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Schutzhund dog training is the highest rung of the dog training ladder, and requires working with your dog using much more advanced techniques than mere obedience training.  You need an especially gifted dog to even get started with the Schutzhund training. Originally Schutzhund traiing began in Germany as a test of a German shepherd dog’s ability to perform as a police dog. The word Schutzhund translates as “protection dog” in German. Nowadays the Schutzhund dog training has changed, and the competitions include tracking and obedience as well as protection as the focal points of the training.

For most of the history of the Schutzhund training the dogs have been German shepherd dogs, but these days there are some other breeds that receive the Schutzhund training lessons. To be able to compete with this training, the dog must be intelligent, very athletic and courageous to meet the demanding standards of Schutzhund training. In order to qualify as a possible candidate for the Schutzhund training the dog need to have the following characteristics

• Your dog must have a strong work ethic.
• Your dog must have a lot of courage.
• Your dog needs to be easily trainable
• Your dog must have a very strong bond with his handler (you).
• Your dog must have a natural strong protective instinct.
• Your dog needs to have plenty of perseverance.

The Schutzhund dog trails feature 3 different areas of training: tracking, obedience, and protection. There are also rankings of Schutzhund I, Schutzhund II, or Schutzhund III-each level requires your dog to perform even more difficult tests during the trials. These Schutzhund III dogs are the best trained dogs in the world.

Tracking: The tracking phase is designed to test your dogs ability to track by his sense of smell (he has to find dropped items and following a trail set previously by a decoy) as well as your dog’s mental sharpness and physical stamina. During this tracking trial, as the handler, you will follow your dog holding him on a 33-foot leash. The goal is for your dog to locate these dropped items and mark them by lying down with them between his front legs. The dog’s performance is rated on a 100 point scale, based on how accurately and quickly he runs the course.

Obedience: The next trial is for obedience, and these are held in a large open field. Two dogs are paired together for the trial-one dog works while the other waits at the side of the field. At the completion of one dog’s trial, the dogs then switch positions. To do well during these obedience trails your dog is going to need complete focus. Among the many types of exercises, your dog will need to heel while walking through crowd of people, not loose his focus when gunshots are fired, or even to ignore a female dog in heat . Among the other exercises your dog must be able to jump over obstacles, do a variety of retrieves with dumbbells, and climbing over high structures.  Your dog will be judged by his ability and enthusiasm to perform the exercises correctly.

Protection: During the protection trial your dog’s courage and ability to protect both himself and his handler are really challenged. A decoy will be hiding somewhere on the course behind a blind. Your dog is commanded to search the blinds on the course until he locates the decoy and announces the decoy’s presence by barking.  At this point the dog’s job is guard the decoy until your arrival. This is the dog’s chance to show he is qualified for the police work side of Schutzhund dog training. The handler must approach the decoy and attempt to search and escort him. During the search or while being escorted the decoy will try some escapes.Your dog will be required to stop the attempted escape by biting and holding the decoy’s padded sleeve. When the decoy stops his struggling, your dog must know to release the sleeve as soon as you command him to stop. Your dog will score points depending on his ability to control his aggression, enthusiasm for the work and courage.

You may be able to locate a Schutzhund dog training club in your area if you want to join or just to see the dogs in action. Unfortunately there are not all that many Schutzhund dog training clubs in the U.S., but they are finally becoming more common. It takes more than one person to properly do the Schutzhund training, so you’ll need to have someone who can help you. Having someone to help you train your dog and teach you some tips about Schutzhund training is the main reason it is great to join a Schutzhund club if you are interested in this type of training for your dog. You may have no clubs in your vicinity, but you can see how incredible these dogs are by watching a good DVD or video on Schutzhund training.

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