Non traditional breeds for protection work

Paige

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#1
Have you met any? Heard of any? Do they excell? What breeds? What were their strengths? What were their weaknesses? And above all else how do they compared to the more common breeds used in the sport?

I am curious to see if any non typical breesd excel at these types of sport or actual are working as I usually only see your typical breeds (Mal, GSD etc)
 

stardogs

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#2
My Kestrel is showing promise in schutzhund. He's an Australian Cattle Dog cross, though possibly with Malinois, no idea really tho.

ACDs do appear in protection here and there from what I've heard. Their smaller size does make the sports more physically demanding (all dogs jump a 1 meter jump, all retrieve the same large dumbbells, same distance for a long bite, etc.).

Kes works mainly in prey drive right now, but I've heard that ACDs do tend to go into defense pretty quickly - that can def be a good thing when it comes to getting points as it means they aren't just working for the sleeve/bite, but instead for the challenge with the human which means they may appear more tenacious/serious.
 

corgipower

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#3
For protection sport?

I know of two corgis with Sch2 titles. One was at a time when they did lower the jump for small dogs. The other went around the jump and a-frame, which lost a lot of points so the rest of his obedience had to be flawless in order to pass.

I also heard of a toller that was doing schutzhund training, but I have no idea if it ever trialed or how it did in training.
 

Toller_08

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#5
I read a really interesting article in a dog magazine a few years ago about a Toller in Schutzhund. I can't remember exact details anymore, and I've tried looking for the article, but can't find it. I know I recycled the magazine, but I thought I might be able to find something online... no such luck, though. The article had nothing but praise for the dog though! I'm not sure if he ever recieved any titles or how much he trialed, but he'd shown a lot of promise.
 

Aleron

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#6
I knew someone who "played" in Schutzhund with a Standard Poodle - the dog definitely enjoyed it :) And of course there is Mr. Murphy:
YouTube - Claudia Romard & Mr. Murphy

If it is interesting to you, give it a try! IME most SchH clubs are pretty welcoming and will let all dogs give it a try :) I think it's very cool that Kestrel is doing it. ACDs are tough little dogs though, so it doesn't surprise me!

That said, one should understand that really doing protection work (working in defense as opposed to prey drive) is not characteristic of many breeds and you should have realistic expectations for your dog. SchH was originally created as a breeding suitability test for GSDs and as such it is designed to test the character of that breed. Even at that, the majority of non-working bred GSDs don't tend to have the proper temperament to excel at protection work/sports. A Lab who could do as well in SchH as a good working bred GSD would be probably not have a typical or desirable temperament for a Lab. I don't know how many non-traditional breeds have or would be capable of excelling at SchH or FR or protection work in general but definitely some of them have enjoyed it and some have gotten titles in it.
 

Zoom

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#7
There have been Aussies doing PP here and there for years. Some are magnificent at it; these guys are all out of the sharper working lines, which may or may not be correct temperament for the breed, depending on who you talk to.
 

corgipower

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There have been Aussies doing PP here and there for years. Some are magnificent at it; these guys are all out of the sharper working lines, which may or may not be correct temperament for the breed, depending on who you talk to.
I've been told that a good cattle line Aussie can put some of the best GSDs to shame. :)
 
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#9
ACD's can do well, they have the temperment and drive for it. I've seen lots of dogs try it, even a golden. Well, I didn't see it, but one of my mentors trained one to SchH III before I started.

But most have been some guardian breeds, which are a bit different and not for me. Mostly GSD's and Mal's and dutchies, with some rotties and bouv's thrown in. Pitbulls, boxers, a hovawart.

I don't know about the ACD's putting the best GSD's to shame, haven't seen on near that good, but the few I have seen were pretty good. Compared to a lot of just pet, club level dogs, they were good, but not that good.
 

Aleron

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#11
I've been told that a good cattle line Aussie can put some of the best GSDs to shame. :)
I'd say the proof is in the titling and results. I have not heard of any top level Aussies in protection sports. If Aussies were really "putting the best GSDs to shame", you would see a lot more of them competing. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't pursue it with Aussies, if the owner and dog enjoy it though. I'm all for doing lots of different stuff with dogs :)
 

Aleron

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#12
I've been told that a good cattle line Aussie can put some of the best GSDs to shame. :)
I'd say the proof is in the titling and results. I have not heard of any top level Aussies in protection sports. If Aussies were really "putting the best GSDs to shame", you would see a lot more of them competing. That doesn't mean that people shouldn't pursue it with Aussies, if the owner and dog enjoy it though :)
 

CharlieDog

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#13
I've seen Aussies do Schutzhund. I've seen some Labs with sufficient prey drive, ect.

Ozzy has done Schutzhund in the past. He's very good at it, and I make sure that I know the helper is expecting his speed, drive and body weight before I allow him to be sent out. He's very light, very fast, but he hits hard. He's also a dirty little jerk with the sleeve. Everyone loves him because he doesn't mind going for the sleeve, OR the man. He's an Aussie/JRT.
 
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#14
sorry, I assumed when someone was talking about ACD's earlier and you mentioned an Aussie on cattle, I assumed you were talking about an Australian Cattle Dog. Which I could see someone comparing GSD's too. They're tough little dogs, with good balance of drives and temperment.

Aussies on the other hand, I haveyet to meet one that would do any of the bitesports at what I think is an acceptable level. Let alone one that would put the best to shame, or even compare.
 

Paige

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#15
If my dog had a less soft personality I'd consider it but he just isn't the right kind of dog to even flirt with the idea. Which sucks as it's always something I've been interested in but I wouldn't push him into something I know would make him uneasy. Even just drabbling in it is not something I'd take lightly.
 

Fran101

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#16
There was a dalmation in the schutzhund class in Miami

I'm no expert but I think he did pretty well!
 
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#17
I was and still am hoping to try Traveler in Ring but I've spent FIVE freaking months trying to get one of them to contact me back and it's going no where. Bitter? Me? Never.

The week after next I'm going to one of the Sch clubs though and see how that goes
 
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#18
If my dog had a less soft personality I'd consider it but he just isn't the right kind of dog to even flirt with the idea. Which sucks as it's always something I've been interested in but I wouldn't push him into something I know would make him uneasy. Even just drabbling in it is not something I'd take lightly.[/QUOTE
you can always have fun in the sport if your dog has some drive. If he's "soft", then the helper should work him as such. I layed on the ground for a month everytime I worked one dog, just to get it to play tug with me. That was extreme. Plenty of dogs don't have what it takes to do any of it, but it doesn't hurt to try. Some people spend tens of thousands thinking they're getting "THE" dog to do it, and it doesn't have what it takes.

a year later you wouldn't have recognized the dog. IT wasn't a great dog by any means, in terms what should be being tested in the sport, but it was a great dog for the handler and they had a lot of fun. She could have titled had her handler wanted to, but she just wanted to have fun, and they did. A lot.
 
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#19
I was and still am hoping to try Traveler in Ring but I've spent FIVE freaking months trying to get one of them to contact me back and it's going no where. Bitter? Me? Never.

The week after next I'm going to one of the Sch clubs though and see how that goes
ring clubs are few and far between and tend to be a bit more exclusive than schutzhund clubs even :)

Even here, there isn't a single regular club in this state. I know of 2 groups that train it, and they usually fly a decoy in and do a lot of training on their own. I do some suitwork for them, but i'm not "the" decoy. Mostly just work on things they've learned with more experienced decoy's. but it's usually a pay to play type sport it seems.

There's a lot of schutzhund clubs, only a few I'd actually let work my dogs, but there out there at least.
 
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#20
ring clubs are few and far between and tend to be a bit more exclusive than schutzhund clubs even :)
.
We have a few Ring clubs around here listed but after two bounced emails and no response from one I was down to the local Mondioring club, which was fine since that was what I wanted anyways.

I sent out an email, got nothing. Sent out another one and she responded and asked for my phone number to call. I gave it to her and have heard nothing for four months. I've emailed her and pmed her.

I'm a little rather annoyed. I would much rather just get a "Go away little girl" email than just nothing

When I go out to the Sch club next week I'm going to see how I like it. We have another one to look at if this one isn't up to snuff but it's farther so I'm crossing my fingers
 

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