BH | IPOI | IPOII | IPOIII | Abbreviations

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Sport

The sport of Schutzhund/IPO/VPG originated in Germany at the beginning of the twentieth century, in order to evaluate a dogs character in a competitive trial with other dogs. It must be emphasised that all working trials are done so as a SPORT. '

The sport is compiled of three disiplines: tracking, obedience and protection.

In the tracking phase, the dog is attached to a ten metre line, and must precisely follow in the footsteps of the tracklayer, finding, and indicating, articles that the tracklayer has placed along the track.
The obedience phase determines the dogs responsiveness to its handler and the accuracy to which the dog carries out the handlers commands, incorporating heelwork, retrieve, jumping, sit, stay, stand, recall and sendaway.
The protection phase evaluates the dogs self-confidence, courage and obedience to its handler under the most 'high-drive' situations. The level of control is of utmost importance.
The sport of IPO has levels of increasing difficulty, IPOI, IPOII and IPOIII. Before a dog can enter into the sport, the dog has to take a test called the Begleithundeptufung (BH), this test is to assess whether the dogs character is suitable to progress into the sport and, importantly, demonstates the level of control the handler has over the dog both on and off the lead. If the handler and dog team fail this test the pair can not progress into the sport.

The vast majority of the dogs taking part in the sport are German Shepherds, in fact in this country in 2005 there were only 19 Dobermann working under the British Shutzhund Association (BSA).

There have been only 14 Dobermann ever to gain a full Sch/IPO/VPG title in the UK, these are namely:

1. Carl Gucker with Vyleighs Heartbeat (Hart) - SchIII
2. George Robinson with Edmondo Vom Bayrischen (Nero) - SchIII
3. Dave Humphries with Florentina Texas Dawn for Oberstein (Tara) - SchII
4. Dave Wood with Ch Keyalas Dream machine at Nytbonn (Schnupps) - VPGI
5. David Anderson with Chancepixies Auctioneer (Jay) - VPGI
6. Des Connolly with Chancepixies Legend (Finn) - VPGIII
7. Melissa Mason with Chancepixies Angelica (Josie) - VPGI
8. Gary Booth with Jobergs Ducati (Ulf) - VPGIII
9. David Anderson with Chancepixies Cherry Brandy (Tia) - VPGI
10. Martin Horgan with Aritaur Histobraq (Bracco) - SchIII
11. George Robinson with Askya from the Dobergang (Askya) – VPGI
12. Tony Sheldon with Aritaur Notorious (Max) – SchI
13. Gabi Szabo with Dark Hill Belona (Iza) - SchIII
14. Andy Ball with Oberstein Arabs Fantasy (Lexi) - SchI
    

 

 

Abbreviations

FCI - Federation Cynologique Internationale - the International Kennel Club. This is the umbrella organisation for most of the Kennel Clubs throughout the world, with the notable exceptions of the American KC and the English KC.

BH - Begleithundeptufung - the temperament test

IPO - International Trial Rules

VDH - Verband fur das Deutsche Hundewesen - the German Kennel Club. This is the governing body made up of other organisations and clubs, including the AZG

AZG - Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Rassehunde Zuchtvereine und Gebraucheshundeverbande - the Working Dog Council. It is the regulatory organisation for rules and regulations. All trial rules are written and adopted by the AZG under the authority of the VDH

DV - Dobermann Verein - the German Dobermann Club, the oldest Dobermann Club

IDC - International Dobermann Club

ZTP - Zuchttauglichkeitsprüfungsbericht, which means "breed stability test" in German