'Schutzhund a Novice Viewpoint'

Schutzhund a Novice Viewpoint

It is with some trepidation I have decided to submit this article to the GSD Breed Council magazine, in response to the apparent misunderstanding of the sport of Schutzhund, particularly here in the UK

Notice I use a pseudonym (friends who know me on the breed side will guess who I am) has I have no wish to get involved in arguments or politics, this is a novice insight of getting involved in Schutzhund, it is not a statement on behalf of the BSA or an article on how to train, more about how to get involved

Having owned GSD,s in the past, showed briefly and competed in working trials I decided that my new puppy would be shown and trained for Schutzhund (To some extent I can not influence its physical development, but can hugely influence character development)

First task was to find a club, easy enough, find BSA web site (now GSDL) and list of clubs ,which is the nearest and give them a ring.

So call the secretary of the club, get directions, turn up and join, easy. Not so. The initial telephone conversation centered on my background in dogs, why I wanted to train for schutzhund and a bit about my little bitch, breed, age and background. Having got through this stage I was invited to visit the club to observe the training, get more information (should read grilling) and give the trainers an opportunity to observe my dog

Arriving at the training ground(with my 14 week old pup) it was not the scene I expected, no nice club house like on some video's of training in Germany, merely a big barn to brew up, shelter occasionally from the weather and, a big field, to train on

After initial introductions I was again asked (another grilling) as to why I wished to train a dog for schutzhund, what was my overall understanding (at this point not a lot bar a overview of basic requirements TOP-Tracking, Obedience, Protection).It was then clearly pointed out that this is a Schutzhund club and that anyone wishing to become a member would be expected to train in all phases of the sport (TOP), they do not teach protection only. I was then invited to watch the training, at this point my pup was still in the car.

Training was not what I expected, about a dozen members where present but perhaps only 3 or 4 people working their dogs in a variety of obedience exercises, but no one as far as I could see telling them how to do it. Dogs would work, and then go back in the van, and others would begin working their dogs, but where is the trainer?

I had expected a very formal line up, do this with your dog, now everyone sit, etc.This club did not operate like that (others may) what was happening was that various members were helping each other, they would observe work and give comments, and offer suggestions. At this point I brought my pup out and was encouraged to socialize her, everyone loves a pup, so lots of attention, a new experience and lots of big dogs around, the dogs are not encouraged to be friends but to accept each other and get on with work ignoring other dogs, pup back in the car,, jumps away and equipment set up for protection work.

I then observed a variety of dogs of different ages, experience and drive being put through various stages of the requirements for the protection element of Schutzhund, from very inexperienced young dogs, lots of play, prey drive development, grip work, to very good Sch3 dogs working the whole element of the protection phase, it was at this point that I thought the main trainer/helper, knows his stuff, not because of the standard of the top dogs, rather the way the young dogs were developed. Now I may be a relative novice at Schutzhund, but I did have the privilege of working with Terry Hadley (40+ CC at Working Trials) in the 1980,s so I did have some concept of what I was looking for. Again I was asked to bring the pup out while some of the protection work was going on with the more experienced dogs, at this point I noticed no dogs were out while this work was on, the pup loved it, yet more socialization.

Training over I was given times of training, twice a week, (mid week6-30 to 10-30,Sat 1 to 7pm), and invited to come along, no mention of money,etc.At this point I left and I'm sure members asked will we see him again, I've done this since several times.

So back for more, and after several sessions I signed up as a club member and joined the BSA

So you ask what did you do (Told you it's not a training article)

Initial sessions concentrated on developing drive for prey .The prey drive was for the protection element, lots of ragging, and grip work. This is were an experienced trainer is helpful. Onto tracking, I had some experience of tracking from working trials, but until I observed a good Schutzhund dog tracking I had no idea of the different requirements. I was then shown by a experienced member (WUSV Competitor) how to lay a short track, we then worked the pup on the track and I was given advice what to do to develop her

What about obedience you ask, not really necessary at this point, I was given some advice on simple tasks, using reward but was advised no pressure, just fun and keep it simple, don't expect too much too soon, she's a puppy.

So how are we doing ,the future will tell, we need to keep working, I need to remain enthusiastic, and we will have our ups and downs as problems appear ,but hopefully we will overcome these as she matures and I develop my skills

At the moment (she is now approaching 12 months of age) she tracks with some food aid a good length track (some of my friends in breed have seen these on video, yes I'm that sad I'm monitoring her progress) protection work is still focusing on developing a calm grip, and obedience, which up to recently focused on making her a good pet at home, is progressing nicely. As she has got older I have incorporated more elements of the obedience elements into her training

A typical training day for us would now be

Arrive training ground at 1pm, lay track and complete track with dog, some weeks ask an experienced member to walk round with you and observe, put dog back in car

Perhaps walk several tracks with other members, observe and learn

After an hour or so do some obedience work, for me this is focused heel work, sits, recalls, socialization and downs with distraction, dog back in car.

Lastly a short session on protection

All this takes hours as the helper can only work one dog at a time

If you decide to join a Schutzhund club don't make your decisions quickly, it takes a bit of time to take in all that's going on, it's not always that obvious, ask lots if questions and observe, every dog is different, as is every handler.

Lastly I know some people have expressed the problems of joining a club, perhaps even a lack of opportunity to even let trainers see your dog my only advice is persevere, clubs do become full and will be reluctant to take on new members (helper time is usually the factor), but if you could demonstrate genuine interest perhaps the club concerned would except you. How you ask when we are not being given the opportunity?

One solution could be do some work prior to asking for membership

Our club is full, however a prospective member has been shown by a club member how to introduce their dog to tracking and, how to develop fun prey drive, with a recommendation to do some work and come back and demonstrate that they are serious.

Schutzhund is a time demanding sport; you need to train away from the club environment on a regular basis, and if you do exhibit it is problematic fitting everything in and I'm not going to attempt to advise you how to do that, I'm still working on that one

Regards and good luck

Oh and lastly ENJOY you dogs

Tony Marsland (South Cheshire ClubMember)