Rules For Schutzhund

CCPROTECTIONDOGS.COM

With the membership "For the German Shepherd Dog" the United Schutzhund Clubs of America is an organization that is dedicated to protecting and preserving the German Shepherd's working heritage through Schutzhund training. Schutzhund, which is translated as "Protection Dogs" originated in Germany so that breeder could evaluate and pick the highest quality dog for their breeding programs. In Germany still to this day a German Shepherd dog can not be bred without a Schutzhund title. The three titles are Sch H I (novice), Sch H II (intermediate), and Sch H III (master level). Schutzhund still continues to function as a breed test but it has grown into an extremely popular sport, especially in North America. The purpose of Schutzhund is to demonstrate the dog's intelligence, utility, endurance, ability to scent, courage, trainability and many others as well. The three parts of Schutzhund are obedience, tracking and protection, the whole sport has many rules and regulations that must be followed.

The following are just some rules and regulations of the Schutzhund sport. To begin with, the minimum age requirements for entry into the different degree levels are as follows, SchH A -18 month, SchH 1 -18 months, Sch1-1 11 -19 months, Schl-l 111 - 20 months, FH -16 months, and B -12 months. When only one judge is present a maximum of 10 (12 in the USA) dogs may be entered in the trial. If the amount of entries exceeds this, then the trial must be extended another day or more judges must be brought in. Only dogs that are in good health can be in a trial, also the dog must pass a test of impartiality and sureness. Another rule is that a dogs are only allowed to be in one Schutzhund degree for each trial. Also if a dog has been awarded a degree, a four week (two weeks in USA) waiting period must occur before the dog can be put into the next higher degree. When it comes to the event the participant must follow the instructions of the judge as well as the trial committees', without any disagreement. Also the handler must show the dog in a sporty and faultless manner, poor sportsmanship will lead to expulsion from the trial. Regarding score and ratings, the highest maximum score in each phase is 100 points, therefore the highest score for all three phases is 300 points. Again, these are just a few of the Schutzhund rules and regulations.

French Ring Sport Vertical Palisade

CCPROTECTIONDOGS.COM

French Ring Sport is a European dog sport that originated in France during the 1900's. It shares a common history with Belgian Ring Sport and has a similar set of rules. Although the idea of dog sport began as a way to test the working ability of participating dogs, French Ring and Belgian Ring have always been somewhat of a spectator sport, intended to impress on-lookers with feats of canine agility and bite-work. This has lead to the development of some of the most physically demanding exercises of all dog sports.

One of the toughest exercises in French Ring is known as the palisade. It is considered an advanced agility exercise, and is only required for Ring II and Ring III titles. The palisade is essentially a vertical wall that the dog is expected to scale. The palisade must be jumped twice in a single exercise: once over, and once more to return to the handler. The minimum height for a palisade is 1.7m (5.5′), but an additional 2 points are awarded for extra 0.1m of height added to the palisade, for a maximum of 2.3m (7.5′). To put this in perspective, most municipalities impose a limit of about 2m (6.5′) on fences surrounding residential property.

The palisade in French Ring is built from horizontal planks of wood stacked one atop another and held in place by two wooden posts. During training, an incline is sometimes added to one side of the palisade to allow the dog to descend easily rather than dropping the full height of the palisade to the ground. This incline is, of course, not present in official competition.

To train a dog to scale a 2.3m palisade is certainly an impressive feat, but one should keep in mind that impressive feats in sport do not always translate to effective protection in real life. A dog that can take on a palisade with a smooth wooden top may have a great deal more difficulty attempting to scale an uneven chain-link fence. Respect should be given to those who put in the immense amount of dedication required to train their German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois for French Ring, but true protection work should be left to dogs who have been properly trained for protection work in the real world.