DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FRENCH RING AND SCHUTZHUND

The most obvious differences between French Ring and Schutzhund are FR has no tracking, the decoy (helper) wears a full body suit, and the dog can bite anywhere on the suit.

The work of the dog is not as regimented in Ring. The dog can heel on the left or right, come/recall is any position near handler (front, side, between legs, sit, down, etc.), an escort is any position close enough to the decoy to prevent an escape, same with the guard. The emphasis is more on getting the job done correctly and less on how the job is done. There is still strict rules about exercises though. If you are supposed to say Fido-out-guard, and you just say Fido-out, it is points off. If you are standing in the wrong spot for a jump, the judge waits until your allotted time for placement runs out, and you get 0 with no chance to attempt a jump. If you recall with a whistle, and forget and recall with voice, points off. When heeling, if any portion of the end of the leash is sticking out of your hand, or lying on the dogs back, 0.

In a competition, the dog walks on the field with no leash or collar, and except for the heel on leash does not wear a leash or collar the entire time. No physical corrections, and limited verbal corrections are allowed. (I.e. you could say "bad dog", but you can't start yelling at the dog). Also, no food is allowed.

When a dog comes out to compete, he/she does all three parts (obedience, agility, and bitework) then leaves the field. A Brevet can take 15 - 20 minutes, a Ring III will take 40 minutes to an hour.

There is a lot more stick work during the bitework, and the stick is a baton of split bamboo, or rattan tied together to make it flair and clatter. 10 or 15 hits during an attack is fairly normal, and some decoy work includes a lot more than that. The stick is also used to intimidate the dog before he bites, and if possible, hold the dog off by using it in a threatening manner or keep the dog from rebiting if he misses or looses his initial bite.

The decoy has more leeway in how they work the dogs in Ring, as long as they do not work the dogs above the level they are competing at. Some decoys use mainly agility, some use threatening manners, etc. Each dog is to be initially approached and worked in the same manner as all the other dogs at that level. But if the decoy sees a weakness in the dog, they are expected to exploit that weakness to their benefit, and work the dog in a manner which will exploit it as long as they are not causing physical harm to the dog. Their job is to find weaknesses, and steal points from the dog.

The order of the obedience and bite exercises is drawn at random right before the dog in white comes out. The only set order is agility, obedience, bitework. The order and height of the jumps is up to the handler. The dog in white is a "practice dog". It gives all competitors a chance to see the order of the exercises, the work of the decoy, etc. It also allows the judge to work with the decoys for that level, and "fine tune" what they do and don't want to see done.

The field layout is decided by the judge. They will decide where the long sit/down is done, the guard of object, the direction for the send away, the direction of each attack, what blind to hide the decoy in, etc. Now that there are not pits for the jumps, they can also decide where they want the jumps to be.