Finding Canines With Character

Linda Walsh and Maverick stand in a field at Camp Cloverleaf. Gerard Thanhoffer and a dozen other dog owners crowd around on both sides. Close. Closer. The German shepherd doesn't spook. He watches carefully, he understands it was a test, and therefore he didn't mind.

Thanhoffer, a Swiss police dog trainer, pulls out a black garbage bag and starts to play, snapping it at Maverick. Maverick snaps back, and comically gets a piece of black plastic stuck in his teeth. He can't get it out with his paws.

Next, a rope of tin cans rattles all around Maverick. He's interested, he runs with Thanhoffer, but his manner is playful, not aggressive.

Now Walsh is with Maverick again. Thanhoffer pulls out two thick aluminum storm drain pipes. Banging them together, he advances on Maverick's owner.

And the dog isn't having that. He's barking a warning at the aggressor. Walsh must restrain the 80-pound dog on a leash, or Maverick will attack Thanhoffer.

Maverick is protective of his owner.

It's a test of character. The 37 handlers at the 4H camp came to find out what kind of dog they've got. The answer, for Linda Walsh, is a very good one.

"He didn't make any mistakes," said Monica Griffith, a former Highlands County deputy, and the K9 instructor at the first-ever seminar of the German Shepherd Schutzhund Club. Forty-one dogs arrived last week to work with their best friends on obedience, tracking and personal protection.

The dogs also compete on three levels, said Griffith, who has been training dogs for 35 years for police assistance, narcotics, tracking, search and rescue. She's still got two of her own, Kilo and Actione'.

Some owners come with canine problems that needed to be solved, some are young, untrained dogs. Students came from all over Florida when their owners found out about the class on the Internet.

The first graduating class also will include two Rottweilers, a Schnauzer and a mixed breed.

"When we're done, they'll have a valued dog," said Griffith. The first graduating class

More info: www.gsscswfl.com