Schutzhund: Theory and Training Methods

Preface

When Susan Barwig published the first edition of this book in 1978, she meant it to be a basic introduction to the sport, an answer to the question “What is Schutzhund?”

In 1978, Schutzhund was a little-known and arcane discipline practiced by a few hundred devotees across the United States. They were regarded with suspicion and even horror by many American dog fanciers. In the United States there was no old and accepted tradition of working dogs, as there was in Western Europe, and twelve years ago Americans tended to associate any sort of biting-dog training with shady characters in greasy overalls who fed their dogs gunpowder in order to make them mean.

In 1978, advertisements for German Shepherd Dogs mentioned side gait more often than working ability, and not many people considered a pedigree full of German Schutzhund III dogs a selling point for a litter of puppies.

In 1978, animals with AKC Companion Dog titles were advertised as “working” dogs. Much has changed in twelve years.

Dog World is now crammed full of ads for German Shepherds, Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers imported from Germany, all of them proudly announcing the animals’ titles and accomplishments in Schutzhund sport. The United Schutzhund Clubs of America have even instituted a controlled-breeding program (modeled after that of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Germany) which emphasizes not only selection for correct conformation but also the deliberate promotion of character and working ability.

We are becoming acquainted with a new vision—the idea that dogs should be admired for more than pretty ears, a handsome coat, a correct topline and a perfect tail.

Now many of us look for character in our dogs rather than just conformation and beauty. We admire a fine working animal—and call it fine—for its courage, its spirit and its power. In short, it is formidable rather than just adorable. Instead of doting on it and spoiling it as we invariably seem to do with beauty dogs, we respect this animal for its power, love it for its devotion to us and keep and train it responsibly because of our respect for it.

Now more Americans than ever are asking “What is Schutzhund?” This book, like its predecessor, is designed to answer this question, giving the reader a feeling not just for the mechanics and ritual of a Schutzhund trial, but also for the theory and the atmosphere of the sport.

However, much more than its predecessor, it is also designed to convey a good general understanding of Schutzhund training and also many specific techniques for teaching the dogs. We think that Schutzhund: Theory and Training Methods will prove fascinating not only to novices getting their first introduction to the sport, but also to seasoned trainers looking for a new perspective.

The Requirements chapters describe what the dog must do in a trial—much more simply and readably than in a rule book.

The Overview chapters give the reader general information about, and also hopefully some insight into, each of the three phases of Schutzhund and the demands that they place on the animal.

The training chapters break all of the exercises which the dog must learn down into simple steps designed to be easily grasped by the animal, and also arrange them into meticulous progressions (the careful layerings of skills and concepts that eventually evolve into polished exercises).

For reasons of space, we were unable to describe the schooling of all the exercises in Schutzhund in full detail in this introductory volume. We were forced to be selective, especially in protection training, which is very complex.

We give a reasonably detailed picture of the theory and methods of drive work, because basic agitation is the foundation upon which all other training is based. Because the hold and bark and the out are by far the two most important skills of control, we treated them in some detail. With respect to those two exercises, we hope that we have succeeded in conveying a rich understanding of our methods to the reader and imparted information and ideas that can actually be used on the training field.

On the other hand, our methods for the blind search and what we call obedience for bites are subtle and complicated, and to describe them in detail would have required another volume.

Throughout the book we have employed the pronoun “he” to refer to the handler and also the agitator and the assistant in training. No sexism is implied. We fully recognize that there are many extremely capable female dog trainers in the sport. Our decision to use the masculine pronoun was prompted by stylistics, not chauvinism.