FAQs

agitated

2009-06-10T13:57:34.408-04:00

Agitation in dog training means pretty much what you would expect. People who train dogs for "bite work" are often called: agitators, helpers, decoys....A person teaching bite work uses agitation to gain the dog's attention and focus it on resolving issues by use of it's toothy mouth. The agitator agitates by dangling something that the dog may want to grip in its mouth. Typically the dog is kept behind a fence or posted on a leash and collar so that the agitator can dangle the object just past the dog's grasp.

schutzhund

2009-06-10T00:20:13.422-04:00

Shortly after creating the German Shepherd breed of dogs a temperament test (schutzhund, Sch) was created to test individual dog's temperament and working ability. The test was designed to help select the best multi purpose working dogs as breeding stock for improving the breed.

A Schutzhund trial traditionally encompasses three separate tests, each scored on a 100 point scale for a total of 300 potential points. There is also a short general purpose test that the judge makes before each trial to assure that each dog has sound enough temperament to participate in the trial. The pre trial temperament test is usually short, but the judge is allowed to use his or her discretion to determine that each dog is of sound temperament. If the judge finds that any dog's temperament is not worthy, the dog is not allowed to participate. If a dog fails any of the other three phases of the test the dog is still expected to complete all phases and receive scores for all phases. In point of fact, the entire schutzhund trial is a temperament test, during all phases the judge is given a certain amount of discretionary latitude so that potential temperament faults can be fully tested. The three tests are tracking, obedience and protection. In the case of a tie the dog with the higher protection score would win.

Although schutzhund was originally designed for German Shepherds there has been increasing interest and participation from other breeds. In many current schutzhund clubs all breeds of dogs are eligible to participate. Some clubs will even allow dogs to participate in one or more phases without competing in all phases. Still dogs must compete in and complete all phases in a single over all test to be awarded a Sch title. Schutzhund is relatively new in the US. In Germany the National Championship in Schutzhund draws a larger crowd than the US Super Bowl. The sport of Schutzhund has grown into a very competitive international dog sport in which around 40, 5 dog teams from different countries compete annually. Although there are less competitors in the US, the US Schutzhund teams have done very well in the annual international competition in recent years.

The sport of schutzhund has undergone some growth pains. In the United States, there was some initial fear and objection to the sport largely due to the protection phase. A considerable amount of misinformation was circulated in earlier years, typically due to fears of the training creating aggression problems. Although it is certainly possible to create aggression problems through training the schutzhund test is designed to harness and focus instincts in such a way that risks are minimized instead of increased. The schutzhund test itself has seen changes in both rules and judging in the last decade that are specifically focused on making sure that dogs with bad temperament and training are not allowed to compete in trials. Ultimately the goal is to eliminate such problems from the gene pool.

Sch I, II or III

2009-06-09T17:32:55.327-04:00

Sch (I, II, or III)is the abbreviation of Schutzhund. The I, II, or III indicates the highest title the dog has acquired. SchIII is the highest title and would require that the dog previously pass the SchI and SchII titles. This abbreviation is used on working dog papers to show the working titles that the dog has completed. See also Hg (herding title),KK I,II, III (breed worthiness test), BSP (Bundisieger participant)

Question

2009-06-09T17:20:46.262-04:00

answer

V. Stephanitz

2009-05-24T19:32:32.360-04:00

V. Stephanitz was a captain in the German army and the father of the German Shepherd breed of dogs. Stephanitz is considered by many to be the most influential person in the annals of working dog breeding and training. Stephanitz carefully created a system of checks and balances to maintain his breed in what he referred to as the "golden middle".

prey/defense drives

2009-05-18T11:31:10.974-04:00

Aggression work, protection, bite work, guard work, K9 training.....all are based on focusing natural drives on modifying specific behavior. Modern dog behavior theory recognizes three natural canine drives (pack, prey and defense) which the theory believes all dog behavior can be classified within. The more advanced practitioners, of this system for defining behavior, `- believe that specific canine behaviors are not caused by one drive but the constantly changing balance of the drives. In the case of protection or "defense" training human trainers can cause overly aggressive canine behavior by stimulating defense or prey drive, out of the context of the other drives.

At WolfBrook we believe that the key to rectifying aggression issues lies in understanding the need for an appropriate balance of the natural drives that all our dogs have. In our experience ignoring or suppressing natural drives can cause just as many problems as over stimulating individual drives out of context. We stress the important role of the social/pack portion of our dogs drives in providing a "conscience", keeping all the drives focused on responsible over all behavior.

scent work

2009-05-18T10:15:36.207-04:00

Training a dog to use its sense of smell for some humanly recognizable tasks. Since the human sense of smell can only recognize a very small portion of what a dogs sense can, most of what we "know" about teaching dogs to focus this ability is theory. In fact there is no manufactured device or scientific method that can educe what dogs do from scents.

There do appear to be two major classifications of scents that dogs can smell. One scent is caused by molecules that fall off of a person, animal or foreign object which the dog can use to identify it. The second major scent is caused when some person, animal or object moves across a surface (like dirt or grass). The disturbance of the surface causes the release of chemicals that contain recognizable scent. One or both of theses types of scent can be used by dogs who "air scent" or "ground scent" odors to locate humans, animals or foreign objects.