German Shepherd Dog Club of Minneapolis & St. Paul

The German Shepherd Dog Club offers several training classes on Friday nights for German Shepherd Dogs. Training classes are held at the Animal Inn Training School at 8633 34th St N, Lake Elmo, MN 55042 (map here).

Obedience: Beginner and Advanced

The German Shepherd Dog Club of Minneapolis and St. Paul offers beginning and advanced obedience classes for German Shepherd Dogs. The classes are 8 weeks in length. The goal of the obedience classes is to form a leadership role in team work between human and their canine companion using positive motivation Dogs naturally want to please their owners, and through training, learn to respect and understand what their owner wants. Obedience training teaches the owner how to communicate with their companion animal to gain that respect. A trained dog should walk quietly at their owner’s side on walks, respond to handler's commands, behave at the vet’s office, and in general be a good canine citizen that the owner can be proud of wherever they go. Rally is a relatively new sport in which the human/canine team negotiate a course performing various obedience exercises as they pass signs along a set path. It is a challenge and fun for both dog and owner. Teamwork is emphasized and communication between handler and dog is highly encouraged. Come join our classes with your German Shepherd Dog.

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Puppy Obedience and Socialization

Puppy Obedience
Socialization, training, and owner education is important for every dog, but is even more critical in the development of a German Shepherd Dog. That is why the German Shepherd Dog Club of Minneapolis and St. Paul is offering a Puppy Foundation Class. Core components of the class are: socialization, basic manners training, and educating owners on how to properly develop a young GSD into a confident, well-adjusted adult. Each week the dogs are involved in structured socialization and are introduced to new and unique stimuli. All this while the owners are being educated about their pups unique personality and how they can make the most of their German Shepherd Dog. Owners are encouraged to develop a plan for their dogs that not only takes them into adulthood but also into a rewarding and satisfying life. We believe this makes them better companions and canine citizens. A key benefit to this class is that the owners are surrounded by other GSD owners. This provides a wealth of information from all areas whether you want a companion dog, a show dog, a performance dog, a therapy dog, or anything else one may have in mind for this multi-talented breed. This is an ideal supplement to a traditional puppy kindergarten class.

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New! Agility and Scent Work

Agility Foundations
Agility is a growing dog sport in the United States, with over 1 million entries to the AKC’s program each year. Dogs race against a clock as they navigate an obstacle course with strong concentration and speed. Whether you just want to have fun exercising with your dog, or want to go further and enter an Agility competition, get ready for a fast-paced, rewarding experience that will get you and your dog in the best shape of your lives (source: akc.org/sports/agility).

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Scent Work
The sport of Scent Work is based on the work of professional detection dogs (such as drug dogs), employed by humans to detect a wide variety of scents and substances. In AKC Scent Work, dogs search for cotton swabs saturated with the essential oils of Birch, Anise, Clove, and Cypress. The cotton swabs are hidden out of sight in a pre-determined search area, and the dog has to find them. Teamwork is necessary: when the dog finds the scent, he has to communicate the find to the handler, who calls it out to the judge (source: akc.org/sports/akc-scent-work).

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Pointy-Eared Training Monthly Socialization and Obedience Workshop

Andrea Lane and the team are pleased to invite you to attend our ongoing Monthly Socialization and Obedience Workshops. At these workshops, students will have fun training with ideas that they learn at the workshop and practice during the month. Your dog will be wagging its tail as it learns to work with you as the pack leader guiding the team. This is a positive and confidence building training for your German Shepherd.

The purpose of these workshops is to introduce you to the other local German Shepherd owners in a relaxed environment while improving socialization/obedience skills and knowledge. Students of all levels are welcome.

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Conformation Class

The German Shepherd Dog Club of Minneapolis and St. Paul offers puppy, novice, and advanced conformation classes for German Shepherd Dogs. The puppy conformation class is for puppies 3 months and up. This class aims to make the conformation ring fun for puppies. The instructor will help you train your puppy to gait around the ring, learn to stack and accept the judges examination. We encourage the puppies to be confident and have fun! This will allow your puppy to know what is expected of them when shown in the conformation ring. The novice class welcomes those GSD owners with little or no experience in the conformation ring. The instructor will teach you how to stack and gait your dog. They will also explain the loose lead temperament test, coming and going, baiting and general ring procedure. This is great for someone new to the conformation ring. The advanced conformation class is for dogs with basic breed ring control and handlers with a working knowledge of stacking, gaiting, baiting and ring procedure. In this class handlers are fine tuning their dogs and can ask the instructor to help work on specific problems they need help with. Most handlers in the advanced class have exhibited German Shepherd Dogs in a dog show. Please bring your German Shepherd Dog, a show collar, a lead (4-6 foot, leather preferred), bait (treats to reward your dog), and wear comfortable clothing and shoes (No Heels!), as you will be running with your dog. Please keep your dog on leash at all times. Come join our classes with your German Shepherd Dog.

7:00 - 8:00 pm We will have an instructor available to go over dogs and assist students and handlers as needed.

Single lessons Members/Non-members: One dog $5       Two or more $10
Members/Non-members - Block of 10: $45       Block of 20: $80

Open Ring Conformation (as rings are available): Members/Non-Members $5

GSDCMSP Members' Areas of Interest

Members of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Minneapolis and St. Paul share many interests such as; Agility, Barn Hunt, Conformation, Lure Coursing, Obedience, Rally, Dock Diving, Herding, Schutzhund, Geocaching, Tracking, Nose Work, Search & Rescue and more! All these events have different training requirements and may or may not offered by the club at this time but we can provide references as needed. German Shepherd Dogs are versatile and love to work. There are many active dog sports available, there is something for nearly everyone.

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