IPO Dogsport

IPO Sportdogs

IPO Dogsport is an internationally recognised sporting activity for dogs

IPO Dogsport is a fun and exciting sport for participants, their dogs and spectators. The sport involves people from the hobbyist to the world class competitor and all of those in between. Most of our members are hobby trainers and they train and compete for fun and recreational sport, however some of our members are high level competitors with one of our members successfully competing in the 2007 IPO FMBB World Championships in France.

IPO Dogsport has an entry level called a BH which involves entry level obedience and environment type testing. Once you pass your BH you may compete in IPO I, II and III. These competitions have three (3) components, tracking, obedience and character assessment.

Tracking, depending on the level, requires the dog to find it’s way around where a person has walked previously (this could be from 20 minutes to a 1 hour) with varying articles (leather, wood, material) placed along the track. The dog must follow this track precisely and indicate on all the articles left by the track layer.

IPO Obedience is marked on the precision of the performance involving many obedience exercises including retrieving dumbbells over a 1m high jump and 1.8m A Frame.

Character Assessment is where the utmost control and teamwork is shown and the temperament of the working dog is displayed.

The founder of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Germany, Captain Max von Stephanitz, had the foresight at the turn of the century to realise that the then current role of the herding breeds would undergo change as the modern industrial world developed. He saw other roles that the dog could be utilised for as a servant and companion to man and one of these roles was as a companion guard and service dog. Seeing the breed as a working animal and respecting the breed for this he encouraged the utilisation of the dog as a service dog. Through the training of the dogs for service work, the breeders were able to select dogs who showed the desired characteristics for this work. Further, the breeders were able to learn a great deal about canine behaviour through the training and evaluation (testing) of the dogs. As our society and social culture have evolved, the ways of training and testing of the dog have changed along with this evolution of society.

Today this sport is practised in all five continents and twenty-eight countries of the world. The question often asked is "what is the purpose of this sport or form of training and what benefits does it bring to both society and the dog?"

The answer:

Our members are responsible dog owners who recognize and promote the value that well trained and well bred dogs can bring to our community. Some of our members are breeders who have produced working dogs for the community such as Police, Search and Rescue, RAAF, Detection dogs, obedience and the family companion dog.