Schutzhund/dog sport?

[Brandyb]

I say try out the agility as well. Find a trainer who is willing to work with your dogs issues and go from there. Many reactive dogs do quite well in the sport.
You'll be hard pressed to find a Sch club that will work with you - they tend to be very shepherd oriented. I know any of the ones around here, you actually have to belong to the german shepherd club in order to be a member. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome sport, they just don't often work with a lot of different breeds, and especially not little dogs.
French ring seems to be more open to different breed types, but seems to be a lot more in-depth protection aspects of this sport.
What about rally-o? That's a nice upbeat venue and you'd definitely get good obedience work out of it.

[DanL]

French Ring pushes the dog a lot harder in the protection aspect, and the decoy isn't there to help your dog like Schutzhund. In French Ring the decoy gets points too so they can advance to higher levels, which means they are going to try and run your dog off. It takes a real confident and stable dog to succeed.

I don't see why you couldn't train Schutzhund, it's really just a lot of obedience- obedience in bitework, obedience in tracking, and of course, the obedience phase.

[Brandyb]

Hey Dan
Do you know of schutzhund clubs that allow smaller breeds? I'm curious because around here (Ontario), even training wise, people tend to frown upon those who want to participate with smaller or non-traditional dogs.
I learned under a schutzhund competitor/behaviourist, she was my first trainer, and is still my favorite, and she thought that I had an excellent dog to compete with, trouble is, she's a JRT, and back then (about 6 years ago) you'd get laughed off the training field if you didn't have a dobe, shepherd, rottie, mal or other such breed. Plus the bite sleeves, jumps and retrieval equipment is often only geared for the larger dogs. I have no idea if anyone would make an exception, but I'm curious if you know anyone that would. Obviously someone did with that fantastic JRT that I've seen do it, but I think it's few and far between.

[corgipower]

Originally Posted by Brandyb

Hey Dan
Do you know of schutzhund clubs that allow smaller breeds?

I'm not Dan, but I have known several clubs that welcome all breeds. Including corgis. Usually the clubs that aren't so welcoming are the USA affiliated clubs. They tend to not be so welcome to dobes, rotts, mals either...anything that isn't a GSD.

[release the hounds]

I think if your interest lies in agility, then do that. our club would train with a small dog that could do it, but there are going to be a lot of obstacles. One is the jumps with the dumbell, next is the bitework. Once you get off the rags and pillows and move to hard sleeves you'll have troubles. because of the short muzzle and smaller size already you'll be fighting an uphill battle.

I'm not trying to discourage you, but lots of people want to do schutzhund, but few have the stamina to stick with it even when things are "easy" If you just want to do parts that's fine, the OB Tracking and maybe tug work, but I think if you want to compete and have fun that way you'll be fighting an uphill battle the whole way and you should just be aware of that before you start.

if Agility is what you want to do and that is where your passion is, do it. you can overcome the dog reactivity stuff. If schutzhund is just something "else" you think looks fun, be aware that is a lot more involved than just showing up. If you want to do well that is.

[Artfish]

I don't believe Mr Murphy was titled in schutzhund. Your dog will need to be able to jump a meter high jump holding a dumbbell weighing about one pound. That's a lot for a Boston. You can still participate in the BH, tracking, etc. See if you have a DVG club in your area; they are the largest all-breed schutzhund venue.

[Artfish]

USA clubs are GSD-specific. DVG and WDA and UKC dog sport are all breed or at least have more variety.

Http://www.dvgamerica.com

[LWsportdogs]

Yes there have been JRTs, Fox Terriers and Jagd Terriers that have titled in the sport, but that is very rare and all the owners previously titled other dogs in SchH first . I think Agility would be more fun for you and your dog, but if you truly want to do Schutzhund, you could put a BH on your Boston to see if you like the training, and if you do look at getting a more suitable breed..Boxer or American Bulldog perhaps?

I am lucky to have had all my clubs being supportive of my “off breeds” but some clubs are breed specific(GSD or Malinois most often).

In Canada to compete you must be a member of either the German Shepherd SchH Club of Canada(most popular organization in Canada mostly made up of GSD but all breeds are eligible to compete at all levels including Nationals) or the DVG(All breed mainly based in the US but there are clubs in Ontario).