What is PSA?The Mission of the Protection Sports Association (PSA) is to provide an outlet for civilian competition in canine obedience and controlled protection. In each successive level the dog-handler team is asked to negotiate obedience and protection routines that are increasingly complex, difficult in terms of pressure from both decoys and environmental distractions, and as well the handlers must strategize how to work through scenarios involving risk-reward trade offs. As the scenarios can change from trial to trial in the upper levels, handlers must be able to train components of exercises, and pattern training is a virtual impossibility. The higher the levels, the more surprise scenario components in both obedience and protection are presented to the handlers.
The Protection Sports Association (PSA) was conceived and born in 2001 and last year celebrated its 18th anniversary in October of 2018 at the National Championship weekend held in Canada. The sport was founded by Jerry Bradshaw of Tarheel Canine Training, Inc and Joe Morris, late of Capital Cities K9 in Baltimore, MD. PSA hosts trials, seminars, regional and national competitions during a trial season that starts in January and runs through the National Championship in October. There are four regions: West, Midwest, East, and Canada. |
PSA for K9 TeamsBecause of the surprise scenario nature of the trials, and high level of training, many law enforcement K9 teams are giving PSA a try, and PSA encourages cross-over from other protection sports, or from police K9 units to add to the excitement of the sport. Many of our top certified decoys are police K9 handlers and trainers. Because of the difficulty of the routines (you must pass OB and each of the protection routines to pass for the title), teams are competing mainly against the sport and not one another, so there is a sense of camaraderie found in PSA that is unique. To title, a dog/handler team is required to pass one trial in PDC , and teams must pass 2 trials completely to earn titles in PSA1, PSA 2 and PSA 3. What are the rules?Learn about the rules, requirements for trials, and view the rules for each level along with the current PSA1 surprise scenarios.
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