Starting French Ring...

...soon hopefully

Traveler has finally neared the end of teething so today I contacted the four nearest French Ring clubs about getting our feet wet in the sport.

He's got drive, he's got nerves of steel and he loves to play so I think he could be really fun in the sport. But, I'm hoping even if the bitework doesn't work out I can still do the obedience and jump portions.

Never had a dog I thought that could do it though so I'm super excited

Be really careful about watching the methodology of these clubs before you let them work with your pup. There are some awesome clubs and there are some not so awesome clubs.

If you notice them working young dogs in defense that's a BIG red flag to go elsewhere. Compulsion to get a dog on a sleeve/pillow is a disservice to the dog, the decoy, and the owner.

Sounds interesting! I hope you and Traveler both enjoy it.

Now, for the complete and total ignorant person...what is French Ring in comparision to Schutzhund? (Obviously one is French and the other German. LOL)

Don't worry Kat, any trainer I consider I'm going to watch work with other dogs and always be paying attention. There was a reason it took me a year and half just to find an obedience club I liked

Blackrose-I was going to type something up but this puts it nice and concise that I figured I would just post this article instead

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRENCH RING AND SCHUTZHUND

Basic differences- one is sleeve work, the other is suit

In Ring sports there is no tracking, but does have scent discrimination exercises

Schutzhund is has more control and precision in the routines, not saying Ring dogs don't have control, they do, lots of it. Maybe more particular in what is allowed and what's not is a better way to say it. For example on a retrieve in schutzhund the dog is judged on speed out, speed back if one is faster than the other, points are taken off, how straight they are in the sit, if they bump you, if they chew or roll the dumbell, how far away they sit etc.

In Ring they just have to go get it and come back to within about 3 feet, and can sit, come to heel, sit crooked, do whatever bascially, they just have to get it back to you in a certain amount of time.

In ring you can go right from OB to protection, where as schutzhund is each phase done seperately, so a ring routine can put you out on the field for a longer amount of time at once, but when it's done it's done. They also change the order of the exercises and the exercises are a lot the same with a few being different. I love a good Object guard in ring, no longer an exercise in shutzhund.

Another is Ring tends to have more environmental stuff thrown at a dog, obstacles in protection etc, where schutzhund is a bit more "sterile" in it's environment in trials. Doesn't mean it's always trained sterile, but the trials are more so than Ring sports.

Over all I'd say the major difference is it's easier to play in schutzhund, but when you get to top level dogs in either Ring or IPO, they're all pretty nice and I like playing with both.