Dogsports:

Schutzhund/IPO

The most internationally well-known and popular dogsport for working and service breeds is Schutzhund, which was originally developed in Germany more than a hundred years ago. In the beginning, Schutzhund was designed as an examination to evaluate the German Shepherd Dog's temperament, trainability, and physical soundness for breeding purposes.

In German, the word "Schutz" means protect, and "Hund" means dog. Schutzhund is a very exciting and competitive sport. It requires a genetically well-bred dog and a talented trainer and handler. It is widely practiced in Europe and North America. It is gradually gaining popularity in Australia and Asia.

There are 3 phases in Schutzhund. They include Tracking, Obedience, and Protection. Each phase contains 100 points, making up a total of 300 points in the examination. Every handler and dog team starts off with 100 points in each phase, and points are deducted by the judge from mistakes made by either the handler or the dog. The handler and dog team has to pass all 3 phases to earn their Schutzhund title, which means obtaining no less than 70 points in each of the three phases. The scoring system in the sport is extremely strict. There has never been any handler/dog team that has ever achieved the total 300 points in world championships. The breeds that currently excel in international level Schutzhund competitions are the German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois.

Schutzhund has three levels. Schutzhund 1 or SchH1 is the beginner level. SchH2 is the intermediate level. SchH3 is the master level of the sport and it is the most difficult to achieve. Before a dog can compete and enter the Schutzhund examination for his first SchH1 title, he has to pass his BH or Companion Dog Test to ensure he has sufficient character for further evaluation.

In some countries such as Belgium and the Netherlands, Schutzhund is also called IPO or GHP, but they are basically the same program governed by different organizations.

Every year, there are 3 most prestigious and highlighted international events in the sport of Schutzhund/IPO - the FMBB (Belgian Shepherd Dog World Championship), WUSV (German Shepherd Dog World Championship), and FCI (World Championship for All Working Breeds). Beside these world events, there are also other major national championships such as the Belgian National, American National, and the Bundessiegerprüfung and DMC in Germany.

You can go to Video Clips to have a better understanding about this demanding sport.

Belgium Ring, French Ring, & Mondio Ring Sports

Ring Sports are popular in Western Europe. Competitions typically take place in a fence confined field called the ring, hence the name. The most obvious differences between Ring and Schutzhund is that ring decoys wear full body bitesuits instead of sleeves so the dogs can target various parts of the body including the shins, calves, thighs, forearms, biceps, triceps, chest, stomach, and back. There is no tracking in Ring Sports but there are scent discrimination exercises. Ring Sports also allow more freedom for how the exercises are executed. The environments and orders of the exercises in a competition can change according the judge's imagination.

In contrast with horse sports, if Schutzhund is Dressage for dogs, then Ring can simulate Cross Country. There are Ring Sports originated from various backgrounds. Belgium Ring is the oldest known protection dog sport in the world. The decoys' movements are more subtle and pressure is applied to the dog by the decoys' presence, eye contact, and utilization of barriers during the protection phase. French Ring requires a lot of athletic skills and clarity from the dogs. Esquiv. Mondio Ring is a modified combination of Belgium Ring and French Ring. Malinois are the most favorite breed of Ring Sports.

K.N.P.V.

In the Netherlands, there is K.N.P.V. (The Royal Dutch Police Dog Association). It is a program developed by the Dutch government. In this program, civilians purchase and train their dogs and compete with them in K.N.P.V. examinations. When a dog passes a trial. It is titled as a police dog and it can be sold to the police, military, security, or private breeders. 95% of the K.N.P.V. dogs are purebred and crossbred Malinois, due to their intense drive, courage, trainability, and protective nature.