In a sport dominated by shepherds and other large breeds, is there room for the little guy? I just started Schutzhund training with my god-knows-what mixed breed and we're having fun with it, hoping to compete and maybe bring home some titles. She's a good solidly-built 35 pounds and about knee-height at the head. I know she'll excel in the obedience and tracking, but I wonder if she would stand a chance in protection when compared to a standard that was written for big dogs in a sport dominated by big dogs. Has anyone ever heard of smaller dogs (less than 50 lbs) getting a SchI or beyond?
Who is training your dog in schutzhund? Are you doing it on your own or do you have a club that your hooked up with?
If it's a club and they are working with your dog then they must see something good with the little guy.
Though I hate to say it, as far as the protection goes, don't get your hopes up, just have fun. Have fun with the tracking and obedience and if you really like the sport you can make a lot mistakes with this dog and then you can invest in a dog meant for the work and be head and shoulders ahead of the game.
The smallest dog I have seen compete at SchH3 level (in the USA Nationals, yet) is a Border Collie named Luigi. He is owned by a woman whose name I can't recall, but he did pass all three phases even if he did not wind up on the podium.
I don't think judges would hold size against the dog; it's the performance that counts. But there should not be any compensation made for a small dog, so it should have to leap up 4' at a run to catch the sleeve and whatever grip it gets, that's all she wrote cuz when he's hanging 2' off the ground, he can't readjust the grip. I've seen some smallish standard schnauzers do the work, but I can't say there wasn't some compensation made by the helper to assist the dog by lowering the sleeve.
I don't think it's the size of the dog in question as there is no minimum size requirement.
I think the biggest challenge with the dog in question is the actual ability to do the protection end of the work. It is such a hard thing to do to even get a good dog out of good working line parents so having a mix breed will make this a very big challenge.
Robert VanCamp Webboard User Reg: 11-28-2001
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Deanna, post those shots of the Jack Russel doing the Schutzhund! That rocked, funny as hell.
I know I use this example all the time, but I have seen this little 47lbs Dutch Shepherd female that was as bad as evil. She had a KNPV title, and when I was there put a 200+ pound guy on the turf.
Thanks for all the replies! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> We are nowhere NEAR ready for protection work, so we'll see how she performs when we get there, but I am glad to see that the little guys can compete successfully (anyone know if that JR is titled?). We're working with a local Schutzhund club (personally I find the idea of doing protection work WITHOUT a knowledgeable mentor SCARY!) and she is by far the smallest dog there but I've gotten a lot of encouragement and I think we'll do fine.
On an unrelated question; where are you guys getting your avatars, and how are you applying them??
VC, Deanna, the Schutzhund JRT is jackruss.page. I kept that one for obvious reasons. I think with the right trainer, the only thing that would stop the JRT is the retrieve over the hurdle. The height, even over the high jump would be a piece of cake for a JRT.
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