Stupid noob question

[TxFig]

I am getting my GSD female in a couple of weeks (very good working lines) and am wanting to do "something" with her. My initial thoughts were Sch/IPO... but I have a rather noob question.


Are the events "competitive"?


Let me define that. For the last 25+ years I have been involved with Labrador Retrievers where there are 2 basic types of performance events:

Field Trials - competitive events where the dogs are judged against each other and at the end of the day, you have one "winner".

Hunt Tests - non-competitive events where each dogs is judged against a written standard of what a dog at that performance level is expected to do. Each dog either passes or fails on it's own (i.e. it's possible that every dog entered could pass or they could all fail).


To the dog there is virtually no difference between a field trial and a hunt test. They are doing the exact same thing.

To the person (owner, handler, etc), the events are very different - namely because field trials are competitive, the atmosphere tends to be adversarial. By contrast, the atmosphere of a hunt test is very cooperative (people helping each other and honestly rooting for another person's dog to perform well). Because of the nature of the events, field trials tend to require a much higher financial commitment...


So - that is how I am defining "competitive". In a SCH or IPO event, are the dogs judged against each other or against a set standard?

[onyx'girl]

Against a set standard(rules), though there will always be a high in trial/ and the different phases will have the highest scoring team recognized.
Club trials, regional events, national events, world events.....you have to move your way up to the larger competitions. And yes, more financial commitment when you have to travel to the larger events. Not many people can afford to travel often to show in the bigger events.

At club level events the judging may be more lienient(depending on the judge) and many people trialing for the IPO 1 may not be judged as harshly as they would for the 2 and 3. Judges critiques are helpful in explaining why you lost this point or that, so you can learn to be better.
Then the critiques for those higher levels are actual critiques! You should know better by then!

I train privately with someone who does the field trials and hunt tests with her retrievers. She travels all over for these and I know how committed/dedicated she is to that sport. But her pup she had been working/training for the past year, refused water....so she sold him to a pet home. She's getting another pup soon, starting all over again! Her other dogs are aging out now, so this pup will hopefully keep her in the competitions.

[martemchik]

Schutzhund can either be competitive or non-competitive. Depends on you. All 3 phases are out of 100 points each. There is a huge difference between getting 295 and getting 270. I think people should be very proud of their titles no matter what points they get but high in trials and those really high marks are very well regarded.

So in that sense it does get competitive, there are always people that want to beat others and there are those that are just proud to have accomplished the Schutzhund title (which they should be).

[Zahnburg]

Not a stupid question.

In IPO the dogs are judged against a written ideal of what each exercise should look like and points are given for how closely the performance matches this ideal. In any given trial all the dogs could pass or all the dogs could fail. And it does not matter to any individual dog/handler team how good any of the other dogs are so long as their performance is close enough to the ideal to make enough points to pass.

However, since there is a point system you also have winners, so in that regard the dogs are judged against each other.

I hope that answers your question and make sense.

[TxFig]

Originally Posted by Zahnburg

Not a stupid question.

In IPO the dogs are judged against a written ideal of what each exercise should look like and points are given for how closely the performance matches this ideal. In any given trial all the dogs could pass or all the dogs could fail. And it does not matter to any individual dog/handler team how good any of the other dogs are so long as their performance is close enough to the ideal to make enough points to pass.

However, since there is a point system you also have winners, so in that regard the dogs are judged against each other.

I hope that answers your question and make sense.

It made more sense than the other explanation..

But just to be clear - it sounds as if you're saying "after they figure out who passed, they then figure out who did the BEST job". Right?

So the follow up question is:
Other than just pride, is there a benefit to "winning"?

ie. does it get you to a title faster?

[FlyAway]

I have never trialed in IPO, but don't you just have to pass with a qualifying score once to get a title?

http://placercountyschutzhundclub.co...iposchutzhund/

[lhczth]

Nope. You earn your dog's title as long as you receive at least 70/100 pts in each phase. It is up to you if you want to be more competitive, worry about scoring higher or competing at the higher levels. It isn't needed to earn the title.

Note: my response was to TxFig. FlyAway posted at the same time.

[Zahnburg]

Originally Posted by TxFig

It made more sense than the other explanation..

But just to be clear - it sounds as if you're saying "after they figure out who passed, they then figure out who did the BEST job". Right?

So the follow up question is:
Other than just pride, is there a benefit to "winning"?

ie. does it get you to a title faster?

"Is there a benefit to winning?"

Basically there are two types of trials, exams and Championships. The purpose of an exam (or club trial) is to obtain the title. If you show for an IPO1 and make 70-70-80 you will obtain the same title as the dog that makes 100-100-100. Both dogs will now have an IPO1. So for this there is not really a "benefit" to the higher score (though it is always nice to do well).

The purpose of a Championship is to win. The dogs are already titled and are being shown to make the most points and win.