Understanding Schutzhund Dog Training
The Schutzhund training program for dogs is a test that was developed in Germany to test to see if the German Shepherd dogs are fit to be police dogs. This program allowed trainers to look past the appearance when deciding on which dog is suitable to be recruited. Now even though other breeds of dog can join the program, very little dogs are able to pass it.
Breaking down the Schutzhund Dog Training
The Schutzhund dog training is a very intensive program that has gone through years of evolution. While it is considered less abusive, the program is still very strict so each dog will be evaluated properly. Previously, the Schutzhund dog training program was only taught through courses and manuals but now there are video guides to help you with prepare your dog with the training.
What the training does is that it will test your dog and see if it has the potential behaviour for police work such as retrieving, tracking, protection and sniffing. The training program can start as soon as your puppy reaches 4 weeks old and continues until your dog would be ready for the job. This process takes as long as needed until the desired result is achieved.
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What Schutzhund Really Does?
The Schutzhund dog training touches on a lot of aspects. What do you learn from the obedience videos or training program depends on what you subscribe to. Here is a breakdown of the Schutzhund dog training:
Clicker Training: While not everyone will follow that program, it is still a good method to train dogs suitable for the Schutzhund program. You need to start the clicker program with your puppy being as young as 10 weeks old.
Obedience: This will be the first obstacles your dog will face. There are as many as 11 commands of obedience that they will teach and your dog need to master it all to complete it.
Tracking: The Schutzhund dog training will teach your dog to track things such as people, drugs or bombs. This is where the obedience training of “targeting” and “pointing objects” will be used. You will have to train your dog to know the scents of the targets they are supposed to track and keep tracking until you’ve called it off.
Protection: Your dog will also be taught so they know how to protect people. They will be taught how to listen to commands that tells them to recognize threats and take it down if needed. Your dog will also be taught to defend automatically without having to say any commands to him.
The whole purpose of the Schutzhund dog training is to train your dog so he has the skills to finish given tasks with speed and efficiency. Most of the time, only 1 out of 5 dogs will pass the official Schutzhund dog training program but you can still use it as part of your obedience training at home.
When picking out which Schutzhund dog training to use with your dog, remember to read up what each variations offer, what their success rates are and what are the main philosophies for doing these programs.








