Copyright James R. Engel April 10, 2010

Part of Chapter 2 The Ring and the Trial

The American Experience

Historically the purebred in America has been under tight control of the American Kennel Club. Just as deBeers cornered the diamond market and convinced much of the world that love is measured by the size of a relatively common carbon crystal, the AKC has through clever public relations made their registration papers the hallmark of quality, even though they were always issued with no real verification of character, structure or even accuracy of the pedigree. These are two of the most incredible and profitable marketing schemes ever perpetrated, based on not a shred of objective reality.

While European police breeds such as the German Shepherd and the Malinois have been created and maintained through working tests, including strong protection exercises, the AKC has never permitted performance requirements or allowed the conduct of such events either on a stand alone basis or as a prerequisite for breeding and registration. Protection activities were generally disparaged as being low class and of questionable propriety, most certainly not something the respectable person would want to associate with. As a consequence the AKC breeder, who after all was selling these dogs on the basis of their robust macho persona, of necessity became the consummate salesman; when questioned about whether their Shepherds or Dobermans had the potential for protection or police work, they were somehow able to calmly and with a straight face tell potential buyers that of course these dogs could be a fearless defenders or exemplary police dogs, it was just a matter of a little training. Which, of course, they have never had the time to actually do. The truth is that they had little or no idea what they were selling, for breeding such dogs without selection based on performance quickly degenerates into relatively passive dogs, particularly when they discard breeding stock a little hard to deal with or which produced pups coming back as too difficult to handle.

While America always had those engaged in informal protection training and self styled guard dog trainers, often with a drop off junk yard dog service, and sporadic police department programs, often dying out within a few years of initiation, there were those with a sense of something missing, the desire for better understanding and a more sophisticated approach. Thus a serious interest in the training, trialing and breeding began to gain critical mass in America in the 1970’s, largely because of a growing interest in the Schutzhund trial system created by the German Shepherd founders in the very early nineteen hundreds. The Germans stood ready to help, for the enormous popularity of their protective breeds provided a natural outlet for the desire of individuals and breed communities in expanding influence and sales over seas. In addition there were significant numbers of Germans in America , many having emigrated in the years after the second world war, with a knowledge of European ways and the desire to participate.

Gernot Riedel was the self proclaimed father of American Schutzhund, and there is little doubt that he was correct, or that he was also a man of very little false modesty. Mr. Riedel was born in Czechoslovakia where he began training Bavarian border police dogs in 1946 and for the American military. He was an active German Shepherd breeder and trainer, emigrating to the United States in 1955, settling in the San Francisco area.(2) By all accounts, including his own, he was an outspoken and aggressive man who seldom bothered to look before making a leap, characteristics not unusual in a founder.

In 1958 Riedel was instrumental in the founding of the Peninsula Police Canine Corps, which was a group of bay area police trainers and which would become the oldest still existent American Schutzhund club. Riedel was active in procuring European dogs and the introduction of the training methods he had learned there. From the beginning the focus had been on police training, but in 1971 there was a transition as Riedel put the emphasis on Schutzhund, bringing over the first German judge. Most of the police department personnel wanted to go on training in the old way, and there was a split, with the word police being dropped from the name to reflect the new reality.

In a 1982 Dog Sports magazine interview (2), Riedel was sharply critical of the departing police trainers, characterizing them as not interested in control, reliable outs, tracking or the other aspects of police service, but only in biting dogs.

In retrospect, this minor split of a training group was of enormous symbolic importance, for the separation of police canine activities from Schutzhund and other civilian training into two worlds more than anything else has retarded progress in America, predestined us to be second rate in breeding, training and especially police applications even to this day.

Dr. Herbert Preiser in the Chicago area founded the Northern Illinois Schutzhund Club about 1969 and also a short lived National Schutzhund Association. Preiser was instrumental in calling a meeting in Illinois in 1970 with the purpose of exploring national level organizations, which bore fruit in the next year.

In 1971 Alfons Ertelt, Kurt Marti and a few others launched the North American Schutzhund Association. Although they almost immediately changed the name to the North American Working Dog Association, the NASA abbreviation was maintained. NASA’s goal from the beginning was to differentiate themselves from the Europeans and work toward mainstream acceptance, with AKC affiliation a goal of many. The American Doberman Pincher Club was a charter NASA member and held out to become last ditch supporters in the end.

NASA was a purely American organization with no links to or affiliation with any European organization. They created their own set of rules and certified their own judges. Many felt that this was not "real German Schutzhund" and that no one who could speak English without a German accent could possibly be a real Schutzhund authority.

The real sticking point was of course commercial, for there was a strong desire by potential German and American dog brokers to sell European titled dogs, many of them decidedly second rate, to Americans who could thus become players and over night Schutzhund authorities. In the long run the appeal of being really German was hard to resist, and NASA withered and eventually disappeared in the 1980's.

In 1975 the German DVG established a relationship with a group led by Dr. Dietmar Schellenberg in the New York area known as the Working Dogs of America or WDA. After a flurry of activity, this organization also experienced difficulty and its association with the DVG came to an acrimonious end in 1979, closing another transient chapter in American Schutzhund History.

In the early to middle seventies, the German Shepherd Dog Club of America (GSDCA) had begun some tentative Schutzhund activity under the leadership of the Gernot Riedel. Several clubs, including the above mentioned Peninsula Police Canine Corps, had become active.

In 1975 the American Kennel Club cracked down hard on such activities, forcing the GSDCA to abandon its fledgling Schutzhund program. This precipitated a crisis, for there was growing activity and enthusiasm and but a total lack of organizational or supporting infrastructure.

Much of this background information is from Schellenberg, reference (1).

(1) Schellenberg, Dietmar ,"Top Working dogs: A Training Manual - Tracking, Obedience, Protection" 1985

(2) Gernot Riedel, Interview, Dog Sports Magazine, June 1982

USCA

As a direct consequence of AKC repudiation of Schutzhund activity, there were meetings in California beginning in late 1975 that led to the foundation of the United Schutzhund Clubs of America (USCA) as a specifically German Shepherd entity with formal links to the SV, the mother club in Germany, thus providing access to German Schutzhund judges and Schutzhund titles with international recognition.

The fact that the words "German Shepherd" did not appear in the name and people with other breeds made up a substantial portion of the membership created confusion and strife that would persist for at least thirty years. Although USCA conformation events and breed surveys are for German Shepherds only, other breeds have always participated in local training clubs, often self styled as all breed, and Schutzhund trials.

USCA quickly became the predominant working dog sport organization in America and within a few years was larger, and certainly more influential, than the AKC shackled GSDCA.

For the Germans, there was good news and then there was bad news. The good news was that they had become big time players in American canine affairs. Though the focus in the beginning was on the Schutzhund trials, this connection was to be used as a wedge for German Shepherd conformation guidance in America, a way to bring in substantial numbers of German conformation judges to provide guidance and help, and of course to sell dogs and make money.

The bad news was that while the SV had become mother to a new organization, they already had a petulant child in the GSDCA through their world union link with that organization. This set the stage for struggle and strife that would go on well into the next century as each entity, that is the SV, USCA and the GSDCA, played one against the other in a struggle for influence, control and power.

Over all the American Schutzhund movement has in many ways enjoyed great success, or at least great popularity. The United Schutzhund Clubs of America has a couple of hundred clubs, upwards of 5000 members and a well established administrative infrastructure. The magazine has come out on time, in a consistent format for many years and the judging program has produced excellent American judges and an ever increasing curve of better quality work and more consistent scoring.

USCA, which formally came into existence in November of 1979, is today by far the largest Schutzhund organization in America with well over 5000 members, an elaborate magazine, upwards of 150 clubs and a very strong judges program. Although USCA is a German Shepherd organization, all breeds are allowed to participate in Schutzhund trials, but not breed surveys or conformation shows. About a third of the USCA membership primarily train a breed other than the German Shepherd

The other Schutzhund organization active in America today was a result of political strife and a split off about 1980, resulting in the establishment of LV/DVG America as an American affiliated geographic region (Landesverbands) of the DVG in Germany . Much smaller than USCA, DVG America is estimated to have about 400 current members. The first DVG American championship was in the Fall of 1981. DVG America was very strong in Florida, with virtually all USCA clubs going with the new DVG. The organizational support tended to be regional, with strength in St. Louis and the Los Angeles area among other places.

This second coming of DVG operations in America, the result of a quarrel and split among Americans, turned out in many ways to be the opportunity to be under the thumb of a heavy handed German bureaucracy with well established priorities: the interests of commercially oriented German judges, the most conspicuous carpet baggers of the era, German breeders and their own bureaucrats.

Uncertainty in national DVG membership counts has always been a consequence of general insecurity and secretiveness in national DVG leadership. Part of this is due to a competitive spirit with the order of magnitude larger USCA; but the fundamental reason is that the DVG Landesverband officers in reality have very little power and serve mostly as clerks and paper shufflers for the home office in Germany.

In the early years of the Schutzhund movement in America , in the seventies and the eighties, everything was new and exciting. Most of us had our beginnings in obedience of some sort; the only biting dogs were attack dogs in junk yards and car dealerships and in the AKC world man aggressive dogs were unmentionable, the forbidden fruit. Police dogs were few and far in between, and their association in the public eye was in many ways with the fire hoses and riots in the south splashed across national television. People expressing any interest in biting dogs were admonished, told stories of evil dogs out of control like the scare stories used to make children behave. Even the European police style breeds were suspect, the German Shepherd people to a large extent staying in their own little world of specialty shows, with their own elite group of judges and handlers, rather than the all breed AKC shows. Within the AKC power structure care was taken to minimize evil influences, the Rottweiler was for instance denied a national club with its single delegate vote for years. When the German Shepherd Dog Club of America began tentative, exploratory steps into the world of Schutzhund, the AKC power structure cracked down hard and formalized rules against even the most indirect link with protective dogs. In the early nineties they again cracked down with even more stringent rules of separation.

In this environment, exploring the world of Schutzhund, even in the most tentative way, was like opening a door into the sun. Instead of the protective capability being the skeleton in the family closet, the original sin, it was openly an intrinsic and necessary aspect of the canine nature and strongly aggressive dogs were not only accepted but greatly admired.

Americans taking tentative steps into this training found that their obedience background provided a solid basis for their new sport, that there were no mysterious skills to master. Those with tracking experience needed to deal with a new and controlled style of training, where details of the dogs performance rather than the simple finding of the object were scored; but that existing skill sets provided a solid foundation.

The protection work, however, was a brand new ball game. Security style training with the negative socialization, heavy reliance on pure defense and the pillow suit were of no use at all, and the military sentry style training of the era was equally inappropriate. Instead of fear based, non discriminating aggression the Schutzhund dog was required to demonstrate control and restraint as well as aggression.

Moving on up into the new era meant adapting European ways and methods, and in that era it meant German Schutzhund style work, since the suit style work of KNPV and the various ring flavors was virtually unknown in America. Doing Schutzhund meant working with a few Germans resident in this country, spending time in Germany to learn or bringing over German judges and trainers. Some American service men took the opportunity of a tour of duty in Germany to develop some serious dog training skills.

Many Germans, and a little later Dutchmen and Belgians, were enormously helpful, supportive and sportsmanlike in the best meaning of the term. Most of us who achieved some level of success received tremendous help from new European friends. Sure, there is the occasional SV judge on an ego trip, and I have met a couple of flat out ass holes, and a few who were and are financially motivated but in the big picture the actual German Shepherd trainers and judges have been what they seemed to be, good people anxious to share their culture and training in a truly sportsmanlike way.

The European Way

Just as European immigrants looked to America as the land of opportunity with golden paved streets, the novice American comes to believe that Europe is the land of working dog opportunity, that there is a training club in every block, working pups of high potential everywhere at reasonable price and protection dog training is a way of life. The European immigrant coming off the boat lacking in the money, skills and perhaps language for immediate access to middle class life found that while America was a land of enormous opportunity in the beginning the reality was most often backbreaking, menial labor. The Irish, Asians, Hispanics and others have started at the bottom doing the hard work for minimal money and the general social disparagement.

The European reality for the American working dog enthusiast has been very similar in that there were indeed immense resources in terms of dogs, culture and training capability in nations such as Germany , Belgium and the Netherlands . And in the sixties through the eighties Americans were relatively affluent, able to afford very good dogs at very reasonable prices. The problem of course was in knowing which pup or dog to select and how to raise it and train it to live up to the potential. This was not a matter of the Europeans cheating naive Americans, although there was always plenty of that, but simply that the American did not have the resources to get started. The young European enthusiast would generally have a father, uncle or family acquaintance who could take him along to the club and if the interest was there help him obtain and train a first dog.

Although it has been a very difficult to transplant to America , the working dog culture of Europe is indeed the land of milk and honey in terms of working stock, training knowledge and supporting organizations.

When I spent time in Europe in the nineteen eighties and early nineties, mostly in the Netherlands but Germany and Belgium too, what I found was that the reality did largely live up to the expectations. The people at the training clubs were from every walk of life and the clubs did indeed provide an opportunity for the ordinary man to enjoy and participate. The young trainer, in his late teens or early twenties, seemed to be common in most clubs, and many participated in the helper work. These clubs seemed to be able to obtain the use of a field on public land, just like parks in America typically have a tennis court or soccer field.

Prospects of excellent working lines were affordable for the novice, especially one with a more experienced club trainer as a mentor. Clubs were plentiful and seemed to work effectively. It was typical to see several men doing the helper work, often with an older man or two mostly directing the younger helpers

When staying with a friend, a KNPV judge, in the Netherlands, near Hilversum, she remarked upon pulling out to drive to training that we were going to have to go a great distance for a specific club, and as we drove she would point out this or that KNPV or IPO club, often with a comment on why that was not the most appropriate for this day. Finally, after a long, arduous twenty minute drive we arrived at the desired far distant club, just in time for training.

I recall a warm late afternoon sitting at a table outside a clubhouse in Belgium , near the Dutch border, at Turnhout if memory serves me correctly. As I idly sipped my beer, a little old man with a big Malinois was doing his obedience. In a way it was not very impressive, for the man was slow moving and low key and not much seemed to be going on. A little while later a helper, a very young man, casually came onto the field. After a few words, the helper took up his position on the opposite side of a pond, probably ten to fifteen feet across. The man and his dog moved off to the other end of the field, where the dog was sent with a soft command. The dog burst across the field and over the pond, but at one low key word from the handler stopped, took a regretful look at the helper and returned. On the next go round, the dog was, much to his enthusiasm, allowed to complete his attack. In talking to my friends, I learned that this man, while never quite a big winner, had participated in Belgian Ring for most of his life. A little later, I noticed the man heading out for home. He had a three wheel cycle arrangement, home made with two dog crates and bicycle parts, which he loaded his two Malinois into and peddled off home. I am sure that this is a little bit unusual, that many more Europeans load up the Mercedes station wagon, perhaps with an expensive, high tech aluminum dog trailer, than a home made three wheeled bicycle on training night. But the access of the common man, the young man with a family or the old man on a fixed income, to the training sports has always been a fundamental, and I believe necessary, part of the heritage.

Training in Europe offers many and diverse opportunities, for the casual social trainer who just wants to enjoy an evening of training with his dog to the driven, ultra competitive zealot. One man I came to know, a Dutch Schutzhund judge, trained at a local club where he was either training director or one of the senior trainers and was not seen on the field with his own dog much if at all. But on another evening he drove down into Belgium to work with a very competitive, exclusive group and was thus able to carry on two distinct and very useful and rewarding roles. This is of course possible because distances are so small in Europe.

In the protection sports, the training helper, that is, the man who puts on the suit or sleeve and impersonates the human adversary, is key to the training. This can be quite demanding, both in terms of requisite knowledge and skill and the physical beating taken in the course of the training exercises. Many of these dogs are big and powerful or quick and energetic, hitting and biting hard. Working the novice dogs, trying to bring out the latent aggression, is often physical exhausting. Although accidents in the sense of a bite on unprotected flesh are unusual, most helpers end their day with aches and pains from the physical impact. In the broad picture, there are two kinds of helpers, those with back problems and those whose back problems have not shown up yet.

In the ideal situation, a club has a number of helpers with roles according to their age, experience and physical condition. The older men may serve mostly as teachers and instructors, only occasionally picking up a sleeve or suit jacket to demonstrate a point or fill in. And, of course, there are always a few older men in denial, determined to out work the callow youth, the young whippersnappers. The bulk of the work is carried on by younger men with the knowledge and experience to work on their own, and the macho attitude demands that they ignore, or pretend to ignore, any aches or pains. At the bottom of the pyramid are the novice trainers, young men eager for opportunity and recognition, who will always conceal or deny bruise or strain. Although some helpers prefer the role for its own sake and seldom train a dog, many are also trainers and take for granted that their dogs will receive excellent work. Not every club has this ideal situation, but most have several helpers, so that the serious trainer, one who shows respect and cooperation, can train on good helpers several nights of the week.

Although modern social trends are a serious concern for the viability of the protection sports in Europe, the historical situation still to a large extent predominates. Many clubs have a number of good trainers, so that no one is overworked.

While numerous Americans have developed the professional level of experience and knowledge to identify and purchase good dogs for reasonable prices in Europe, often through difficult and costly experience, perhaps the best approach for the American amateur is to establish personal relationships with European breeders and trainers. This has many advantages in that it gives one access to real knowledge of the European dog world that can be relied on. I do not mean this in a phony or calculating way, that you should make friends just to save money, but rather that in order to become successful in any endeavor one must be able to fit in and establish personal relationships with compatible individuals successful in the field.

Very often one will wind up purchasing a pup or older dog from his European friends, but even when you are interested in something from a stranger your friend can especially helpful. The simple fact of the matter is that often the price to an American is much more than to a resident of the country. I recall years ago going to look at litters of Bouviers in Holland with Ria Klep, a very successful trainer and working breeder. My instructions were to be absolutely silent, as one word of English would automatically double the price; apparently my dress and appearance did not shout American. In this instance Ria just went ahead and bought the pup and explained later that if I did not want it she did, which of course only increased my enthusiasm.

While Europe is the homeland of the working breeds and the foundation on which the protection or police dog culture is based worldwide, it is important to understand that this is a small and decreasing segment of the European canine world as a whole. Most European breeders, in many breeds the vast majority, of these protection and police breeds are in fact show breeders who do not train or select based on character. And it of course follows that these show dogs are no better than the AKC lines, show dogs are show dogs, world wide.

Only the German Shepherd in Germany requires a Schutzhund title as a prerequisite to breeding, all others can be and much more often than not are bred without any regard for working character at all. But the enthusiasts for this breed should not be quick to feel relief or superiority, for while there are many excellent working lines, over the past forty years the German Shepherd has evolved into working lines of continued excellence and much weaker and less reliable show lines. In general the best German Shepherds are coming from outside of Germany , that is places such as the Czech Republic or Belgium or German lines outside of the mainstream, such as remnants of the old East German lines or those maintained by some of the hard core trainers. The mainstream German lines are increasingly divergent and shunned by serious trainers, including those in Germany .

Our personal experience is an illustration of this, for our first Bouvier des Flandres came from the du Clos des Cerberes kennel of Edmee Bowles, driven from Belgium as WWII commenced and the founder of the breed in America . We were able to train this male to the Schutzhund III and the FH, the advanced tracking title, in relatively short order. The dog was an excellent natural tracker and strong in protection. The obedience was marginal, mostly because of my inexperience as a trainer and because there was no one with experience to help; I often wonder what the dog could have become if I had been a better trainer. In one way this was a stroke of good fortune, for it built our enthusiasm and helped establish us as breeders.

But there was a serious down side to this, for it led us to believe that the Bouvier as a whole in Europe, there really were no American lines at this time other than du Clos des Cerberes, were serious working dogs, that all European dogs were fundamentally sound in working charter. As a consequence we acquired some dogs of the then very fashionable Dutch show lines, with the expectation that a little selective would enable us to insure the appropriate character. This turned out not to be true at all, the dogs were in general lacking in any drive for the protection work and difficult in obedience and tracking, exhibiting passive resistance rather than enthusiasm in training. These lines were eliminated and we went on to establish relationships with people in Holland who were active trainers with police line Bouviers, which provided us a reliable source of excellent dogs. But it was a major detour, a loss of critical time and money.

It would perhaps be easy to comment that we should have known better, but this was before the internet and the advent of European travel for the typical American training enthusiast. These were difficult lessons to learn, and even today far to many people have spent money and time before coming to realize that German Shepherds coming out of main stream German show breeding are in general weak and unsatisfactory dogs in spite of the generations of Schutzhund titles, that to get a good dog you need to first identify the real working lines and breeders.