You may have looked at a few pedigrees and scratched your head wondering what all the acronyms mean. Weather or not you are a "dog person", you may not be familiar with all the Titles and Awards that this particular breed earns. This is especially true on our site in particular, since many of our dogs have been imported from Ukraine. We have many dogs right now that have FCI (Federation Cynologique Internationale) titles. Many people will probably recognize AKC awards right away, and some will probably know what Schutzhund(yeah, it's German!) entails. Since this is for everyone's benefit, we will cover everything here. Most of what is provided here is basic information, if you have any additional questions or want to know about something in greater detail, you are invited post on our forum and we will help you as soon as we are able.

You will also notice that just about every organization that's not the AKC has working titles that include the dog biting a person. At first, you may think this can produce dangerous dogs, but in reality, the opposite is true. The largest misconception is that the dog is trained to bite from simple meanness. The truth is that to the dog, biting a sleeve or suit is a game. As strange as this sounds, in a well-trained dog's mind, they are simply playing tug with your arm! The advantages to this training are numerous. The dog has more confidence when it's threatened by a person, and is much less likely to bite a person due to fear. You will also notice that these titles also require the dog to release from a bite on command. The point is, if your dog is trained for protection, even under the most stressful of situation, you will have complete control of your dog. This is the most imporant factor in play here. In any of these competitions, if a dog does not release on command, or the owner seems to not have control of their dog, they face disqualification. Control is as important in this sport as it would be in a real life situation.

Here, we will identify the following working titles:

• AKC :: CGC :: CD :: CDX :: UD :: UDX
• FCI :: SG :: OKD :: ZKS :: IPO-1 :: IPO-2 :: IPO-3

It is interesting to note here that the CGC can be earned by any dog. Participants do not need to be registered with the AKC, nor do they need to be purebred. The goal of this award is to promote good citizenship for all dogs.

The CD, CDX, and UD titles are made up of 3 "legs" each. This means that any participant needs to complete each trial sucessfully (at least 170 of 200 possible points) 3 times in order to recieve the award.

1. Accepting a friendly stranger.
2. Sitting politely for petting.
3. Allowing basic grooming procedures.
4. Walking on a loose lead.
5. Walking through a crowd.
6. Sitting and lying down on command and staying in place.
7. Coming when called.
8. Reacting appropriately to another dog.
9. Reacting appropriately to distractions.
10. Calmly enduring supervised separation from the owner.

1. Heel on Leash and Figure Eight - show whether the dog has leamed to watch its handler and adjust its pace to stay with the handler.
2. Heel Free - done off leash.
3. Stand for Examination - is of great benefit when the dog needs hands-on care by a veterinarian.
4. Recall - provides the handler with the ability to call the dog and get an immediate response at all times.
5. Long Sit (1 minute) - allows the handler to have control of the dog when visitors come to the home.
6. Long Down (3 minutes) - dog must remain in a down position.

1. Heel Free and Figure Eight - Same as CD, but off leash.
2. Drop on Recall - can be a lifesaving command for a dog, since it gives the handler control in potentially dangerous situations.
3. Retrieve on Flat
4. Retrieve Over High Jump
5. Broad Jump
6. Long Sit (3 minutes) - similar to the long sit in Novice, but the position must be held for a longer period of time with the handler out of the dog's sight.
7. Long Down (5 minutes) - dog must remain in a down position.

1. Signal Exercise - shows the dog's ability to understand and correctly respond to the handler's signal to stand, stay, down, sit and come. No voice com-mands are given; only hand signals are allowed.
2. Scent Discrimination - shows the dog's ability to find the handler's scent among a pile of articles.
3. Directed Retrieve - proves the dog's ability to follow a directional signal to retrieve a glove and promptly return it to the handler.
4. Moving Stand and Examination - the dog must heel, stand and stay as the handler moves away. The dog must stay and accept an examination by the judge and return to the handler on command.
5. Directed Jumping - the dog must go away from the handler, turn and sit. Then, the dog must clear whichever jump its handler indicates and promptly return to the handler.

1. Dogs with UD titles must earn qualifying scores in both Open B(CDX) and Utility B(UD) at 10 trials in order to add the UDX title after their registered names.

Oh the mysteries of non-english based information. The following information is what I can put together using several different translated versions of the information. Everything here is accurate to the best of my knowledge.

1. Bite Inspection - dog allows the judge to inspect it's bite.
2. Muzzle Socializaion in a Sit - dog acts normally in a muzzle while in a sit
3. Muzzle Socializaion Free - dog acts normally in a muzzle while free
4. Recall
5. Out/Release - dog gives an object to it's handler.
6. Heel on Leash - similar to AKC standards for CD without a figure-8.
7. Gunfire Socialization - Dog must nor react to 2 9mm shots fired within 5 seconds of each other.
8. Obedience - demonstration of Down, Sit, and Stay commands and the dog's ability to go from one position to the next in a random order.
9. Refuse Food from a Stranger
10. Place - handler takes the dog to a certain "place" and instructs the dog to sit. After some time, a recall is performed, then the dog is told "place" and must return to where he was placed previously.

1. Heel Free - demonstrates the dog's ability to heel properly.
2. Teeth Examination and Muzzle Socializaion - dog calmly allows a judge to inspect his bite. the dog must be indifferent to wearing a muzzle.
3. Obedience - demonstration of Down, Sit, and Stay commands and the dog's ability to go from one position to the next in a random order.
4. Recall
5. Place - handler takes the dog to a certain "place" and instructs the dog to sit. After some time, a recall is performed, then the dog is told "place" and must return to where he was placed previously.
6. Object Retrieval
7. Refuse Food or Object from a Stranger
8. Obstacle Course - includes a track & field barrier, a blind fence or sloping wall, a ladder, a beam, and a trench.
9. Gunfire Socialization - dog should not have a fearful reaction.

1. Scent Discrimination - shows the dog's ability to find the handler's scent among a pile of articles.
2. Gurading an Object - dog must guard an object from two humans while tied out. it must not be distrated by food, and must not react aggressively to quietly passing individuals.
3. Protection of Handler, Detention of Suspect(Decoy), and Gunfire Socialization
• dog takes a bite while a judge fires a weapon.
• dog takes a bite with defense(decoy fights back without hurting the dog).
• dog must out/release on command.
• dog is commanded to bite an armed(with a stick) decoy at 20 meters away.
• dog and handler disarm decoy and escort him from the ring.

1. Tracking
• 400 feet
• trail is 20 minutes old
• 2 90 degree turns.
• 2 objects placed on trail.
2. Obedience
• Heeling - demonstrates the dog's ability to heel properly.
• Heeling Through a Crowd Without a Leash - dog will heel with the handler through a crowd of people making one stop. Two gunshots are also fired during this excerise.
• Sit While Walking
• Recall
• Retrieve on the Flat
• Retrieve Over a Barrier 1 m High
• Send Out - dog is sent from the handler about 25 feet in a certain direction, then will be commanded to Down.
• Long Down - dog maintinas a down for the length of time it takes the next dog to complete the above excerises.
3. Protection - bitework.
• Patrolling - in a field, 6 barriers are erected with a decoy behind the last barrier.
• Hold and Bark - dog will stop and bark about a foot away from the decoy.
• Attempted Flight - decoy will attempt to flee the dog, and the dog must intercept the decoy.
• Bite With Defense - decoy will fight back and the dog must stop when given the release command.
• Bite from a Distance - decoy approaches the dog in a threatening manner about 30 feet from the handler. the dog is released to attack. dog must release on command.

1. Tracking
• 600 feet
• trail is 30 minutes old
2. Obedience
• Heeling - add changes in speed and longer course.
• Heeling Through a Crowd Without a Leash - no change.
• Sit While Walking - no change.
• Recall Combined with a Stand While Walking - While heeling, the Stand command is given, then dog will stop walking while the handler continues for another 30 feet. recall is then executed.
• Retrieve of a 1 kg Wooden Stick the Flat
• Retrieve a 650 g Stick Over a Barrier 1 m High
• Climbing Leap Over Inclined Walls - walls are about 1.5 meters high.
• Send Out - no change.
• Long Down - no change.
3. Protection - bitework.
• Patrolling - no change.
• Hold and Bark - no change.
• Attempted Flight - no change.
• Bite With Defense - no change.
• Escort Decoy from Behind - dog and handler will escort a distance of 30 feet from a distance of 5 feet behind the decoy.
• Bite from a Distance - no change.

1. Coming Eventually