Achievements

We rate PSA the most difficult protection sport in the world.

Not because of the exercises. Because of the pressure. PSA is built to find out what a dog actually is — its true character and its nerve profile under conditions no amount of drilling can rehearse. It tests the handler just as hard: whether they can read, hold and work a dog of that calibre when it matters.

A PSA dog works through stick hits, gunshots and deliberate environmental stressors — including running chainsaws. The scenarios change, the surfaces change, the decoys are unfamiliar and they are working against the dog, not with it. A dog that has rehearsed a routine falls apart. A dog with genuine nerve does not.

Our view, based on the pressure placed on the dog:

1. 1PSA — Protection Sports Association
2. 2KNPV — Dutch police dog programme
3. 3Mondio Ring
4. 4French Ring
5. 5Belgian Ring
6. 6IGP

Every one of these is a serious sport and every title in them is earned. This is our assessment of the pressure each places on the dog, not a judgement of the handlers who compete in them.

To our knowledge, fewer than ten Dobermanns have ever passed PSA's test of courage and gone on to pass trials. Three of them are ours.