"Hello. Can I help you?"
 

"Yeah... are you the guy with the Rottweilers?"
 

"Yes," I answer after a slight hesitation. I can feel his next remark.
 

"Yeah. Well, I’ve got this eight month old Rottweiler and I want to get him trained for attack and personal protection... Do you do that type of training?"
 

"Excuse me," I interrupt him. I know where this conversation is headed. "We don’t train dogs for attack or personal protection."
 

"Well, your dogs are all schutzhund-trained. Isn’t that the same?"

NO. Schutzhund has nothing to do with attacking people. To me schutzhund is obedience, obedience, obedience. The dog is taught to track a scent on the ground. He must track when he is told to and where he is told to. This is total obedience. The obedience routine is just that, lots of obedience. The dog must heel off leash right on the handler’s left leg. He must sit in a group of people and be obedient - not bark at the people, or look at them, but remain totally under the control of the handler. He must retrieve dumbbells, climb over walls and hurdles. And every exercise requires that the dog sit perfectly at the beginning of each phase, heel perfectly at your side, do the exercise perfectly, then finish at your side in a perfect sitting position. This requires total obedience.

Then comes the protection part of the routine. This is what most people seem to think Schutzhund is all about. Protection is not attack training. The protection routine starts off with the dog once again heeling perfectly on your left leg. You walk down to the end of the field and with the command "Revere", the dog runs to the blind to search for the helper, the person wearing the suit and sleeve. The dog must search five such blinds until he comes to the sixth blind. Remember this point - it takes a tremendous amount of obedience for a dog to search these blinds and come to you after each blind awaiting the next command because dogs are not stupid. They know that if I send them to one blind that the helper must be at the last blind. So it is a tremendous temptation for them to just run to the last blind and find the helper. Correctly, the search may only be performed at the command of the handler. Then, once the dog finds the helper he can-not just jump up and bite them. He must sit in front of the helper and bark...nothing more. And bites in the blind are penalized heavily. The handler then calls the dog to his side and puts him in the down position and calls the helper out of the blind. The helper puts his hands up and the handler goes over to him and checks for weapons. The dog must remain in the down position. The handler then goes back to the blind, out of sight of the dog and the helper tries to escape. Now the dog springs into action. He must bite onto the sleeve fully and stop the helper from running away. The helper then stops and the handler calls his dog, "Out". The dog must immediately come off the sleeve and resume a sit and bark position. The helper attacks the dog, the dog must react quickly, bite the sleeve and hold while two stick hits are delivered to the back of the dog to test his courage. When the helper stops, the dog must once again stop biting the sleeve, and sit and bark. A courage test at the opposite test of the field is now performed in a similar fashion to the first part of the test with the dog at least fifty yards away from the handler so his courage and obedience are tested away from the handler. Again, a great deal of obedience is required.

At no time in Schutzhund training is the dog allowed or encouraged to bite a man. Instead, the dog is taught to bite only the sleeve. I repeat, this is a sport, not a life or death struggle. I actually feel that schutzhund dogs are much safer than non-schutzhund trained dogs because when you teach a dog to bite you also teach them when NOT TO BITE. An, an untrained dog will not only be a problem in terms of obedience but also if they do bite someone, how do you stop them?

I also don’t understand why someone would want to train a Rottweiler for personal protection. A Rottweiler from good, sound breeding will positively defend his owner and their property. That is the nature of the breed. They are naturally protective. What I would recommend is that you form a good relationship with your dog. Show it lots of love. The dog will then bond to you and be your protector forever. And, obedience training is a must for any large dog that is going to be around people.

"Where can I find someone to teach me schutzhund?"

I would recommend visiting one of the local schutzhund clubs in your area. Call some of the breeders in your area. They should know where some good trainers are. But remember - there are many more bad trainers than there are good ones. I would never, ever train my dogs to attack people. The dogs should be trained to attack the sleeve only. And, I would never use excessive force to train my dogs. I think a good, solid bond with your dog, lots of love, lots of praise are the answer.

I would also tell you that I have five Schutzhund III Rottweilers On the property and I would put any of them around my family, friends, and children and not worry about them biting or hurting anyone. To me, a schutzhund dog is a stable, highly trained dog; I can predict what it will do in most any given situation.