Schutzhund
Schutzhund is a dog sport developed in germany in the early 1900s,to test wether working dogs exhibit the correct traits necessary for police work.Rather than evaluating a dogs appearnce.Today many different breeds compete in schutzhund ie ,german sheperds ,belgian malinois,Rottweliers,Dobermans,giant schnauzers,Dutch sheperds and Pitbulls.
Schutzhund is a demanding test for any dog, and only a few are able to pass successfully,it test traits such as strength, endurance,agility and scenting ability.
There are three Schutzhund titles, Schutz 1 ,Schutz 2 and Schutz 3.
Schutz 1,the dog must pass a temprement test and obedience test,any dog that exhibits discratilibilty or aggression cannot pass so go onto Schutzhund. The test consists of three phases ,TRACKING,OBEDIENCE and PROTECTION. A judge may dimiss a dog at anytime for showing poor temprement or aggression
The tracking phase test,tests the dogs on scenting ability,but also on mental soundness,and phyisical endurance,the tracking involves a track layer,who walks across a field dropping several small objects along the way,after a period of time,the dog is encouraged to follow the secnt followed by the handler on a 30 foot lead, when the dog finds the said object, he indicates it by usually lying down with the object between his front paws.The dog is judged and scored on how well and carefully he follows the trail.
Obedience phase,this is carried out in a field with dogs working in pairs.One dog is placed in the down position on the side of the field,his hanler leaves him,while he works the other dog in the field the execise consist of heel work which involves walkin through a group of people,there are also 2 or 3 gunshots fired to test the dogs reaction.There 2 recalls,3 retrieves,flat,jump and A frame.And a send out where the dog is sent to run away from the handler and lie down on command,this test is judged on the dogs accuracy,attitude and enthusiasm.
Protection phase,in this phase the judge has an assistant called the “DECOY” who helps assist in the task to asess the dogs courage to protect hiself and his handler and the ability to be controlled under these circumstances,during this task the decoy wears a heavy padded sleeve on his arm,there are also several blinds “hiding places”where the decoy can hide on the field.The dogs are directed to each to search for the decoy,once the decoy is found,the dog must bark and prevent him from escaping until being recalled by the handler.At a specific point the decoy must either attack the dog or the handler to try to escape,the dog must stop him by biting the sleeve,when the decoy stops the attack or tried escape the dog is called to “Release” the sleeve,the dog must stop immediately or he will fail the phase.At all times the dog must show courage and temprement to listen to its handler. Again the dog must show enthusiasm but controlled aggression.
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