Schutzhund  Dog Training is the highest level of dog training, using very advanced training methods.  It takes a special dog to be able to perform as a Schutzhund dog. Originally Schutzhund traiing began in Germany as a test of a German shepherd dog’s ability to perform as a police dog. Schutzhund is actually the German word for protection dog. 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.

Most of the Schutzhund dogs historically have been German shepherd dogs, but now there are clubs that allow the entry of other breeds. 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. To qualify as a good candidate for the Schutzhund  training, you dog should have the following characteristics:

• Your dog must have a  strong desire to work.
• Your dog must be courageous.
• Your dog should be very easy to train
• The dog must develop a very strong relationship with his handler.
• A very strong protective instinct in your dog is needed.
• Your dog must be able to persevere.

The Schutzhund dog trials are based on three different tests: tracking, obedience and protection. There are 3 levels of Schutzhund training, Levels Schutzhund I, Schutzhund II, and Schutzhund III, and each level is more challenging. These Schutzhund III dogs are the best trained dogs in the world.

Tracking: Your dogs sense of smell, his mental sharpness and his stamina will be tested during the tracking ability competition on a trail that contains dropped items for him to locate. 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. Your dog will be judged using a 100 point scale, depending on how well he performed on the course.

Obedience: After tracking, the next trial is for obedience, and the obedience trials are help in an open field. The dogs work in pairs, but one dog will be told to wait at the side of the field while he other dog is going through his trial. At the completion of one dog’s trial, the dogs then switch positions. The actual exercises are varied and to do well your dog is required to have total focus. Among the exercises are heeling amidst crowds of people, and even while shots are fired from a gun, and male dogs must stay focused within the scent of a female dog in heat. Other exercises include a variety of retrieves over jumps,  recalls and more.  The dogs are judged by how well they perform their exercises and how enthusiastic they were during the trial.

Protection: The protection part of the competition tests your dogs courage and ability to protect both himself and his handler. He will be confronted with a “decoy” who has been placed behind a blind. The handler commands the dog to search among the blinds until he finds the decoy, and barks to announce his discovery.  Your dog should be trained to guard the decoy until you have a chance to arrive. Here is where a dog really shows off his abilities for police work. the handler now comes up to the decoy, and will search him prior to escorting him to where the judge is waiting. During the search or while being escorted the decoy will try some escapes.During the escape attempt your dog must be able to stop the escape by biting and holding onto 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. The dogs are judged depending on their courage, enthusiasm as how well they can control their aggression.

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. Clubs are the best way to enter the field of Schutzhund training, because the sport requires the help of another person to really train your dog. Schutzhund training clubs are the best place to get that kind of help and also learn tips from more experienced handlers. 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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