Watered Down sport?? - Page 1

For a few years now I have heard it tossed out that Schutzhund has been watered down; IPO is easier now than xxx years ago; The BH is easier now than ever... I hear this all over the place so there must be something to it. Can someone give some examples of how its easier on the dog or handler now then it use to be? Not trying to stir the pot, I am really curious what everyone means..

Well I saw it at local trials that the BH was done on leash and the judge said that is all he needed to see. Now they are saying that the IPO is easier to satisfy the "club" members. So they get recognition for training that is less than what was in the past SchH. $$$ on the trial side but they claim the $$$ is on the show side. This sport has become expensive...the dogs may be less quality from poor breeding but the clubs need to survive so they bring in judges to give the titles to the members that are spending the money on mediocre dogs from mediocre breedings. The people running the organizations have contributed to this.

I look at clips of the top legend dogs of yesteryears compared to the no name top dogs of today.

The old dogs seem very mediocre in performance and would not even register as competitive on the modern field.

A lot of old dogs seemed scared of the handlers, are very flat and loose in the obed, lack precision and look like they rather be somewhere else.

The old timers don't wanna hear this, but still.

And the new timers don't want to admit they cheat but they do. vk4gsd, Old timers believed in foundation training new competitors rely on the judge, the training methods (table etc) and methods that the average person would not / could not do to their dog. But times do change sometimes not for the better.

Only modern people cheat?

Modern advanced training methods are now considered cheating? I guess I learned something new today...

I've been a member of USCA for 27 years. I started just about the time the reed stick was replaced by the padded stick. Never a top competitor, but titled numerous dogs.  Today's IPO tracks are a bit shorter than SchH 25 years ago, but the articles are 1/3 the size of SchH articles, judging seems about the same. Today's IPO obedience is judged far more critically than SchH 25 years ago. Today's IPO protection requires far more control than SchH 25 years ago. 

My preference would be SchH rules and judging of 25 years ago with today's improved training.

Would be nice, but an impossibility. As training gets better, judging gets harder. At one point, the dog didn't even have to have focus on the handler during heeling. One guy had it, the judge rewarded the team with a higher score, and it became the expectation.

The amount of precision and control requested from a dog is a whole lot of pressure on a dog in itself.

The amount of time that goes into a dog these days is insane. In the past, dogs passed a BH after A MONTH of training. A MONTH! In this time and age, people start working their pups at eight weeks and work it for a two years before they set foot on the trialfield, if not more than that.
Back then, people let their dogs sit until they had the A Stamp.

Heeling with a dog looking straight ahead, staying in right place almost intuitively is functional and easily convertible to work, heeling looking at the handler with complete focus for entire routine is pretty and for sport..