[Mick Trainer]

Schutzund in short is a dog sport that started as a test to create and better the German Shepherd Dog. It is made up of three phases in Obedience, Tracking and Protection. There is plenty written here regarding SchH and if you type Schutzhund into a search on youtube you will find heaps of footage of it.

Once upon a time a dog would have to be strong of temperament to do SchH but many factors including training techniques have meant that a dog now days needs a reasonable amount of drive only. From what the OP has written this is not what they desirte but rather a much more serious dog.

AS to determine how a dog is thought of as a good SchH prospect is hard to say in what I can write here but in the end the dog should have plenty of prey drive, with a good nose, be directable, and for me I want a dog that truly seeks the fight with the helper and this is where most fall down from the OP point of view.

1 Year old is fine to start.

The difference between a PP (personal protection) typr of dog and a SchH type of dog is that a PP dog needs to be able to do what is required of it in a real life situation but does not need the level of precision required for any decent level of sport work. A sport dog is judge by score only so need not be so serious but needs to be very precise as each point taken off for each small mistake costs you in the end.

Mick.