The sport of Schutzhund is an internationally
recognized dog sport that is recognized by virtually every major kennel
club in the world, including the American Kennel Club (AKC).
Competition in the sport begins at the club level under qualified
judges. Advanced competition is offered on a regional, national, and
international level to those teams that qualify. Each year six German
Shepherd Dogs and their handlers represent the United States in a world
competition through the WUSV (Germany’s German Shepherd Dog club).
Other organizations also offer other international high-level
competitions.
The sport of Schutzhund evolved from and is a
remnant of the actual evaluations once used in Germany to evaluate the
temperament, physical soundness, and working ability of the German
Shepherd Dog candidate to be used by the military and police
departments. Today the sport is used as an evaluation tool for breeders
and is helpful in the selection of working dog candidates for search
and rescue; bomb, drug and cadaver detection; police, customs and
military work.
The sport of Schutzhund is the triathlon of
the working dog sports. There are three different phases:
tracking/scent work; obedience/control, and protection/defense. Before
a dog may even enter to compete in a Schutzhund trial, it must first
earn the BH/Companion Dog degree as confirmation that the dog is a
social dog with a sound mind; is of sound body; and is under it’s
handlers complete control at all times when in public and when exposed
to the distractions that are typical in our society. After the BH is
earned the dog has been qualified to advance in the sport and may enter
trials where it will be tested in each and every phase of the sport.
The dog must pass each phase in order to earn its title. There are
three levels, each of increasing difficulty in every phase, the SchH I,
SchH II and the SchH III. The dog must earn a lower title before it may
compete in the next level.
Schutzhund sport dog training should not be
confused with actual protection dog or police dog training, although to
the uninitiated the dog often appears to be protecting its handler.
Schutzhund sport protection/defense work can be compared to competition
non-contact martial arts. Because in actuality, it is an artificial
performance of reaction to stimuli and is representative of what is
expected from the protection dog. The sport dog is never actually
trained to assault a person. Rather, it is trained to perform certain
defensive actions on a decoy that is wearing special protective
equipment and behaves in a certain manner that the dog has been taught
to key up on. Many people are surprised to learn that the Schutzhund
trained sport dog may not actually protect them in a real life
situation. This is because without the atmosphere, decoy equipment and
characteristic decoy behavior, the dog does not associate real life
situations with the atmosphere it has become familiar with in training
situations. Many visitors are surprised to see the same dog that
appeared aggressive only moments ago when the decoy was suited up;
licking the face of the very decoy it was performing its defensive
actions upon when the man is unsuited, is off the field, and is acting
normally. Further advanced specialized training is required to
transform the Schutzhund sport dog into an actual defender of persons
or property or a police dog.
While the sport is sometimes characterized
by the few moments of protection performances at trials, Schutzhund
training is primarily obedience training. Every phase exhibits the
level of control the handler has over his/her canine partner in intense
working situations. You cannot have a successful Schutzhund sport dog
unless you are willing to invest innumerable hours in obedience
training. You will also be spending countless early morning hours
teaching your dog to track on many different types of terrain from
dusty fields, in lush green pastures, to muddy plowed fields; as well
as in different weather situations from wind, rain, and freezing cold,
to hot dry summer days. It takes a very special dog to become a
Schutzhund sport dog, but it takes just as special a human to train one.
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