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