Three Years

I've said it multiple times, when I decided to take on Seppel I had absolutely no idea what I would do with him.

For those who might be stumbling upon this blog, I got Seppel from an internet friend who passed away. Through the efforts of a dog forum and his owner's daughter we had him flown to OR from NC.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

The summer of 2012 I joined another Pit Bull forum that had local members on it and I was re-introduced to the sport of Schutzhund/IPO. Seppel took to bite work immediately. The "club" was a group of people who got together on Saturdays and some weekdays. Unfortunately this club was 2.5 hours from my house and it was a really long way to drive for training. I ended up looking for trainers more locally and wound up finding my current trainers down in Salem. It's still an hour away but the drive is much more manageable, not to mention it has been totally worth it.

Seppel has exceeded any and all expectations I had for him. Before we started doing IPO I was really worried about what I would do with him. Training Seppel was very different from training my dog Seth. Seth picks up things fairly quickly and has been pretty easy to teach new things to. Seppel and I did not have the same kind of connection and I was really at a loss as to what to do with him because more often than not he really frustrated me. [I'm sure the feeling was mutual!].

Here we are three years later. We are in an IPO club. Seppel has his CGC, URO1, and a BH. We've got our sights set on an IPO-VO in October and and IPO1 next summer. He knows "all the things" when it comes to protection and could do all three IPO protection routines. We're playing catch up with Obedience and Tracking but he has also proven to be a great little worker and is a lot of fun.

I could not have lucked out more than I have. I'm so thankful to have a dog that I can compete with, in a sport that we both enjoy. He's taught me how to be a better dog owner and a better dog trainer.

I also could not have had a better dog to introduce me to the  Pit Bull breed. Seppel is dog selective but he is not all out dog aggressive. I don't know if he would ever actually grab a dog, but he's shown me in several instances that he could be aggressive. I believe if another dog wanted to go, he would be down. While he can be selective, he is controllable around most other dogs and can control himself when we are working. I am always really careful if I have him off leash somewhere, I try to be mindful and watch the area - if another dog comes into an area that we are in I will typically leash Seppel until the other dog is out of sight. Usually if I have his ball he's fine - all he cares about is the ball. He has a lot of energy but it is manageable. There have been days where I have been too sick to exercise him and he is okay although by day 2-3 he is pretty restless. Generally speaking if I don't do something with him daily he will follow me around and has a hard time settling down. Seppel is not a "real deal" apbt, but I think he is a very good "starter" dog for me in the breed. He is tenacious, he's always game to do whatever it is I want to do. He always wants to have fun and can usually handle anything I throw at him. As far as his personality goes I think he is everything a Pit Bull should be.

Seppel has absolutely changed my life and I am so thankful he's here!

He's even been teaching me how to be a helper!