Protect and obey

The big misconception about Schutzhund is that it’s about making dogs mean. While the sport’s name does mean “protection dog,” handlers like Roger Herod say it’s more about obedience.

When Herod’s dog, a 4-year-old German shepherd named Pedro, is on the Schutzhund training field, his mind isn’t on aggression. It’s about listening for every command — and hopefully being rewarded with his favorite orange ball.

“Protection is only obedience,” Herod said.

Herod was born and raised in East Lake and continues to live there, though a career in the Merchant Marines took him around the world before he retired, including four circumnavigations.

“I’ve seen just about every part of the world, and all that time was spent trying to get back home,” he said.

He began to get involved in the sport of Schutzhund in the mid-1990s and is one of the Central Alabama Schutzhund Club’s more active members at its practices three nights a week at its field in Roebuck. The sport, often referred to as Internationale Prüfungs-Ordnung, or IPO, was developed in Germany and involves training dogs in tracking, obedience and protection.

“You’re taking elements that the dog was originally bred for, and you’re able to train for those elements,” Herod said. “We’re not a big time, competitive club. … Everybody has aspirations for that when they get started, but here we’re like, ‘OK if you want to do that, we’ll support you 100 percent.’”

Whether a hobbyist or a national- or international-level competitor, practices for handlers and their dogs often look similar. In tracking, the dog must track a particular scent through trails left only on the ground — no sniffing the air, unlike search and rescue dogs — and find the source of the scent and any articles placed on the ground that match that scent.

“Everybody should like the tracking. I don’t like tracking, but I do it,” Herod said. “It’s not a very hard thing for a dog to use his nose. The biggest part of his system is dedicated to his nose.”

The obedience trials require each dog-handler duo to complete the same routine of leash-free commands and also tests the dog’s patience by having it wait in one place while another dog goes through the trial. Herod uses German commands during obedience trials, though there is no requirement to do so, because it makes the distinction between training and everyday life.

Herod said Pedro is a bit too nervous to really excel in all three areas of the sport, but added he’s a stellar obedience dog.

“He’s such a great student for obedience,” Herod said. “It’s too much fun not to do it because he responds so well.”

In tracking and obedience, Schutzhund competition rules tend to be similar to American Kennel Club rules for those sports. The groundwork laid in Schutzhund training, Herod said, often makes it easy to transition to train the dog in a new sport.

Protection is the most challenging part of Schutzhund, Herod said, which is why his club doesn’t allow members to train in that discipline until they can prove their competence in obedience. It takes careful work to correctly train the dog in protection, so that they’re always responsive to their handlers and aren’t aggressive unless they’re in the Schutzhund training mindset and have received a specific command.

Herod said those who come to the Central Alabama Schutzhund Club looking for a way to make their dog “mean” often come away disappointed.

In protection drills, the dog is commanded to search for a person hiding in a series of wooden blinds scattered throughout the field, while their handler gives direction from afar. When they find the person, who is armed with a sturdy arm sleeve and a soft leather baton, it’s critical that the dog responds the right way.

“We want him to come in and react to this, not with a bite — with a bark,” Herod said.

After alerting his handler, the dog then has several tasks, including protecting its handler from the “attacker” and chasing down the attacker to take him down via the arm sleeve. When the volunteer attacker stops fighting or the handler gives a command, Herod said it’s important that the dog immediately lets go and does not continue an attack.

“I would say probably 98 percent of the dogs are going to understand that, and you won’t have a problem with them in public because most of the people that train with us, their dogs go everywhere with them in public,” Herod said.

Herod described Schutzhund as “feeding” the traits and behaviors that are bred into dogs such as German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois. But when Herod and Pedro leave the training field, he’s just like any other dog — except very well-trained.

“[If] I take my dog to Lowe’s, or I take my dog to PetsMart, I’m not doing IPO,” Herod said. “Consequently, he won’t get the same commands, there will be no formal commands.”

Learn more about the Central Alabama Schutzhund Club at facebook.com/central.alabamaschutzhund.