Thank you to all of you who responded with some very excellent advice for my girl. I have decided to join this club and give her and me a chance to learn and have fun with it. Stormy, you had a good point. Mina has excelled at everything I have done with her, in her 18 mos, agility, herding and obedience and I was expecting the same with this new venue. Time for me to learn patience, yeah, right, LOL! And, just want to make a point about American line GSD's. Folks, I know they can and do compete in Schutzhund. In no way are my comments about the dogs who have accomplished this or meant to demean American show lines. I have a great deal of respect for the dogs and the people who trained them. My comments are based only on MY OWN American line GSD's. They are Mommy's boys and girls and soft from the standpoint that they just want to be with Mommy. Doesn't mean they aren't protective. Two of them have actually been tested by real bad guys and came through. Hackles up and getting between me and the threat with one actually lunging. This is fine with me. I prefer them just the way they are. Mild mannered, sweet dogs until you need them :-) I love my American line GSD's. They have a beauty that cannot be matched. I love watching them move even in the herding arena. Try having a Dutch shepherd with that crazy drive and you'll know what I mean, LOL! You may not wan t more than one of these guys. As much as my Dutchie is such a fun dog, she makes me appreciate my GSD's even more. Laura Thomas ________________________________________________________________________ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2007. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - www.showgsd.org ============================================================================