Schutzhund or NOT to Schutzhund?

April 13, 2010

Did you know that having a fully Protection Trained/Schutzhund Trained German Shepherd Dog could be a liability? Now, I’m not knocking them, as all of you know that I LIVE for my dogs training in the “art” of PPT/Schutzhund. But that particular style of training is not for everyone! Seriously…

photo credit: Les DeFoor
So with that said, let’s ask each other a few questions if you are contemplating the training of your large breed dog in this area, ok? Ok!

Can I trust a dog trained in protection with my family?

This is a great question. And to qualify it, let me first state that any dog can be a danger to a family. As a matter of fact, did you know that getting bit by a dog is the 5th most common reason for taking your child to an emergency room? And the majority of bites – 77% – are from dogs owned by the person’s own family, or that of a family friend!

But why the German Shepherd?

So then, what about our breed? What about the German Shepherds keen abilities – bred into them? Here’s a snip from http://www.k9pups.com/site/657261/page/356580:

Captain Max von Stephanitz, a young German cavalry officer, decided to develop a national breed of shepherd dogs. Max von Stephanitz was a very educated man, fond of shepherd dogs and appreciated very high their working abilities. He is known as the father of the breed. April 3, 1899 is considered to be the birthday of The German Shepherd Dog

From the inception of the breed, guardianship & protection have been mastered within them to the point it is now. And that’s why k9 units are using the Shepherd (of course, along with Belgium Malinois and Rotts) on their forces, not to mention the military of just about every super power in the world!

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Posted in German Shepherd Articles