The Schutzhund testing, training and titling program is conducted around the world to evaluate German Shepherds for breed standards. The program has developed over the decades since early in the 20th century. It involves many equipment items. Most of the required items however are fairly standard and will be familiar to dog handlers.
The sport is divided into tracking, obedience and protection phases. Tracking trains the dog to use its scenting abilities, mental discipline and physical endurance. Obedience trains the dog to conform to specific commands. Protection requires the dog to hold a mock human decoy and then release it on command. See these
schutzhund training tips for insight on earning titles.
Perhaps the first equipment to procure is a fur saver collar. This simple chain collar is designed so that links are dropped through an end ring to produce a loop sized to allow the head of the dog to pass through. A leash is attached to the end ring. The design minimizes the collar choking the dog.
Soft dog toys or tugs are used to prepare a pup for the sleeve. They teach a puppy that biting some items is permissible and biting others is not. Good tugs are around one inch in diameter and six to ten inches long. They can be made of various materials such as stuffed leather, fire hose or rope. The tug should not be too stiff as pups enjoy being able to squeeze and sinking their teeth into the tug. Larger tugs are used to begin protection training. A line is typically attached to one end of the rag.
Dumbbells are used for retrieval training. Schutzhund has specific dumbbell requirements, based on weight, for each level of the program. SchH1 requires 650 grams, SchH2 1000 grams and SchH3 2000 grams. In all cases, the SchH1 dumbbell is used for jumping.
Voraus training can be completed using a variety of techniques and does not usually require specialist equipment. One popular approach is to use the food bowl regularly used by the dog. To begin, it is positioned a trivial distance (say, two meters). With the dog starting from a sit posture, the handler commands it to approach the bowl. The distance of the bowl is progressively increased until the bowl is not visible to the dog from its starting position.
Trainers recognizes that dogs are pack animals. It teaches a dog to protect both itself and the pack leader, being the owner or handler. In addition to the above mentioned items, other equipment can include blinds, ramps and stands, whips, sticks, jute rolls, coveralls, leather aprons and sleeves. Handlers planning on placing dogs in the program might acquaint themselves with all the equipment required for the program and how best to employ it.
