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IronDog GDT
Rules
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As of August 5, 2004
1) Altered Dogs may now compete
in Irondog.
2) Irondog competitions are
now open to all breeds.
3) There is a $20.00 charge
to compete in an Irondog or to trial for a GDT.
4) All Irondog events must be
sanctioned. Contact information is on this website.
5) An Irondog Judge has the
authority to dismiss any competitor for unsportsmanlike
conduct or for arguing with the Judge. The Judge also
has the right to dismiss any dog he or she feels is sick
or injured.
6)During all stages of
Irondog (GDT, IDT3, IDT5 or AD) dogs must wear a flat
collar, choke chain, or fur saver attached to the dead
ring.
7) The Hardest Hitting Event
was previously adding 1/2 point for an out. The amount
has been raised to 1 point. The dog must out on one
command and not re-bite the sleeve. The distance will be
approximately 45 feet. Follow the Judge's instructions.
Your dog must have a recognized protection sport title
or K9 certification to participate in an Irondog
Triathlon or Pentathlon. If it does not have a
recognized sport title you may qualify for the
Triathlon/Pentathlon by passing a test administered by
Irondog called the Guard Dog Temperament Test (GDT).
Below are the requirements for the GDT:
A) Obedience/Temperament Test. The test
begins with the dog in a controlled stay command at the
handler’s side. On the judge’s signal, the dog will then
heel ten paces at the handler’s side and come to a halt.
The leash must be loose at all times. The dog will have
to stay in one spot on command while the handler drops
the leash and walks ten paces away. The dog must then do
a recall on command. Next, the dog will have to meet the
first of two friendly strangers and not show aggression
or shyness. Ideally the first stranger will be an
Irondog judge, assuming the dog does not know the judge.
The handler will shake hands with the stranger and
exchange brief words. After asking permission, the
stranger will stare into the dog’s eyes for less than
two seconds and pet the dog on the shoulder or flank. We
are looking for good-natured dogs that are not shy or
sharp. The dog must enjoy being petted by the stranger.
It must display tail wagging pleasure or exhibit other
body language to show that he is at ease and happy to
meet this new person. The Irondog judge will then pick a
second friendly stranger from the crowd that is
physically dissimilar to the judge. The entire “Meeting
a Friendly Stranger” test will be repeated a second time
with this other person. The dog must meet the same
criteria for both friendly strangers.
B) Protection test. On a separate field
(or a different place on the original field), in the
open, the dog will do a few appraisal bites using either
a sleeve or suit. The purpose of the appraisal bite is
to avoid chasing dogs off the field during the attack on
handler bite that follows. The dog must take at least
two moderate stick hits in the appraisal bite. The stick
will be a standard padded baton. The dog must also face
a noisy stick threat in the appraisal bite. If the judge
feels the dog’s appraisal bite was satisfactory, then it
is eligible to do the next bite, which is an attack on
handler out of a blind that fully conceals the decoy.
The blind should ideally be an unexpected object like a
tree, car or outhouse. The dog must not see the decoy
enter the blind. The dog and handler will move (at the
judge’s signal) toward the blind. On judge’s signal, the
decoy will spring from behind the barrier, attack the
approaching handler and drive the dog for roughly 3
seconds after the bite. The decoy will administer two or
more stick threats with an unexpected object like a
small tree branch covered in dry leaves, a bamboo
clatter stick, a plastic jug partially filled with rocks
or a starter’s pistol. The dog must engage the attacking
decoy courageously and withstand the drive/stick threat.
If the dog comes off the bite for a reason other than
lack of courage the judge will instruct the decoy to
continue driving and administering stick threats until
it is obvious the dog can withstand the pressure
courageously. After the drive the decoy will lock up.
The handler will then give an out command without
touching the dog but he may stand anywhere he wants. The
handler has three tries to out his dog. As soon as the
dog disengages the handler may pick the dog up and drag
or heel him away. If the dog does not fully re-engage
between the time when he lets go of the decoy and is
picked up, then he has outed successfully and passes the
test.
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IronDog IDT3-IDT5
Pentathlon/Triathlon
Your dog will be scored on five events for a
Pentathlon but there is a menu of six events to choose
from: 50 yard Sprint Race, Hardest Hitting, Weight Pull,
Tug of War, Hangtime, and 12-mile Endurance Test.
Your dog will be scored on three events for the
Triathlon, but there is a menu of four events to chose
from: 50 yard Sprint Race, Hardest Hitting, Weight Pull,
and 12-mile Endurance Test. The 12-mile Endurance Test
is optional for the Pentathlon and the Triathlon. If you
enter and finish all six events in the Pentathlon and
all four events in the Triathlon we will throw out your
lowest score among the mandatory events and replace it
with the ten points you earned by completing the
optional 12-mileEndurance Test, with this exception: we
will not throw out your score in Hardest Hitting. Each
event is worth ten points if you take first place, nine
points if you take second place and so forth. All the
scores are added together and the highest score wins.
Endurance Test is worth ten points if your dog runs it
in the allotted time and zero points if he does not. If
there is a tie score the Hardest Hitting event will be a
tiebreaker. The order that dogs will run the events in
will be determined by drawing names from a hat during
the handler’s meeting or some other random selection
process. Dogs must be crated near the field when not
competing. Dogs must not be given corrections. Events
are run back to back in rapid succession. If a handler
and dog are not ready when their turn is up they will be
ejected from the trial. An assistant judge will make
sure there is a dog on deck at all times to expedite the
trial. Contestants must provide their own tug toy with
snaps and their own weight pull harness. Each dog must
have two handlers.
Sprint Race – Dogs will run against a
stopwatch, one at a time, on a straight 50-yard course.
One handler will hold the dog at the start line and the
second handler will bait the dog past the finish line.
The stopwatch starts when an assistant judge near the
start line fires a starter’s pistol after yelling, “On
your mark, get set,” BANG! If no starter’s pistol is
available the assistant judge will yell, “On your mark,
get set, GO!” and throw his raised arm down after saying
the word, “GO.” The stopwatch will start on the word,
“GO” and the assistant judge’s arm signal. The assistant
judge will watch the handler on the start line and
disqualify him if he releases the dog before the gun or
before the word, “GO.” The handler on the starting line
must throw his hands fully overhead as he releases the
dog. Bait may be protection equipment or nonliving food.
Hardest Hitting – Decoy may wear either a
suit or a sleeve depending on the dog’s training. Each
dog will be given a warm up bite from a short distance
and then the competition bite will be done from a longer
distance of at least 15 yards. Each dog will start from
the same spot, which must be marked. The decoy will hide
behind a blind (ideally an unexpected barrier as in the
GDT). The dog must be blocked so it does not see the
decoy hiding. On the judge’s signal the decoy will run
out of the blind, across the field, perpendicular to the
dog and suddenly charge toward him at a designated spot,
making an “L” pattern. The dog is released as the decoy
starts his charge into the dog. The decoy will continue
charging with a raised stick (either a clatter stick or
padded baton) until impact. The decoy may shout, scream
or use any traditional method to pressure the dog. The
judge has the option of including gunfire in the Hardest
Hitting bite. In this case the decoy would not carry a
stick, but a starter’s pistol and would fire one time
immediately before impact. After impact the decoy will
drive the dog very briefly, then lockup. The drive must
include at least one stick threat with the padded baton
or clatter stick if the decoy did not use gunfire. The
dog must stick to his bite during the brief drive to
complete this event. Dogs will be judged on impact, how
hard they hit the decoy, i.e. how much pain they were
able to inflict through the equipment. After each bite
the decoy will give the judge a number from one to ten,
ten being the greatest impact, to rank the dogs.
Contestants may attempt to out their dog after the decoy
locks up. A successful out adds 1 point to the HH score.
A successful out is defined as the dog not fully
re-engaging and not leaving the protection field before
the handler picks him up, i.e., the dog must be under
control until it is picked up. Only one out command is
allowed; it must come from the dog’s handler. The
handler must be standing at the marked start point when
he gives the out command. The dog has three seconds to
obey the out command. After the dog outs the handler may
run to the dog to pick it up.
Weight Pull – May be done with a sled, a
cart or a rail system. Each dog is given 5 turns in a
row with the cart or sled. There is a 60-second time
limit for each of the 5 pulls. One foul or tangle is
allowed per pull. Baiting is allowed with nonliving food
or protection equipment. Handler may stand anywhere on
the pull track but may not touch the dog. Leashes are
not allowed. In the event of a tie, the fastest pull
wins. There is a minimum permissible increment of 25
pounds for a sled and 250 pounds for a cart. The judge
may increase the minimum increment within reason, but he
may not decrease it. Handlers will tell the judge and
his assistants how much weight to put on the sled or
cart for each pull, but must abide by the minimum
increment standard. The weight added to the sled or cart
must go from lighter to heavier. Each turn the dog takes
with the sled or cart must be heavier than the previous
turn. Increases in weight must either be in 25-pound
increments or multiples of 25 for a sled. For a cart the
increments must be 250-pound or multiples of 250. There
are no weight classes.
Tug of War – Dogs will tug from behind an
upright plywood barrier with a hole drilled in it for
the rope to pass through. Handlers must have a leash on
the dog at all times but may not issue corrections. Two
assistant judges will be watching either dog at all
times during the pull. The assistant judges may
disqualify a contestant for giving corrections. The rope
is 30 feet long and is marked in the center and at four
feet from both ends. A dog wins when it has pulled his
opponent past the outer rope mark. Each pair of tugging
dogs will go against each other only one time. A round
robin elimination system will be used. A coin flip or
other random method will determine which side of the
barrier a dog will pull from. To complete this event a
dog must grab the tug toy and pull backwards, i.e., it
must tug against its opponent. It must grab the tug toy
and begin pulling within 20 seconds of the start of the
Tug of War or it automatically loses. There are no
weight classes.
Hangtime – This event must come after the
above events. The dog has a 3-minute time limit on the
spring pole to complete this event. The clock starts
when all four feet are off the ground. If the dog gets a
single bite upon presentation of the tug toy and hangs
on without rebiting for the full 3-minutes, it gets a
perfect score of ten points. For every time it loses its
grip and is forced to rebite, it loses one point. The
clock stops when (if) the dog losses its grip and starts
again when all four feet are off the ground. If the dog
loses his grip he must immediately be presented with the
tug and hoisted upward. The dog is disqualified after
losing its grip four times, for safety reasons. The
judge may disqualify a dog before it loses its grip four
times if he believes the grips are not solid.
12-mile Endurance Test –This event must be
done between 12 to 24-hours before the five core
Pentathlon events (or the three core Triathlon events)
and in cool weather. The dog must run 12-miles at a pace
between 6.5 mph and 10 mph. Handler may be on a bike, on
foot, roller blades or a small all terrain vehicle. The
dog will rest briefly after 5 miles so the judge can
inspect the dog’s feet and general condition, if either
is questionable the dog is disqualified and receives
zero points. At 10 miles there is another rest and
inspection. If the dog passes the final inspection it
may continue the last two miles and complete the
Endurance Test. This event is optional for the
Pentathlon and Triathlon.
Irondog Titles
GDT – Guard Dog Temperament. This title
allows your dog to participate in the Triathlon or
Pentathlon if you do not already have a recognized sport
protection title.
IDT3 – Irondog Triathlon completion. This
title means your dog has completed an Irondog Triathlon.
IDT5 – Irondog Pentathlon completion. This
title means your dog has completed an Irondog
Pentathlon.
Irondog ranking system
Your dog is considered a ranked Irondog if it
finishes first, second or third in a trial consisting of
five or more dogs. The ranking system is designed to
help make breed selections. Ranked IDT3 and ranked IDT5
are different titles than non-ranked IDT3 or non-ranked
IDT5.
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