# All phases in Schutzhund



## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

In your clubs, everyone has to do all the 3 phases of SchH? Lets start with I don't belong to a formal club, but most I know do obedience and protection and if there is somebody interested in tracking they do mostly on their own.

But my main question is... I often see people on the boards telling people to try Schutzhund, that they don't need to do protection if they do not want, but often the person giving the advice don't do Schutzhund nor belong to any club.

So what is the reality of your clubs and the clubs you know?


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

At our club we ask that you do all three, but you do not *HAVE* too.

You *DO HAVE* to do obedience if you want to do protection but you do not have to track your dog if you do not like.

All the members at our club do all three phases of training; tracking, obedience and protection.


*Just to add:

The two other clubs I have visited ask that you do all three phases as well. I was visiting a club where one member was just doing obedience with his Rotti and where another was just tracking. Neither were doing protection.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

The club I just decided to take a break from did only obedience and protection during the "off months" They track together during Summer, but the grounds are not great(university) and the cancellation/ or lack of communication was not the best so I chose to track by myself. 
I now track once a week with a trainer and we do obedience as well. Then I take the plan we are on and track a couple days in a row, then a break.
I go elsewhere for protection (and obedience, but try to stay with my trainers plan/consistancy) and that group will be tracking together once the background checks are finalized( National Guard Airbase) I'll stick with my trainers plan there as well. I really like the group though it isn't a SchH club, just a training group with a good helper /TD
Gets confusing(and expensive), but once it gels I hope to keep on keepin on!!!
The reason I decided to take a break from the club I am a member of, the consistancy and help was not "helping" Karlo and I to move forward. I need more direction as a newbie and wasn't getting it. The members were/are great but the club environment was too sporadic with guest training(the helper brings in people to train w/ him during club time) some days a waste of my drive to even go there, though I observed/absorbed everything. It's always good to observe though and never a waste of time...


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## lhczth (Apr 5, 2000)

We have had a couple of members who just did tracking with their dogs after getting a BH, but that is not the norm. We do not allow protection training unless a person is doing both obedience and tracking.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

The first club I belonged to in Gainesville was very much 3 phases. Of course there were people who would show late and only do protection but it was frowned upon and the atmosphere could get a little chilly.

In our current club there are always 2 phases scheduled. Tracking is probably done the least, which is sort of a pity, but it's probably the least glamorous of the phases. 

We do allow people to train only obedience and tracking, since some people are interested but don't really have current dogs suitable for sport. This way they can be involved and learn until they do have a dog.

Now, there are situations around here where a helper for hire will be available on a field for a session that's not particularly club affiliated, so people can get in extra protection training and then it's only the one phase. There are people who will only come out for protection with the intention of doing the tracking and OB on their own.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

My club allowed whatever (and we always had more interest in just tracking or just obedience, less interest in protection) but the travel and dues/fees pretty much ruled out people only doing one or two phases, just not worth it. We always did all three phases together. One "member" = one family and up to two dogs so I often did just tracking or just obedience with my other dog but probably would not have been worth the time and money if I was only doing her in one phase. Also, in the club it was expected that you came to *every* phase to help with training and be active in the club, you couldn't just show up for 10 minutes of obedience and then take off.

Now, I still train all three phases on Sundays. On Fridays it's very quick obedience and two rounds of protection, and weighted this way because of waning daylight. I used to show up early and track as well.


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

JKlatsky said:


> We do allow people to train only obedience and tracking, since some people are interested but don't really have current dogs suitable for sport. This way they can be involved and learn until they do have a dog.


That was my situation with Obie. We did some OB and some tracking with the club but other than the initial evaluation, Obie never did anything protection related. 

The big no no at our club is people who want to do protection only. The second big no no is people who don't show up for tracking during tracking season.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

That would be me in your last sentence, Jason. Though my excuse was the very short cut grass and ants...I can find some nice clover, fresh land and do a track without driving 45 minutes out of my way, though to be fair, I only went out there once on the 4th of July when the club finally decided to track together. The university also will put down fertilizer which to me is a huge no no!! I will not track my dog(still in the learning phases) where they fertilize or use city water clorinated water just before or while we are tracking.
I love where I go to train for tracking, it is alf-alfa / hay, cut grass, whatever for us to use. Always different for whatever the goal we have for tracking. The trainer had to track on cut soybeans for one trial so we may even go to that type field when the time is right.
I would love to be closer to that venue!


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

Jane, you know our friend Pfui is a real tracking addict. He tracked his dog 4-5 a week through this whole summer, 100+ degree heat and all. I'm nowhere as passionate about tracking as he is (not even close) so peer pressure from the club works well for me - come fall and winter that is. No way I am going out in this weather to track. That's for, you know, crazy people


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

We pretty much require all 3 phases, though depending on the situation we will make exceptions. We have had some people do just obedience and tracking because they were interested in SchH but their dog didn't have the temperament for protection work. They wanted to work with their current dog in the phases that it could do in order to develop their training and handling skills, with the intention of eventually getting another dog in the future that could do all 3 phases and those situations worked out well.

We will not allow anyone to do protection without the other 2 phases. As far as someone wanting to do just tracking and/or obedience, if they really are interested in just tracking or obedience we would recommend them to other trainers/groups for those phases. There are plenty of other training groups and venues if someone is only really interested in the tracking or obedience phases. With SchH clubs few and far between comparatively I think spots in clubs should be given to those who really want to do SchH, even if their current dog isn't a candidate for all 3 phases.


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## SchHGSD (Dec 20, 2001)

My club does all three phases as a club, and tracking is required. If you just want to do ob and tracking, you're ok, but in order to do protection you must do obedience and you must track with the club one session out of four.


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## VaBeachFamily (Apr 12, 2005)

In our club, we ask that everyone do all three phases. We do have some people whos " non-schutzhund" dogs are there for more formal obedience, and then our trainer will do other training besides Schutzhund ( PP and such) but he prefers SCH. We do, however, occasionally have people who come late ( so they miss tracking) or leave early ( and miss protection), but it is kinda frowned upon.. but mostly because our group at the moment is free, and they donate their time and experience and expect that we do the same and dedicate ourselves better than that( Though, most do not)


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