Schutzhund = IPO Germany no longer refers to protective sport due to political reasons “Schutzhund, which spread throughout the world because it originated in Germany. What exactly does IPO mean? International Protocol Order. International exam rules or international auditing regulations, respectively. Now, the German name “Sport Schutzhund” means “protection canine
In the 1800s, Germany was the birthplace of the Schutzhund. German policemen at the time were known as “Schutzmann,” and his dog was known as “Schutzhund.”
It refers to a sport where the emphasis is on fostering and assessing in dogs the characteristics that make them more useful and contented companions for their owners.
The three main focuses of IPO work are tracking, obedience, and protection. The first two sections, tracking and obedience, will be familiar to many who are familiar with the obedience work of the American Kennel Club’s affiliates. The IPO requirements for the third component, protection work, are comparable to those for using canines in law enforcement.
Although dogs of other breeds are also allowed to compete in IPO trials, the German Shepherd Dog was the focus of this breed evaluation test. IPO aims to show the dog’s intellect and usefulness. IPO tests the dog’s ability to work, willingness to work, courage, and trainability as a working trial. It also assesses its mental stability, endurance, structural efficiency, and ability to sniff.
This working dog sport gives dog owners the chance to train their dogs and compete against one another to be recognised for both the handlers’ and their dogs’ abilities to teach and perform as needed. People from all walks of life participate in this sport with a sense of camaraderie that stems from their shared love of working with dogs. People of various ages and socioeconomic backgrounds—including those who have severe disabilities—enjoy Schutzhund as a sport. It is frequently a family sport.
What distinguishes the IPO from the Schutzhund?
Three primary skill sets—obedience, tracking, and protection—are at the heart of IPO. Schutzhund obedience is exceedingly regimented and orderly, with just the judge and a small number of people on the trial field acting as distractions. Focused heeling, recall, down and sit in motion, dumbbell retrieve, and a lengthy down stay without handler input are the major exercises. In the lower stages of competition, tracking consists of tracking on a grass field with a track put out by the handler. The dog must alert on certain items on the track. The protection drills in IPO include a blind search, a bark and hold, a test of courage, and carrying a weapon “prisoner. Every bite is provided on a “The dogs competing in this sport will never encounter a bite suit on the trial field, barrel sleeve.
What does training an IPO dog entail?
All of my dogs participate in the sport of IPO, formerly known as Schutzhund, in addition to obedience competitions. Internationale Prfungs-Ordnung is referred to as IPO.
The three aspects of the IPO sport are tracking, obedience, and protection.
The trial’s three phases must be completed by the dog. The successful IPO candidate must have a foundational level of innate drives, strong nerves, desire, and willingness to carry out the job with their handler in order to succeed in the protection part of the sport.
The two particular drives that must exist are fight and prey (the impulse to chase an object based on visual cues) (desire to defeat the prey object). Even though the dog’s other drives are beneficial, they are not nearly as crucial as strong prey and fight drives.
When we talk about a dog’s “nerves,” we mean its innate self-assurance. A “nervy dog” is one that becomes anxious and agitated very easily, frequently escalating into unwarranted hostility or fear. It is considerably simpler to teach a dog for sport who has “firm nerves” because they do not perceive threats easily. Personally, I’d be wary of IPO training a dog with a nervous temperament.
I consider IPO to be a sport.
Making a personal security dog is not something I am at all interested in doing. When participating in the sport of protection, I don’t want my dogs to get upset or defensive. I want them to view the helper—the one doing the rag or sleeve work—as a worthy adversary who demands their full focus during a challenging but fun game. My goal is to instil in my dogs the notion that they will prevail if they put out their best effort and give it their all. I want them to think that any pressure tactics (yelling, harsh frontal pressure, waving sticks, etc.) that are used on them are only threats with no real weight to them—things they can easily overcome with the right countermoves. When practised in this manner, IPO is nothing more than a highly challenging game of tug-of-war between pals.
Comprehending this mindset is essential to understanding the protection training videos I’ll be sharing here. All the rules of effective motivated training apply to the sport of IPO when done properly. The dog should continue to be content, logical, proactive, and friendly. A dog working in IPO, where we are a team of three, is at its most refined when there is no friction with either the handler or the assistance. The dogs exhibit confidence, acceptance, and a strong enjoyment of the sport as they bite, release, and perform obedience. Indeed, what keeps me going back is observing how my dog responds to the sport. It is clear that this is their preferred sport because my dogs were bred specifically for this purpose. They play the game of obedience for me, and in exchange I play the game of defence.
Since I learned about drives and how to play with a dog using toys there, I owe a big gratitude to the protection sports and other excellent helpers. Since then, I’ve played with countless dogs and gained knowledge from each one of them. I still firmly feel that the motivations displayed in protection sports are the foundation of any effective play, so I continue to closely study protection work in order to improve my own playstyle and technique.
You should choose your club and assistance carefully if you wish to participate in protective sports with your own dog because there is more terrible training than excellent training. Watch a few episodes before taking your dog outside. Verify the training methods being used and how the dogs are responding to it. Take note of how the dog, assistant, and handler interact; do you notice cooperation or conflict? Think ten times before bringing your dog to a seminar with a stranger; the harm an assistant can cause in only five minutes can take months to fix.
This first video will introduce you to the sport by showing my eight-year-old dog Raikashe as she trains for her IPO 3 title. This is an excellent example of protection work; the assistant is very clear about what he wants to see and how to convey it. He treats Raika nicely, and she loves him as a result. The assistant and I discussed what we would work on during this session, how we would pursue those interests, and which “faults we would ignore temporarily” before the session started.
Two minutes of an 18-minute session were cut from this video. Raika is able to work for a very long time with a clear brain and a calm mind even if it is a lengthy training session for protection work because she is skilled at switching from a motivated state to a peaceful one. Within thirty minutes of being brought back to the car, she was in fact requesting more employment.
Raika is honing a variety of abilities. First, I demand that Raika enter the field with focus and a clear brain. That is unacceptable because it implies that her urges and control are out of balance. If left uncontrolled, her attempts to “sort of heel” will result in frenzied or out-of-control conduct. I may convey to her that even in this sport, where all she really wants to do is go to the helper, she must maintain self-control by maintaining the line. She receives repeated warnings for failing to heel attentively; observe how I push her back with my body. In the end, regardless of the sport I am coaching, I always come out on top when a dog respects pressure. Raika acknowledges this and “gives to me in around thirty seconds. She was utterly submissive to me for the remainder of the working session as a result of those thirty seconds of “do it my way or don’t do it,” which paid off. We work as a unit.
Second, we are training her to be a “quiet guard” in broad fields and to bark when she is in the dark. She had previously been taught that she could bark in the wide field, but this new information has left her unsure of what is expected of her. She gets bit to demonstrate this; however, she is taught that when she barks in an open field, the assistant will turn away from her, ending her chance of getting bit. We restart after I reset her. You cannot observe a punishment for barking at the wrong moment because she performs beautifully in this, her sixth or seventh practise session for this skill. By this point, you are surely aware that I never reprimand a dog by inflicting pain or other forms of physical compulsion. Raika needs to learn that my being in heel position means a bite is about to occur. This is the third skill we are working on. I want Raika to guard the helper without looking at me, therefore I need to teach her this. She is sufficiently motivated by that to ignore me, and she does so successfully. Fourth, in order to prepare for the “side transport,” we are working on the stick transfer. I must take the stick from the helper’s hand while Raika must keep a watchful and silent guard. While we go around the field together, Raika is supposed to keep her heel position close to me while keeping an eye on the assistance as we practise the “back transport.” In order to achieve this, Raika and I are travelling in a small circle with the helper; if the helper and her keep eye contact, the helper will bite the helper.
When may one begin training a Schutzhund?
You can start teaching puppies some aspects of Schutzhund training as early as 8 weeks old. In addition to basic instructions like “sit,” “down,” or “stand,” which are all essential in laying the groundwork for all disciplines but notably obedience, they usually involve encouraging and rewarding engagement. Puppies can also start learning the take and drop commands, which are crucial for retrieval activities, at a young age.
Despite having a rather general nature, this fundamental collection of talents must be learned by all dogs, regardless of age, before going on to more intricately detailed skills. It is recommended to hold off on performing extremely physical Schutzhund exercises like the escape grasp until the young dog has grown enough muscles to lessen the chance of harm during high-impact motions like jumping. The American Kennel Club advises waiting until your dog is at least 12 months old before encouraging them to engage in vigorous exercise. This will give the growth plates time to fully fuse and lower the likelihood of long-term harm.
Due to this, only dogs older than 12 months are allowed to compete in Schutzhund events.
Does Schutzhund training incite aggression in dogs?
This is due to the idea that the dog needs to be coerced or forced into biting. This is wholly untrue. The breeds that excel in IPO have a genetic bite satisfaction, which means they like to grab and bite objects like their toys and tugs. Due to their working origins as herding or utility breeds, the majority of these breeds in IPO like biting with a full grasp.
These canines are naturally good at IPO protection work, and they adore it. To see how much fun young dogs have learning protection work, one only needs to watch them. Excitedly, the dogs tug at the lead’s end in an attempt to reach the tug or bite pillow. They yip and yelp enthusiastically, eager to start the game. And when they do manage to win the tug, they carry their prize around with such a swagger, showing off their capture. They are extremely and profoundly satisfied with their role as protectors.
Does the dog become meaner and more aggressive as a result of protection? No. Training for the IPO does not alter the dog’s innate genetic nature. A content dog will remain content. A grumpy dog will generally remain that way (although he might be a little pleased when he gets to wrestle the assistant!). However, Schutzhund provides us with a setting that exposes and evaluates this temperament so that we may understand it and learn how to manage it. The dog should acquire clarity, confidence, direction, and joy in the work through effective training. However, improper training can increase the incorrect features and lead to confusion and conflict; for this reason, when doing IPO protection, it is crucial to engage with certified, experienced Helpers/trainers. By itself, this requirement automatically disqualifies the bulk of “personal defence” dog trainers. This is another justification for not learning protective work on one’s own at home.
XWarik Von Brukroft IPO3 in protection work by Kathleen Sanderson (Photo: Donna Haynes). Young Declan is also enjoyed by Warik, Sentra Learned Hand IPO3, and Bakko van Thuredrecht FH IPO3. (Image credit: Kathleen Sanderson)
The worry is that once the dog has been trained for protection, it may decide on its own to chase someone. But after receiving IPO training, a dog has learned contextual guidelines for when to engage and when to avoid doing so. He has never chosen something on his own.
The temperament of each dog will ultimately determine whether or not he will “take things into his own paws,” a characteristic of forceful, inflexible dogs. Regardless of whether he has received protective training or not, such a dog will try to gain the upper hand. Protection training puts the dog’s aggressiveness under the handler’s control for a dog like this. Protection job can actually make a high-drive working dog safer if they have a little mistrust, social hostility, and a strong fight drive in their genes.
It offers the dog a great opportunity for both physical and mental exercise as well as a way to release any stored up energy.
The dog-handler link is forged, and the handler learns about the characteristics of the dog and how to interact with it.
The IPO handler, like any other dog owner, is in charge of keeping their dog under control and should try to keep him out of any circumstances that he would consider dangerous. The good news is that the IPO dog has considerably more training, obedience, and control than most other dogs, is better able to think and retain composure, and has more experience with what constitutes a frightening circumstance should this happen (and it can happen to any dog, protection-trained or not). Yes, there should be some prejudice against the breeds used for IPO, but a dog does not perceive the world the same way that we do. Dogs think in dog-like ways, incorporating everything they encounter into the parameters of their canine worldview. It is our responsibility as humans to use good judgement when living with our dogs.
