Schutzhund: Theory and Training Methods

The solution to this fundamental problem is to keep the dog from finding us out, to prevent discrimination. We do so by, first, avoiding the mistakes described above and, second, by overtraining the animal. We leave it on the post so long, and perform the out in so many different ways that it is virtually locked in habit. Its behavior where the out is concerned is no longer plastic. The dog outs invariably, no matter what the context. Discrimination is prevented because, since the dog does not disobey, it never learns that sometimes we are unable to control it when it disobeys. We are, as far as it is concerned, omnipotent.

We overtrain by proofing:

1. We perform outs under very difficult, distracting or stimulating circumstances that far exceed the difficulties of a Schutzhund trial. For example:

• out the dog off a decoy who is not frozen but actively struggling against the animal

• out the dog off a decoy who sits in a chair or lies upon the ground

• back tie the dog in a dark building, on a slick floor or inside a confined space and train the out

• practice the out while the dog is surrounded by a crowd of milling spectators

2. We make the dog practice the skill perfectly many times in order to establish it as an invariable habit. Remember, practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.

Once the animal outs flawlessly in every conceivable circumstance, no matter what the difficulty, and has done so for several weeks, during which the correction line has lain slack and unused in the assistant’s hands, then it is ready to be taken off the back tie, and not before.

4. Outing the dog at distance

The training we have accomplished up to this point will suffice for all but very difficult dogs in the front work, the protection exercises in which the handler is relatively close to his dog for the out. However, for two reasons, the longdistance courage test outs will present problems with even an extensively overtrained and proofed dog:

1. These outs come immediately after the courage test. The dog is inspired and highly stimulated.

^{In order the enforce the out at a great distance from the handler, the decoy uses a short leash attached to the dog’s pinch collar and corrects the animal under the sleeve.}

2. During the courage test, nobody is within 100 to 200 feet of the animal, except the decoy. The unfamiliarity of the context, in addition to the dog’s high level of spirit, can lead to disobedience and then discrimination.

In order to overcome these difficulties, we need a method of correcting the dog that

• does not depend upon the proximity to the dog of the handler or an assistant

• does not depend upon a cumbersome long line

• will not teach the dog respect or fear for the decoy or for the stick

The best method we have found makes use of a tight pinch collar and a short (two to three foot), very light line hanging from it. The dog drags the line with it as it goes down the field after the agitator (it has no wrist loop or knot to tangle in the animal’s legs) and after the bite the helper grabs hold of it under the sleeve with his free hand. If necessary for the out, he then corrects the dog with a short, precise movement of his arm.

The agitators who are good at this technique can deliver a relatively strong correction without making it obvious to the dog from whence the compulsion comes. It is important that the decoy does not command the dog himself or threaten the animal. He acts only as a mechanical agent for the handler.

Because of limitations on leverage, and because of the physical strength of even a medium-sized dog, this technique will not work with a dog that is experienced in disobedience and determined to keep its bite. However, in the case of a well-prepared and extensively overtrained animal that is inclined to out anyway, the method is ideal.

^{The handler restrains the dog physically while the agitator stimulates it from a distance of twenty or thirty feet (drive phase).}

^{Then the handler quickly releases the dog’s collar, commands the dog to “Sit” and simultaneously corrects the animal into a sit with the leash (control phase).}

^{After several repetitions, and in spite of being excited, the dog sits on command and holds its place without a correction.}

^{The handler then sends the dog to bite with the command “Get him” (return to drive phase).}

17 Protection: Obedience for Bites and the Blind Search

The three most important skills that the dog must master for Schutzhund protection are the hold and bark, the out and the blind search. However, there is in addition a somewhat bewildering array of minor skills that the animal must also master in order to turn in a polished performance:

• Schutzhund I attack on handler

• front transport and Schutzhund II and III attack on handler

• side transport (or side escort)

• down and search

• recall to heel from the blind

This list does not include a last aspect of the protection routine which is not one of the formal exercises but which plays a vital role in all of them. We speak, of course, of heeling—the not so simple business of moving a very excited and aggressive animal around the field with nothing but voice to control it.

Many trainers consume a great deal of their time and their dog’s energy hammering in each of these minor skills as separate and distinct exercises. Yet, interestingly enough, the minor skills are often the weakest points in otherwise excellent trial performances. It is quite common to see dogs in competition that are faultless in the hold and bark and the out, and yet are still very difficult to manage on the protection field.

As a result of many years of work with biting dogs, we have developed a system that overcomes this problem by uniting all the minor skills. Once the dog has mastered a single concept, which we call obedience for bites, the attacks on handler, the escort, the transport, the down and search, the recall and heeling all fall naturally and even effortlessly into place.

Of course, at this stage in the dog’s career, there is no need to teach it obedience. It already understands most or all the skills required. But understanding something is different than actually doing it. We must take into account the emotional and physiological context of training.

Certainly when the dog is in the mildly stimulated mood that prevails on the obedience field, it “knows” obedience and responds easily to commands. However, in the supercharged atmosphere of the protection field, obedience is another question entirely. During agitation, the dog is intensely aroused. This excitement is not only a function of its mood, but also it is a physiological phenomenon—a chemical event taking place within the animal’s body. Because its bloodstream is flooded with endorphins and other hormones that considerably alter its behavior and basic characteristics, it may seem a different dog when on the protection field.

Trainers who come to Schutzhund from competitive obedience are often taken unaware by the changes that come with arousal. Because they are unaccustomed to training animals in this excited frame of mind, they do not understand that bite work is a totally different realm of behavior than obedience and that consequently different rules apply.

For example, sometimes dogs that are otherwise as sensitive and gentle as lambs become so stimulated during agitation that they turn as hard as stone, and they will endure without a blink a correction that would normally devastate them. This transformation is a normal part of bite work, and takes place to some extent in every dog. It is also very much to our advantage, because in agitation we deliberately exploit arousal in order to develop power in the dog, the kind of power that will enable it to withstand all opposition from the decoy. Unfortunately, the same power can give the dog the ability to withstand its handler’s attempts to control it as well.