Schutzhund is a three-part sport consisting of obedience, tracking, and protection trials. Although originally designed as a breed test for the German Shepherd, these training tests have become a very popular sport for many dog breeds.
It was developed in the early 20th century in Germany for dogs doing police-related work. The goal of these tests is to find dogs that have the characteristics required for demanding jobs such as security, police work, and guard duty.
Schutzhund testing was taken so seriously in Germany that a dog had to pass before it was allowed to breed, thus ensuring that only the strongest dogs were produced.
While these trials seem to produce very aggressive dogs, in reality these dogs are even better behaved on average because they have learned to listen to their owners even in stressful situations.
Many other dogs also compete in these tests today, such as the Boxer, the Bouvier des Flandres, the Rottweiler, and the Belgian Malinois.
There are three titles in this training series, Schutzhund 1, Schutzhund 2, and Schutzhund 3. To earn a title, a dog must pass a series of tracking, obedience, and protection tests judged on a 100-point scale with a minimum passing score. of 70. for the follow-up and obedience phases and 80 for the protection phase. Scoring is determined by designated judges.
If you’re interested in joining or watching a trial, the largest dog association of its kind in America is the United Schutzhund Clubs of America.
