We at Zwinger Von Der BauerHof  actively train & title our dogs in the sport of Schutzhund/IPO

 

A Brief History of Schutzhund:

Almost 100 years ago European Breeders were looking for methods to evaluate their working dogs. These breeds were primarily German Shepherds, Rottweiler’s, Bouviers, Dobermans, and Giant Schnauzers.

 

It was determined that performance testing in 3 areas along with a pre-requisite of a basic temperament test was to be utilized. The phases to be evaluated were tracking, obedience, and protection. The sport was derived in Germany and called Schutzhund (protection dog). Only dogs that could pass all 3 phases in a single day, and could cope with the rigors of the training, testing, and overall working ability would be used in their breeding programs.

 

To this day, only dogs with schutzhund titles and breed tests are approved for breeding by the Head Breed Warden of Germany. Less than 1% of the total dog population has been awarded these titles. These dogs possess mental stability, self confidence, trust, guideability, and make excellent candidates for MWD (Military Working Dog), Service Dogs, Police Dogs (Dual Purpose- Narcotics and Patrol), SAR (Search and Rescue), Bomb Dogs (Scent Discrimination & Detection), as well as companion dogs. -By D. Williams

 

 

 

 

We at Zwinger von der Bauerhof feel that dogs bred towards utilitarian abilities are the truest to the German Shepherd standard. Our dogs excel in Schutzhund homes, personal protection homes, agility, service dog, & pet homes. We enjoy training our dogs in all areas to really get a feel for what the dog is like for all challenges it could face. We cannot in good conscience breed a dog that we wouldn’t be proud to own ourselves. Our dogs travel with us and see lots of things. We need clear headed, balanced drives, biddable dogs.

 

This is what we fell in love with the breed for, and what we strive to continue to reproduce so that our breed can stay alive.