All About IPO

What is IPO

 

IPO is a sport that focuses on developing and evaluating traits in dogs that make them more useful and stable companions to their owners. The purpose of IPO is to demonstrate the dog's intelligence and utility. As a working trial, IPO measures the dog’s mental stability, endurance, structural efficiencies, ability to scent, willingness to work, courage and trainability.

 

 

Why IPO 

This working dog sport offers an opportunity for dog owners to train their dog and compete with each other for recognition of both the handler's ability to train and the dog's ability to perform as required. It is a sport enjoyed by persons of varied professions, who join together in a camaraderie born of their common interest in working with their dogs. Persons of all ages and conditions of life - even those with significant disabilities - enjoy IPO as a sport. Often, it is a family sport. A function of IPO trainer is to identify dogs that should not be trained in IPO. IPO is a challenging test of a dog's character, and not every dog, or even every GSD, is up to the challenge. The training supervisor of the club has a responsibility to the dog, handler, club, and society to constantly evaluate every dog and to decline to train any dog with questionable character or working ability. Training a dog that does not really want to work is stressful and frustrating for all parties involved. Breeders should use this insight to determine how and whether to use the dog in producing the next generation of working dogs.

 

IPO Titles

There are three levels of the IPO test for which titles can be earned.

For IPO I the dog must be at least 18 months old and pass an initial temperament test by the judge. The dog must heel off the leash and demonstrate the walking sit, the walking down, and the stay tests, as well as, the send-out. It must retrieve on the flat and over a hurdle. In tracking, it must be able to follow a track laid by its handler at least 20 minutes earlier. There are also protection tests.

For IPO II the dog must be at least 19 months old and must already have earned its IPO I degree. It must again pass all of the obedience and protection tests required for the IPO I degree, but those tests, for IPO II, are made more difficult and require greater endurance, agility, and above all, control. There is an additional stand on the move required. In tracking, the IPO II candidate must be able to follow a track laid by a stranger at least 30 minutes earlier.

For IPO III the master’s degree, the dog must be at least 20 months old and must have earned both the IPO I and the IPO II titles. Again, the tests now are made far more difficult. There is the additional of a walking and running down and running stand. In tracking, the dog must follow a track that was laid by a stranger at least 60 minutes earlier. The track has four turns, compared with two turns for IPO I and II, and there are three objects, rather than two, that must be found by the dog. The picture of obedience, strength, eagerness and confidence presented by an excellent IPO III team is a beautifully illustration of the partnership of human and dog.

 

The Three Parts of an IPO Trial

The tracking phase includes a temperament test by the overseeing judge to assure the dog’s mental soundness. When approached closely on a loose leash, the dog should not act shyly or aggressively. The track is laid earlier by a person walking normally on a natural surface such as dirt or grass. The track includes a number of turns and a number of small, man-made objects left by this person on the track itself. At the end of a 10 meter leash, the handler follows the dog, which is expected to scent the track and indicate the location of the objects, usually by lying down with it between its front paws. The tracking phase is intended to test the dog’s trainability and ability to scent, as well as, its mental and physical endurance.

 

The obedience phase is done in a large field, with the dogs working in pairs. One dog is placed in a down position on the side of the field and his handler leaves him while the other dog works in the field. Then the dogs switch places this includes a series of heeling exercises, some of which are closely in and around a group of people. During the heeling, there is a gun shot test to assure that the dog does not openly react to such sharp noises. There is also a series of field exercises in which the dog is commanded to sit, lie down and stand while the handler continues to move. From these various positions, the dog is recalled to the handler. With dumbbells of various weights, the dog is required to retrieve on a flat surface, over a one-meter hurdle and over a 1.8 meter slanted wall. The dog is also asked to run in a straight direction from its handler on command and lie down on a second command.

Finally, each dog is expected to stay in a lying down position away from its handler, despite distractions, at the other end of the obedience field, while another dog completes the above exercises. All of the obedience exercises are tests of the dog’s temperament, structural efficiencies and very importantly, its willingness to serve its handler.

 

The protection phase tests the dog’s courage, physical strength and agility. The handler’s control for the dog is absolutely essential. The exercises include a search of hiding places, finding a hidden person (acting as a human decoy), and guarding that decoy while the handler approaches. The dog is expected to pursue the decoy when an escape is attempted and to hold the grip firmly. The decoy is searched and transported to the judge with the handler and dog walking behind and later at the decoy’s right side. When the decoy attempts to attack the handler, the dog is expected to stop the attack with a firm grip and no hesitation.

The final test of courage occurs when the decoy is asked to come out of a hiding place by the dog's handler from the opposite end of the trial field. The dog is sent after the decoy who is threatening the dog with a stick and charging at the handler. All grips during the protection phase are expected to be firmly placed on the padded sleeve and stopped on command and/or when the decoy discontinues the fight. The protection tests are intended to assure that the dog possesses the proper temperament for breeding.

  

What is the Judge looking for in the Dog?

At all three stages - IPO I, II and III - each of the three phases: obedience, tracking and protection, is worth 100 points, for a total of 300 points. If a dog does not receive a minimum of 70% of the points in tracking, 70% of the points in obedience and 70% of the points in protection --- or if the dog fails the pretrial temperament test ---- it is not awarded a degree that day and must repeat the entire test, passing all phases of the test at a later trial. In every event, the Judge is looking for an eager, concentrating and accurate working dog. High ratings and scores are given to the animal that displays a strong willingness and ability to work for it human handler. At any time the judge may dismiss a dog for showing poor temperament, including fear or aggression. Each competing dog will be tested separately and the team work between handler and dog are of utmost importance. All Handlers are expected to have a thorough knowledge of the Regulations for the Grade in which they are competing

  

The most common breeds that compete are:

German Shepherds,

Belgian Shepherds

Malinois,

Rottweilers,

Dobermans,

Giant Schnauzers,

Bouvier des Flandres,

Dutch Shepherd Dogs,

Beaucerons,

American Bulldogs,

Boxers,

Black Russian Terriers,

Airedale Terriers,.

 

Choosing a Puppy for IPO

In every breed, the pedigree is the key to knowing the potential of the puppy. IPO revolves around working lines --- generations of dogs that have proven themselves and produced similar characteristics in their offspring. These characteristics include not only the physical structure of the dog, which is very important, but also its temperament.

Selecting the bloodlines from which you want your puppy may require advice. Information from breed surveys can help. Of course, it makes sense to discuss your objectives with reputable and experienced IPO handlers or enthusiasts.

Once you have determined that the bloodlines of the potential dam and sire are of high quality, you should observe the parents, especially the Mother, if that is at all possible. The dam will be the main influence on the young pup for the first six weeks of its life. If the dam is nervous or unsure, chances are this uncertainty will be transferred to the offspring.

If you are able to see the litter, watch the puppies together and also separately, to try to determine which is the best puppy. Obvious structural defects or health problems should be watched for.

It is important that the puppy have intense instinct to stalk the prey --- a ball, a toy, etc. --- and also be the leader in the sense of bullying the other puppies. The puppy should not show fear when away from its littermates. It should not need to stay with the mother. The puppy should be adventurous and active, playing with objects shown to it by someone in the enclosure, but it should be independent enough to take that object and go off on its own as well.

It is independence and confidence, combined with the positive contact with the pack leader (the dam, at this time) that will develop into the traits of trainability that you need.

 

Raising a Puppy for IPO Work

Puppyhood is the most critical period for the development of the characteristics you want to encourage. Our IPO club can advise you about nurturing and socializing your growing puppy.

A puppy learns from its experiences, so you want to provide only positive ones. It should be provided with opportunity to explore and investigate new situations and new people, but always in a non-threatening way. Remember that your goal is to build confidence in the young animal. Your aim is NOT to dominate or oppress the young pup.

Exposure to different environments is crucial to the general education of the dog and also to assure it that the world is a safe pace. If something appears to make the dog unsure, give it the opportunity to investigate it slowly, but do not force the issue.

It is imperative to avoid situations where your dog would be dominated by another older or stronger dog, or by another puppy. You also want to avoid having to discipline or correct your puppy and thus dampen its spirit or damage its self-confidence. You can do this by never leaving the pup in a situation where it can cause damage to your valuables or find itself in a dangerous predicament.

The final area of development is that of drive develpment. The natural behaviors that you want to encourage are playing with the ball, tug of war, hide and seek, pulling toys on a string, pursuing you rapidly when you run away, and finally defending itself, its family and its home. The latter really only shows itself between the ages of nine and eighteen months as the pup begins to mature by barking at strangers or intruders.

It is better to leave for later formal obedience training with a young dog. The character of the puppy is not sufficiently strong to withstand the corrections involved in obedience training. Acceptable manners at home and in the car and “play“ training, like learning to sit for a food reward, with NO corrections involved, is advisable. Real obedience work should begin only after the dog is mature enough.

 

 Do Dogs Enjoy IPO Training?

If trained in the right manner, dogs enjoy working, as anyone who attends a IPO competition can see. The joy of the dogs in working with their handlers is evident.

For thousands of years, dogs have adapted to serve humans in a mutually beneficial relationship. While dogs could move quickly, hunt prey, and protect flocks and their owner, the humans could provide food, shelter from the most severe elements, and protection from larger predators, besides tending to the dog’s injuries. A dog’s reason for being is to serve humans.

IPO training helps develop the dog’s natural instincts to a high level. Self-confident dogs, doing work for which they are well trained, are happy dogs. Wagging tails, sounds of excitement, and strong pulling on a leash all show an observer at a IPO trial how much fulfillment dogs find in this work