The Delta Schutzhund Club

What breeds are allowed to compete in Schutzhund? ::

There are two governing bodys for Schutzhund: The Verein fur Deutsche Shaefhunde (SV) and the Deutscher Verband der Gebrauchshundsportvereine (DVG). Although the sport was originally for the German Shepherd Dog, any breed of dog which is capable of doing the work may compete. This list of breeds includes, but is not limited to:

:: Airedale Terrier
:: Anatolian Shepherd Dog
:: Australian Kelpie
:: Australian Shepherd
:: Beauceron
:: Belgian Shepherd
:: Belgian Malanois
:: Belgian Tervuren
:: Border Collie
:: Briard
:: Bouvier des Flandres
:: Boxer
:: Doberman Pinscher
:: German Shepherd Dog
:: Great Pyrenees
:: Hovawart
:: Picardie
:: Rottweiler
:: Schnauzer (Giant and Standard)

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I have a German Shepherd Dog, can it do Schutzhund? ::

We don't know, can it? The only way to find out is to do the sport. Buying a German Shepherd Dog does not necessarily guarantee success in the sport of Schutzhund. There are several breeds of dogs which can do very well at tracking and obedience, but few can be trained to a high level in tracking, obedience, and protection like a German Shepherd Dog can. It all depends on the dog's temperament, physical soundness, confidence, and drives. If your dog has the toolkit, it can do the work, regardless of the breed or breeding lines.

The other side of this situation, is you. If your dog has the ability to do the work, do you have the skill, attitude, and commitment as a handler to bring your dog along to a Schutzhund title?

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My dog loves to play tug, has a lot of energy, and I want to do more with him than just throw a ball. How do I find out if Schutzhund is for us? ::

Schutzhund training is a ton of fun, and tremendously rewarding, but it is also very time-consuming. Our club has no particular breed prejudices (we have several people who have titled mixed breeds at some point in their training careers), but the time commitment can be huge. We train 3x/week, roughly 3-4 hours each time, sometimes more on days when we practice tracking. At the very least, you should look into the sport to see if it really is something you want to make that much of a commitment to.

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Is it safe to have a Schutzhund dog around children? ::

Absolutely. Many people in our club have successfully competed in Schutzhund for years while raising children. Some of their children went on to become superb handlers themselves. Schutzhund is a sport where overly aggressive, fearful, shy, or unsocial dogs cannot do the work. These are undesired qualities in any dog which will be around children. With that said, a child raised around dogs should be taught how to behave around dogs, to respect them, and to be aware of them; any large breed dog can hurt a small child simply by running by them and accidentally knocking them down.

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Doesn't training your dog in bite work make it vicious? ::

No, it doesn't. A Schutzhund dog is not trained in personal protection, nor are we teaching our dogs to bite whenever the dog feels like it. Every dog in the world knows how to bite. A Schutzhund dog is trained to bite only under specific circumstances; when the handler tells it to, on the Schutzhund trial field. This means that a Schutzhund dog may not protect it's handler from real danger in the real world. In order for a dog to be trained in civil or personal protection, you must greatly raise the dog's suspicion level, often to the point where it will not trust many people, and may inappropriately react to strange stimuli. Calm and collected dogs are found in Schutzhund, not ones which are suspicious and hectic.

Schutzhund is a sport which demands that a dog be social. Schutzhund trials are generally large events, with lots of crowds, so the dogs must be approachable by strangers. If anything, the training we do makes most dogs that are suited to the work more confident and secure, and less bothered by unusual circumstances.

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My dog has bitten several people and I think he'd make an excellent Schutzhund dog, will he? ::

There are two ways we can answer this question; politely or impolitely. Politely, we can tell you it depends on the circumstances which led your dog to bite. The impolite answer is that if your dog truly does bite people and you like or encourage that behaviour, then the sport of Schutzhund is not for you, or your dog.

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