Membership Info

Thank you for your interest in joining our team!

To become a member of our IGP club with a German Shepherd Dog (or with another qualified working breed) you need to be a dedicated dog owner/trainer who is highly motivated to achieve with his/her dog and is driven to be a valuable member of the DC team.

Most of our club members like to start training their dogs from the age of 2-3 months with puppy socialization and basic motivational obedience. Protection training starts from 7-9 months of age, after all the adult teeth are fully in place.

If you wish to try out our training with your dog, you may do so as a guest (up to 5 times), for a $50 fee per each visit.  For this fee you will be provided a spot in both obedience and protection training.  Please email us for an appointment if you wish to attend our training.

Currently our yearly membership fee is $1200 per person, with one dog.  This fee is used towards paying for our club activities and related expenses, like dog sports insurance, training equipment, events, judges, trials, website, etc.

Please note that our membership is very limited so there are times when our membership is full or closed, and in that case no new members will be voted in.  In case of a closed membership our club offers a 'waiting list', where potential new members are able to wait for an opening.

There is no mandatory participation each week.  As a member, you attend training when you can (or wish) but being regular helps you achieve your goals faster.  Please be aware that at DC we do not train your dog for you, you train your own dog - with us.  We do this as a sport, as a hobby as we are not a dog training business.  However, we will be happy to assist you to get the hang of it if you are a beginner or want to get more advanced.

Generally, DC meets for training two times a week. Usually on Mondays and Thursdays.  Many times we also go tracking together on weekends.

We hope that you had a chance to read up a little on the sport of IGP (formerly known as Schutzhund or IPO) to better understand our goals and mission.  Please visit our 'IGP Explained' page (click on link below) to learn all about it.