# Starting SchH



## LuckySarah

Well my bulldog passed his temperament test with flying colors last night. The evaluator thinks he could reach SchH3 with no problems as long as I did my part with him.

We start training for SchH on Saturday (the group meets up Saturdays all day and Wed evenings)

I am very excited!

this dog has just been a dream come true for us, I am very proud of him!

Anyone else involved with the sport on this forum?


----------



## Xeph

Not currently, but my husband is very interested, and hopefully he'll be putting BH's on our American dogs (and more, if we've got the dog/time/money for it). I personally don't have a strong enough temperament for the work, nor am I physically capable of handling for the protection work 

Finding clubs that will accept American dogs can be difficult, but they exist


----------



## ChaosIsAWeim

No, but my friend did it a long time ago, in fact she was one of the first woman in the area to put Schutzhund titles on a dog. I believe she worked Rotties, and maybe dobermans.


----------



## LuckySarah

Xeph said:


> Not currently, but my husband is very interested, and hopefully he'll be putting BH's on our American dogs (and more, if we've got the dog/time/money for it). I personally don't have a strong enough temperament for the work, nor am I physically capable of handling for the protection work
> 
> Finding clubs that will accept American dogs can be difficult, but they exist


At least you have shepherds lol

You know how many emails I had to send out for my bulldog lol, and most of the time I wouldn't even hear a reply at all. 

But finally we found one who was willing to entertain off breeds, and he seemed really impressed with my pup, said he was excited to work with him and that he could do really well (within his breed) if I handled him correctly.

I know how hard SchH can be and honestly I thought it was never going to happen, but I am beyond exited about it.
Hopefully I will have some good videos and pics that I can post this summer.


----------



## Xeph

I truly wish you good luck  I'd love to title some of our dogs in the sport, but as I said *I* have a temperament issue with it (I am not the type that gets "motivated" by somebody yelling at me...I'm the type that quits). I think it would be excellent for Jon, though. He loves that kind of structure


----------



## LuckySarah

I got yelled at a few times just during the temperament eval lol

I am ok with it, I an eager to learn so whatever it takes I am willing to do it


----------



## waterbaby

LuckySarah said:


> I got yelled at a few times just during the temperament eval lol
> 
> I am ok with it, I an eager to learn so whatever it takes I am willing to do it


Haha, really? Why? I don't think SchH would be a good sport for me either.


----------



## Yvonne

Yelled at? Glad i've never run into a sch club like that. I have had advice offered but then that is why I trained with a club was to work with others. I have never been yelled at or disrespected. It's about learning from each other and working together to train our dogs. I have only ever met one person I was not comfortable with in schutzhund.


----------



## Xeph

> I have only ever met one person I was not comfortable with in schutzhund.


Then you've been luckier than I have  I'm not saying all places are this way, and how you define yelling and how I do may be different.

My own temperament (personality) is relatively soft. I don't like raised voices being directed at me, regardless of intention. It makes me extremely uncomfortable, and my own natural response is to shut down.


----------



## katielou

Yvonne said:


> Yelled at? Glad i've never run into a sch club like that. I have had advice offered but then that is why I trained with a club was to work with others. I have never been yelled at or disrespected. It's about learning from each other and working together to train our dogs. I have only ever met one person I was not comfortable with in schutzhund.


I have to say i agree.
My experience though is that clubs in this country are very different to Germany. It has seemed to me here that people are somewhat "stuck up" about it where in Germany it was much calmer and just something that everyone turned up for a loved.


----------



## Yvonne

My original club was a couple from Belgium  I agree with you and I loved them.


----------



## Xeph

> It has seemed to me here that people are somewhat "stuck up" about it where in Germany it was much calmer and just something that everyone turned up for a loved.


That has been some of my experience, katielou. I think part of the issue is that people here are more "no nonsense" about it because of limited resources. You can't drive 10 minutes in any direction and find a club. There seems to be an average 2 hour drive for most people that participate in the sport.


----------



## LuckySarah

I was never disrespected 

I was just yelled at once to drop the leash, and another time to let him investigate, not yelling as in screaming at me but yelling telling me what to do when I was doing the wrong thing.


----------



## Yvonne

Sounds good. No worries as I have never seen anyone abused at a club. 

It is good to see other breeds out there in sch. I have seen jack russels, border terriers and such and our boston terrier LOVES it. Do you have pics of your bulldog? I read somewhere on this forum this morning that sch made dogs into biters... wrong. I think it was on the purebred thread. I trust any of my dogs with anyone even my sch 3 male. He is in a program where kids snuggle to him and read with him. I also did schutzhund with my sar dogs and they didnt bite when they found the target lol Some people spout what they don't have first hand of.


----------



## katielou

Yvonne said:


> Sounds good. No worries as I have never seen anyone abused at a club.
> 
> It is good to see other breeds out there in sch. I have seen jack russels, border terriers and such and our boston terrier LOVES it. Do you have pics of your bulldog? I read somewhere on this forum this morning that sch made dogs into biters... wrong. I think it was on the purebred thread. I trust any of my dogs with anyone even my sch 3 male. He is in a program where kids snuggle to him and read with him. I also did schutzhund with my sar dogs and they didnt bite when they found the target lol Some people spout what they don't have first hand of.


We're in the reading with rover team with sch Akita's


----------



## Yvonne

Awesome!! My husband has always been an akita person and we have had two lol Not my breed but I love the look.


----------



## LuckySarah

the bulldog is in my signature, he is a mammut bulldog from Germany so if I can title him he will be the first bulldog of his line to be titled in North America.

The trainer also mentioned that bulldogs in general tend to want to work in defense and that he was really going to push prey with my dog, more of a game as opposed to PP which is what I am looking for. For me its a sport and I want my dog to see it as a sport. I know others have different opinions but that's my goal with SchH training.


----------



## Yvonne

Ok, I had to go look these dogs up. A jrt can do all but the 6 foot jump in sch so cannot get sch 3 title. Excuse me but how is a dog of this build going to accomplish this? I am asking about the ability this structure has. Do you have an official breed website to share as I cannot find anything with studbooks or any mention of them being in Germany?


----------



## LuckySarah

http://www.mammutbull.com/

its German so you will have to translate to read

ETA I am 100% sure that he is physically able to perform all the tasks required for SchH,


----------



## Elana55

Good luck though it is very premature to say a _puppy_ will go Schutzhund 3....

Than being said, I seriously looked at the sport and the issue is finding decent helpers. There is a lot of machismo and 'tude... and I have seen some real abuse (which is not training). I have seen abuse based on the breed or dog or the breed type too. 

If you can find a club that fits.. and a helper who will really help bring your dog along regardless of his breed, then give it a try.


----------



## LuckySarah

What I really liked about this club was that he told me right of the bat that he did not use compulsion methods and if that was what I was looking for to go somewhere else.

They use motivational methods and corrections to proof but that's as far as it goes.

My puppy showed really good nerve and really nice reactions to stimulus so I think this is what he really liked about him, its very difficult to find a dog with good nerve and its essential for SchH.


----------



## Shandwill

I'm interested to watch this thread. I've considered getting my CO evaluated, but I'm one of those folks with no first hand (or second hand) knowledge of the sport and am a bit nervous. Unfortunately, I have heard about some of the abuse that Elana mentioned, and I know that anything of the sort would break Russia's trust and my heart.


----------



## LuckySarah

Take your dog out to a club and see how she does, honestly I knew NOTHING about it until about a month ago when I started reading about drives and sports (trying to find one that was ideal for his temperament).

He LOVED going out to the club and loved all the interaction and games, when we were driving home he fell asleep and was barking in his sleep for the first time lol, pretty sure he was having good dreams about it. There are lots of trainers that do not use corrective methods, and not because they are being nice but because positive methods work better. SchH was a slow sport to change but its changing and for the better.


----------



## LuckySarah

Things are going well, and Horse seems to be picking things up fairly quickly.


----------



## melgrj7

Glad things are going well! You should post some pictures sometime of him training!


----------



## 4TheDawgies

I am active in Schutzhund with two of my dogs. 

Nina the pitbull
http://youtu.be/kAQhpJua2N4










and Havoc my 9 month old German Shepherd


----------



## LuckySarah

Heres a vid.

Prey is his weakness so don't judge him, he makes up for it with nerve and I think he will work better in defense, he is just too young for that now.

But his is nailing the OB and the tracking, prey needs work, I have stopped doing OB with him and I ordered some texture appropriate tugs for him so try and build up his drive.


He's no German shepherd thats for sure but I think he's doing alright


----------



## dantero

It's hard to see things like strike and grip quality in the video, but it looks like he's having fun. How old is he now?

ETA to answer the original question. I've trained a couple dogs in Schutzhund, titled 1 of them and done BH's with a few others. My main sport though is French Ring, so the Schutzhund was more of a side trip just to do something different with a few of the dogs.


----------



## LuckySarah

He was 4 1/2 months at the time of the video, he is almost 5 months now.
he is having fun for sure and thats the point right lol.

The one thing I notice he does in compared to other breeds of pups when working in prey is once he gets a good bite he will flop to the ground and just hold it (letting the flirt pole drag him around lol). Haven't quite figured out what is going on with this.


----------



## Maliraptor

Unlike Dantero, Schutzhund is my main thing.  Although I'd be doing a side of French Ring if the club was closer...lol

I started in GSDs, and have now moved on to Malinois.


----------



## Pawzk9

LuckySarah said:


> Anyone else involved with the sport on this forum?


I was, about a billion years ago. . .


----------

