A Visit with Aloha Schutzhund Club

I had the privilege of sitting in on one of Aloha Schutzhund Club's weekly meetings. Schutzhund means "protection dog" in German, and was originally developed in Germany in the early 1900s to test whether German Shepherd Dogs exhibit the traits necessary for police-type work (Wikipedia). Schutzhund is now a popular dog sport among people with working breed dogs.

Aloha Schutzhund Club's president Robert Blok was kind enough to explain and show me all the exercises they do in Schutzhund. He has many years of experience training police dogs, and owns his own training business Hawaii K9 Solutions as well. Watching Robert and another trainer named Jim Philson work with the dogs and coach the club members was pretty inspiring.

Below are some photos and videos I took. I didn't get any photos or video of the scent tracking exercise but that was also fascinating - something that many pet dogs might enjoy, even if they're not doing Schutzhund.

OBEDIENCE ~ HEELING AND SIT-STAY
The dogs learn to do a precise heel and pay very close attention to the handler. The dog and handler could be running at full speed, but as soon as the handler gives the Sit or Down command, the dog immediately stops and does it. Often the dogs would get to fetch a ball after doing a good job with obedience. According to Robert, it starts out as a play reward, but ultimately they are allowing the dogs to express their prey drive.



OBEDIENCE ~ A-FRAME RETRIEVE
Below is a video clip of a dog jumping over an A-frame and retrieving a dumb bell thrown by trainer Jim. Amazing and so beautiful!

PROTECTION ~ OBJECT GUARDING
In the video below, you'll see Robert's dog Bear protecting an object on the ground. When trainer Jim approaches, Bear guards the object. Bear knows Jim and is normally friendly towards him, but Bear still guards the object from Jim because his handler has asked him to. Would you try to take an object away from a dog that was barking and lunging at you like this? I don't think so!



PROTECTION ~ BITING THE DECOY ATTACKER
The bite work seemed to be the most exciting activity for these working dogs. What happens is the handler and her dog walk behind the "decoy" person (in this case trainer Jim). The decoy person suddenly turns around and pretends to attack the dog and handler. The dog jumps up and bites the protected arm piece on the decoy person. The dog lets go when he is asked. With this kind of training, it's really important for the dog to have self-control and listen to the handler, for instance when he is asked to let go of the arm.

In the video below, you'll see one of the club members doing this with her Rottweiler, who LOVED the bite work. Even the German Shepherds who were watching from their crates got really excited and started barking while the bite work was going on - it was like a gladiator ring! (My 8-year old Golden Retriever Luka was sitting in the corner of the field, quivering amidst all this intensity. He is obviously not cut out for Schutzhund!)

All the dogs that I observed thrived on the exercises. These are not your average couch potato dogs - they NEED and LOVE to work...all the time! If you have a super-driven dog and you are committed to this type of training, contact the Aloha Schutzhund Club for more information.

Give A Dog A Job!

I recently boarded and trained a 7-month old German Shepherd puppy named Piko. He had A LOT of energy, even after taking him on 3 walks a day (bike rides, mid-day fetch games and/or swimming, AND off-leash walks). I quickly figured out that it wasn't more exercise he needed, but mental stimulation.

Piko was too smart for a Kong toy. No matter what I stuffed in it, he ate all the contents within minutes. He would then eye my household items to see what else he could chew on to keep his mind occupied.

So I decided to teach him some service dog tasks. I am just starting to learn about using a clicker to shape behavior, so it was exciting for me too. Piko was already good at fetching balls - he could do it all day. And he also liked to play tug-of-war. So we worked on a couple of things that took advantage of those skills.

NEWSPAPER DELIVERY
During the several days that Piko stayed with me, I worked on getting Piko to pick up my neighbor's newspaper at the mailbox and deliver it to her doorstep. He easily picked up the newspaper (which I praised him for), but the tricky part was getting him to carry it all the way down the driveway instead of stopping and chewing on the newspaper! I strongly reinforced him with praise for picking up and carrying the paper, and redirected his attention or asked him to "Leave It" if he dropped the paper prematurely and started chewing on it.

Having him drop the paper at my neighbor's door was easy. I had already taught him the "Leave It" command, and that's all it took for him to drop it. Once he dropped it, I made sure to praise/click/treat as we walked away from the newspaper - otherwise he started chewing on the newspaper! He is a puppy after all.



OPENING THE REFRIGERATOR
I also taught Piko how to open the refrigerator door on command. Since he already enjoyed playing tug-of-war, I started out by waving an old shirt around his face until he started mouthing it, and clicking and treating that. I then waited for him to pull the shirt. After clicking and treating him several times for pulling the shirt, I tied the shirt to the fridge door.

I waved the shirt around his face again until he pulled the shirt and opened the door (click and treat). Next I pointed to the shirt and said Open (instead of waving the shirt around). Piko was so smart that he immediately pulled the shirt and door open. We repeated this several times to reinforce the command and behavior, and we practiced this every day.



People often call me about their puppy or dog's problem behaviors, such as destructive chewing and digging. Sometimes the dog needs more exercise or training, other times the puppy is just being a puppy, while other times the dog is in need of more mental stimulation. Whatever the case may be, it's fun to figure out what kind of talents a dog has and teach him or her to utilize them in a useful or fun way. Some dogs might be good at service dog tasks, others might be good at scenting and tracking (search and rescue), while others might be good at agility.