Schutzhund Dog Breeds for Sports and Services
How to Choose a Dog for Schutzhund?
Though Schutzhund is a kind of sports for many various dog breeds,
the most suitable are considered to be the listed below.
Erdelterrier
Erdelterrier dog breed have been used widely in the police service of
Great Britain and Europe before the World War II.
Belgian Shepherds: Groenendael, Tervuren and Malinois. In the I
World War Belgian Shepherds worked for signal services, guard and
medical aid assistance dogs. Nowadays many dog breeders of service
dogs in France, Belgium and Netherlands prefer definitely Malinois.
At the nearest times these dog breeds of shepherd dogs are
represented at Schutzhund trials in Germany and USA more often.
Bouvier des Flandres serves often in police of European countries.
Nowadays Bouvier des Flandres dogs are bred mostly in Netherlands.
At least one of police departments at the East Coast of USA got
several such dogs there.
Boxer
Some time ago Boxer dog breed was one of the most popular Schutzhund
dogs in German Schutzhund clubs just like the German Shepherd dog
breed. Boxer dogs are also used as guide dogs, police dogs and in
the army on the East of Germany.
Doberman Pinscher
Doberman dogs are working for a long time in police and military
services all over the world. It is a very popular Schutzhund dog
breed in USA. American Doberman Club have been one of the first that
supported Schutzhund in America.
The German Shepherd dog breed is widely used for police and military
services and also as a guide dog for visually impaired people. It is
the most popular dog breed for Schutzhund and for the majority of
other dog sports.
Riesenschnauzer is represented in Schutzhund not so often as
shepherd dogs, but nevertheless this dog breed serves in the
European police and for service according to Schutzhund standards.
Rottweiler is probably the most ancient dog breed of service dogs.
It is formed in medieval times. These dogs worked in police and
military services. At the nearest years this dog breed has become
very popular in the USA.
Except of these dog breeds, Schutzhund sports and services accept
some Australian Shepherds, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, Labrador
Retievers, Bullterriers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers.
A dog breed is not so important as a dog temperament. Von Stephanitz
have defined the following dog qualities for a perfect service dog:
working with pleasure, devotion to the service and owner, strictness
and mistrustfulness towards strangers and strange objects, ability
to perceive and obey, ability for training, intelligence, wit and understanding features.
