Our first Schutzhund Trial

This and other threads got me to reading about Sch. From what I understand, the dog has to have a temperment and a BH test before being suitable for getting worked and titled.

Then the sections are tracking, obedience, and protection. So, does that mean that one should work on natural tracking ability and then rock solid obedience before moving on to striking sticks and and bite work? At least it seems that way to me. I would imagine needing an oops-proof "off" command to stop anything, including the bite.

Also, does a SCH 3 or even a FA dog get higher stud fees for those interested in breeding working or SCH dogs? I'm aware that in AKC circles, a grand champion or at least a Best in Show can raise a good price because they are a proven "winner."

Also, wouldn't it be better in working lines, especially SCH and K-9 to breed away from the dramatic rear-end slope? A fast dog needs a stronger frame than what I have seen in, say, GSDs in the UK.

Ron, my puppy is 14 weeks and is already doing puppy bitework with a police K9 helper and taking "hits".  With puppies you do some puppy tracks and imprinting for tracking.  I've never done tracking before so I'm still learning before we start some puppy tracks, but I do feed Nikon a meal a day on the ground (he has to sniff and forage for the food) to encourage his hunt drive.  Sometimes I even arrange the kibble in a line.  We are actually not working on the out/off/aus command right now.  By playing around with it I discovered the food is too distracting, and it's MORE important that he get up in drive and want to bite, lunge, and grip his tug with a full bite forever and ever.  Most of the SchH obedience comes with maturity.  Also, for the German/Sieger style show ring you don't want an over-trained dog.  Most of the training from 8 weeks to age two is a lot of tugging and encouraging the dog's natural drives like prey drive, hunt drive, maybe some defense drive as the dog matures.  The dogs are not really corrected until they are more mature and already thinkt they are hot sh**.  You need a dog that is super confident and thinks he is God's gift to the world.

For those breeding serious working/SchH dogs, stud fees aren't really that important.  Breedings are very carefully matched, often done by hobbyist who are breeding dogs for their own stock and for within their circle of friends/SchH competitors.  Yes the stud should definitely have a SchH3 or equivalent, though I know of one really nice stud that only has a BH and AD because he is a certified working SAR dog and in his state he cannot participate in SchH to do that work.  He has a string of agility and obedience titles as well.  SchH doesn't really factor in to AKC lines and that style of conformation.  So the "grand champion" and "rear end slope" stuff doesn't really factor in at all.  It is rare to find an AKC CH or speciality dog/bitch getting SchH titles.  I do not know of any but I'm sure there are some.  My understanding was that the AKC actually condemned Schutzhund.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. It sounds like exciting stuff.