Iron Dog Schutzhund Club

Photos and videos courtesy of

www.Shellshots.com

Schutzhund is a fun sport for dog and handler, but it requires a serious commitment of time and effort. There is also a limit to how many dogs we can effectively work. Therefore, while membership is not closed or limited at this time, we must be quite selective in admitting new members.  What we look for in a handler is a serious interest in the sport, the initiative to learn not just from club training sessions but also from books, videos, seminars, and other resources, and a willingness to actively participate as a team member in training and other club activities.  Of course you must also have a dog that is suited for Schutzhund.  Most Schutzhund dogs are  German Shepherds or Malinois.  But even within those breeds there are great variations in type and ability.  American (AKC-type) German Shepherds are essentially a separate breed and are in no way suited to the sport.  Even among the ranks of German Shepherds bred along German show lines, there are few dogs dogs that can perform at the top levels of the sport. German Shepherds, Malinois, and other  breeds are most likely to do well in Schutzhund if they come from lines that have been bred for work and/or working dog sports rather than for the show ring.

If you want to see if Schutzhund – and our club – may be  for you, join us (you may bring up to two dogs) for one of our regular club training days.  We will help you judge your dog’s aptitude for the sport,  you will get a feel for the commitment required to succeed, and we will give you additional information on the sport and on our parent organization, United Schutzhund Clubs of America.   Before applying for membership, you must attend at least 3 consecutive training sessions.   During at least 2 of these sessions, you must participate in all three phases (tracking, obedience and protection).  At the remaining session(s), you must participate in at least 2 of the phases. There is a $20 field fee per session per dog for guests and prospective members.  Dues are $125 for 2008-2009 and go from September 8 to September 7. 

Please note we have a policy that members who have never trained and titled a dog to a BH or equivalent (CD+CGC) may only work one dog with the club until they have earned the BH.  We believe there is so much for a new handler to learn that training more than one dog at the same time is not productive.  The Training Director may grant a waiver  for someone who demonstrates exceptional training ability.

Feel free to email (irondogschutzhund@yahoo.com) for more information.