Welcome to Bold City Schutzhund Club!


	The members and officers of Bold City Schutzhund Club would like to welcome you to our club and to the exciting sport of Schutzhund. You are invited to try two free training sessions in order to evaluate both your dog's temperament and your willingness to engage in this challenging and time-intensive dog sport. We are eager for you to be successful. The Bold City Schutzhund Club support and encourage each other and will share our experience and time with you if you become a member of our team. The Bold City Schutzhund Club is a small club with diverse breeds and goals. We all have the love of our dogs and the sport in common.

The German word Schutzhund means Protection Dog, and was created by the originators of the German Shepherd Dog as a breed suitability test, to insure for future generations the working temperament and structure so important in a working dog. In Germany, no litter can be registered unless both the sire and dam possess a working degree (minimum Schutzhund 1, or HGH, a herding degree). Today there are many breeds actively involved in the sport, including mixed breeds, but to be truly competitive the prospective Schutzhund candidate must be approachable and self-assured, with a willingness to tackle the task at hand, and be physically sound.

In the tracking portion, the dog is trained to follow human scent and indicate articles dropped by the tracklayer along the way; this phase tests the dog's mental and physical endurance, and it's ability to work out problems on it's own.

The obedience phase tests the dog's mental stability, physical soundness, and it's willingness to work happily with it's handler. In the obedience portion, the dog is trained to perform the exercises in spite of milling crowds, other dogs, and gunfire. Exercises in this portion include on-and-off lead heeling, the recall, the moving sit, moving stand, moving down (in which the dog drops into position on command while the handler keeps moving), retreival of a dumbbell (on flat ground, over a one-meter hurdle, and over a six-foot A-frame wall), and a long down (in which the dog must stay in position while another dog completes the obedience phase).

In the protection portion of a Schutzhund trial, the dog is expected to search a series of canvas blinds, and find and detain a person (the decoy) hiding in one of them. The intensity of the search is noted by the trial judge, as well as the dog's determination not to allow the decoy to escape. The dog must not bite until either he or his handler is attacked, or the decoy attempts to escape; he may only prevent the decoy from moving by barking vigorously. During an exercise in which the decoy actually tries to get away, and another exercise in which the decoy attacks the handler, the dog must quickly and firmly bite the padded sleeve the decoy is wearing, and withstand several strikes from a padded stick without releasing his grip. When the decoy is neutralized by the dog in this manner and ceases to fight with the dog, or the handler commands the dog to out, the dog must release his grip immediately and resume his guarding by barking. These exercises test the dog's courage and fight drive, and still ensure that the dog is under the control of his handler.

	Club President, Osa Mitchel Email : osamitch@aol.com Phone: (904) 287-3934 Postal Mail: 2221 Janet Drive Jacksonville, Florida 32259
©2005 Bold City Schutzhund Club. All Rights Reserved.