neck and back. Which was to be expected after three protection sessions she has had last week. So on Monday we are going back to Dogs4motion for a massage treatment and hydrotherapy.

I only wish I afforded myself half as much luxury as I do her 😉

 

 

 

Starting my own line of working doberman has been a dream of mine for nearly ten years.

With Saga, I finally got a female with the best possible pedigree. After two years of working with her, she has proved herself to be a truly all-around excellent working dog. We flew through our search & rescue trials after only a year of training. After another 11 months, she passed her IPO 1 trial with 91 points for protection. We competed in Hard Dog Races, won one and always made the top twenty.
She is a high energy, high drive dog. Agile & fast, with strong bites, steady nerves and a healthy ego. A perfect watch dog for the home, obedient companion in sport and every day life and a workaholic on the training field. Great with other dogs and people but she doesn’t much like cats 🙂 The only real down side to her is that her incredible energy for work and affection for me can get quite exhausting.

After passing the trials and doing all the health checks, it was time to find her a suitable male for breeding. I took my time, did extensive research and looked at many bloodlines, titles and results. As I am new to breeding, I needed a lot of advice and guidance from Lisa Poppelvig, Saga’s breeder. For which I thank her very much.

This weekend at last Saga and me drove to Germany, to meet Ataraxie’s Erwin and see him work. Our own IPO helper & instructor went with us, because I wanted a realistic picture of the males abilities.
We found Ataraxie’s Erwin or Thore to be a stable, friendly dog. In protection he works with a good combination of prey and defence drive. He has great love for work, strong & steady bites, good speed and to cap it all, he is very beautiful.

In short, we have found our puppy daddy! So in May we will be driving to Germany again to mate Saga to Thore and in July hopefully our home will be full of puppies ❤

To see the pedigree, working titles and health checks of Saga & Thore, check them out on Working Dog … https://us.working-dog.com/breed/Varangian-32993/planning

If you are interested in seeing Thore work, please watch the following video…

After only 11 months of training, we passed IPO 1 today. My girl showed all of her temperament at the trial – all of the good and the bad.

She was a little too fast in tracking and overexcited in obedience & protection. But she still showed solid, well trained work. On her first trial (with a novice handler) she got 91 points in protection and nothing but praise from the judge. He says it’s up to me to take all that drive, energy and talent and square it away into perfection 🙂

To see her work, watch the video below…

 

 

The next step toward Saga’s role as a mother is done. We passed the Slovenian equivalent of ZTP yesterday. We were both a little tired form the HDR race and the long drive the day before but Saga still worked beautifully in the temperament test.
To see her work, please watch the video below…

The Hard Dog racing season is over. I hoped we would manage more than two races this year but thay are all a long way away and we have so many other activities to do. We did manage a new HDR challenge however, that is Hard Dog Race Wild.

HDR Wild has a 12 kilometer long track, with 21 obstacles. It was a much longer run than we normally train for but we managed it in an excellent time of 1:39:54, finishing 5th in women’s division and 26th overall.

In Spring we ran the “classic” 6 kilometer HDR race with 12 obstacles and finished 10th in women’s division.

Still some room for improvement here. Mainly on my part tough. Saga is super fast but I keep slowing her down 😉

It has been a crazy week. Last Saturday we competed at HDR Base in Hungary and finished 10th in W’s division. We drove back the same day and on Sunday morning we drove across Slovenia to lead a “tricks & fun obedience” workshop. Monday and Tuesday were spent at a two-day disaster search workshop. And on Saturday we drove to Croatia, to take our final search & rescue trial – wilderness search, level B.

No need to say, we were both pretty tired even at the start of the trial. The search lasts 30 minutes, covers 40.000 square meters of forest, with three missing persons. To pass, the dog needs to find all three, with points given for intensity of searching, agility, independence, directibility and alert. Saga worked really well, especially considering the week she had. Her obedience worked suffered a little, because by then tiredness was really starting to show. Still, we passed the trial and with it out LAST international search & rescue certification 😀

 

We traveled to Poland last weekend, for another Hard Dog Race. And it was hard indeed… This time the six kilometers and sixteen obstacles were run in the cold (10°C), wind and rain. Most of the track was covered in mud, water and more mud.

For Saga running is like breathing and having to pull me along is just part of the package. Last time we had some trouble with the water obstacles, she wasn’t to crazy about going in. This time however (perhaps because of all the rain and mud), she didn’t even seem to notice them. The only problem I had was making her slow down on descents.

There was probably some faster dogs and definitely some faster people, but there was no-one more well matched than Saga and me. So we WON the women’s division 😀

I have been a canine SAR dog handler for ten years but never had such an active summer. The fourth and last training camp of the summer was a five-day event held in Zagorje, Slovenia.

It was quite an experience for Saga. Every day started with an army transport to a new work site. Having to board a truck via a plank and riding in the back with twelve other dogs and people, calmly handling the noise, shaking and crowding. We worked on four different work sites, mainly industrial and some rubble.

The weather was (once again) hot and the environment quite stressful. It took Saga a day to acclimate to her surroundings but then she worked well and had the opportunity to tackle some new situations. She worked searches in an abandoned mine shaft, the ruins of an old lumber mill and in a concrete plant.

Saga and I traveled to Brno in Czech Republic for a training weekend. It was a great opportunity to work on new rubble sites, meet new people and exchange experience.

It was a very trying trip for Saga. On Friday we drove for eight hours, than did two searches in very high temperatures and a night search on a new and difficult rubble site. Saturday morning was rainy and we trained area search, but in the afternoon we traveled to another new rubble site. On Sunday we did two more searches on the first site and then slowly made our way back home.

Getting accustomed to long journeys and working in new, stressful surroundings is essential for an operative search and rescue dog. That is why it is so important to travel and put a young or inexperienced dog into novel situations.

 

 

Our own K9 SAR unit organized a disaster search training weekend. It was an extreme experience … we started with a rope descent from the third foor; we did six searches in two days on three different sites, including a night search. Working in extreme temperatures (up to 32°C); in concrete, asphalt and in war tunnels form WWII. Saga also had to contend with a stressed and distracted handler, since I was also the main organizer and instructor of my group. As always she was highly motivated, adapting to new and difficult circumstances with ease. A hallmark of a high drive, stable working dog.