Knowledge or Opinion on Schutzund

[martemchik]

Originally Posted by Lobobear44

@
onyx'girl

Does that hurt the dog in order to endure physical pain?

No it doesn't...if you've ever dealt with a large dog its actually pretty hard to inflict pain on them. A well balanced shepherd can take a lot of pain and most of them actually get really riled up by it.

My only caution with Schutzhund is that it is a HUGE commitment. I'm talking time, money, energy. It's not just like regular obedience training where you go, train your dog once a week, for a few months, and then get a pretty good house pet. For many people this sport becomes their hobby...the only thing they tend to do after work or on weekends. In order to move onto protection...most clubs require very very good obedience which is only achieved through time and effort on the handler's part. And tracking...don't get me started on the time commitment that is.

[Catu]

The only time I've seen what someone would call abuse on SchH is when people try to force the sport in dogs that are not genetically suited for it. Not all dogs can do Schutzhund, it is demanding for both the owner and the dog, yet for some reason some people cling to it even when the dog is not having fun anymore. But when a dog is having fun... IT'S HAVING FUN!! and for most of them, to train is the best thing that can happen to their lives.

The stick hits are more about psychological pressure than physical pain, if the dog has the nerve to endure that pressure, the pain is actually meaningless. Think of a person playing his favorite sport, if he receives an occasional hit on the heat of the game, he probably won't even notice. Same with the dog, while he will yelp if you step on his tail, a good dog will only fire up with the stick hits once in drive.

[Blitzkrieg1]

I think you have to really grasp what German Shepherd were originally bred to do. Police work, Militiary, Herding, Guarding and also ballanced family pet. Schutzhund originally began as a test to determine if a German Shepherd was worthy of being bred, it has since morphed into the sport you see today.
In the protection phase the dog has to not only bite the sleeve it must be able to handle being hit by the stick, yelled and dragged around by the decoy.
Watch vids on you tube, you will see most dogs cant wait to get to the helper and take that sleeve, you will also see them hanging onto the sleeve with their tail wagging. These dogs enjoy this type of work because thats what they were bred to do. The stick hits are meant to put pressure on the dog not actually injure the dog. They test the dogs nerve and ability to stay in the fight. A good dog will actually increase their intensity upon reciept of pressure.
If you have ever done any kind of serious martial arts you will have sparred, wrestled etc. This includes physcal pressure which in some cases causes minor pain not injury. Its all part of the learning experience and mental and physical preperation.

As for whether Schutzhund dogs are mean, simply no if the training is done properly you should have a highly trained confident well adjusted dog. Do people with martial arts titles go around beating people up just because they can?

[Lobobear44]

@Blitzkrieg1

Lol I'm a black belt in Tae Kwon Do but unable to go back to it due to drama. Yeah seems pretty much the same. I feel reasurred by the sport. Guess it all depends on the training dogs do.

[hunterisgreat]

Originally Posted by Lobobear44

@
onyx'girl

Does that hurt the dog in order to endure physical pain?

I ask the helper to hit my male hard. Not to cause pain (it doesn't) but it makes him perform better... He has a "is that all you got?" Attitude. Like rocky in the boxing ring

Some dogs don't enjoy the stick hits. Those dogs you don't train and work the same.

Think about it this way, does fighting in MMA or practicing martial arts make a person and meaner than they were? If anything it gives them a self control they didn't have before.