# Schutzhund, is it safe?



## Meigz (Jul 17, 2013)

I have four dogs, my newest being a 13 month old gorgeous GSD. I joined an obedience club and plan to do a different sport with each dog. One of my males is the most mellow boy so we are planning for him to be a therapy dog (with some rally for fun). My girl would love agility and I can already see her being good at it. My biggest boy still has some behavioral quirks to work out before we can see what he may enjoy. As for my GSD, I thought Schutzhund would be fun for him. I mentioned the idea to my husband but he is concerned for the safety of our son who will be 2 next month. He thinks doing Schutzhund with him would cause him to be more aggressive with my son, who doesn't always know how pet nicely and be gentle. Is there any truth to his concerns? I can't imagine it would be an issue with the amount of obedience that goes into the sport but I told him I would look further into it for his piece of mind. Anyone have children and a dog who does Schutzhund?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Schutzhund(IPO) training is obedience based. Every phase has a foundation in obedience. 

If the dog has nerve(temperament) issues, SchH is not the sport for the dog.

If anything, training in the sport will make a dog more obedient and stable. I know of many who have young children and train in the sport. But the sport also takes dedication and time, so people with kiddo's have to put the kids first as far as priority...has nothing whatsoever to do with safety issues but time management.


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## David Taggart (Nov 25, 2012)

> Schutzhund with him would cause him to be more aggressive with my son


Unless your son plays a decoy, has the sleeve on and beats your dog with the other hand. lol
No, absolutely not. On contrary - your dog would be calmer. Agression flows in veins of majority of GSDs and it needs to release because it accumulates over time. Exactly at Schutzhund dogs are trained to be civilized.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I don't think Schutzhund changes your dog, I think it exposes who your dog really is.


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## Meigz (Jul 17, 2013)

That is pretty much what I was trying to tell him, but since this is my first GSD and I have no prior experience working with them, he was less than willing to take my word for it. To me it looks like a great deal of fun and part of me wants him to do it for protection purposes. I realize having 4 larger breed dogs is usually a deterrent for anyone with half a brain, but at the same time having a child makes you paranoid about all the possible "what ifs" and not everyone has all their marbles together. The rest of my dogs are more likely to beat you with their tail and lick you to death rather than offer any real protection so I like the idea of knowing he could and would protect his family if (as unlikely as it is) there were ever a need for it. And I think he would have a blast doing what he was bred to do best. 

Thank you all for the comments!!


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Schutzhund doesn't train a dog to be protective. It's a sport...


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## Meigz (Jul 17, 2013)

I realize it isn't specifically protection training, I just assumed that in doing bite work it would affect his protectiveness. Though I could be entirely wrong. 


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

Meigz said:


> I realize it isn't specifically protection training, I just assumed that in doing bite work it would affect his protectiveness. Though I could be entirely wrong.
> 
> 
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Nah... The dog is what he is.. We cannot change what is in his heart or what is upstairs. We can teach him some techniques to make him more effective, but at the end of the day you're not really changing the dog.


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

Rorie's mother was Sch 3-when I got Rorie as a pup the picture of her mother on the pedigreedatabase was with a toddler along side of her-the toddler grew up -there is an old thread in the schutzhund form of Samantha (the toddler) competing nationally at a schutzhund event.


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)




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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

My bitch has never trained in Schutzhund and is very protective of her home. Its in her DNA, comes natural. Schutzhund is a sport of competition. Three phase sport, obedience, tracking and protection. Not sure your dogs breeding, but protection should come natural for him, schutzhund training or not.


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

That being said, exceedingly poor training can make a dog unstable to be around... but you'd know this sort of training if you saw it (abusive training)


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## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

I don't have kids but my Schh trained dogs are all very stable around children. Although not all would really protect the house! 

My first GSD also did not have a stable temperament - I never did Schh with her.

Here is Kessy who is 110% stable, great with kids...this is a random kid she met on a hike


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## Meigz (Jul 17, 2013)

Thank you so much! Godric is very sweet and gentle with my son, except when he's running around the house playing and accidentally knocks him over. I just wanted something to put his mind at ease and I think this will do it. My son is almost two and tries to tell the dogs to sit, down, come, stay but I don't think they understand what he's saying. It's adorable. 


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