A friend in my Schutzhund club sent this video link, of a Schutzhund club in 1936. I think it's a neat clip, because it shows a lot of things….
The obedience is less stylized here, but look at what's expected of the dogs — they work comfortably in large groups, alongside other dogs at close quarters, and they settle comfortably with their humans at a beer garden. These are not dangerous trigger-happy time bombs, they're good pets.
(I don’t mean to imply that today’s Schutzhund dogs are necessarily time bombs! I expect my dogs to walk nicely in public and lie down under outdoor cafe tables as well. But I thought that aspect was very obvious in the film clips.)
Also, there are a lot of exercises seen here which have disappeared from the current sport. Remember that Schutzhund was originally a breeding suitability test (and still is, in some parts of the world) and so the dogs' hips and athletic abilities were really tested. We'd have a lot less hip dysplasia if all dogs were required to train like this before being bred! Also, a few of the protection exercises are still present in other sports but are gone from Schutzhund, such as the attack under gunfire (something critical for a police dog).
And it's fun to see what the breeds looked like seventy years ago…. Some have really changed.
Anyway, here's the clip!
Great video, thanks for posting it! I think, as much as it’s a small detail, that the music is another sign of the times. None of today’s melodrama, just cheery, cheesy music that’s especially amusing (to me, at least) during the bitework segments! Incidentally, thanks for the earlier update on Laev – it’s great to hear that she’s doing better!