Jim,
like any "blood sport", Schutzhund has its share of macho owners who want to scare people with their powerful dogs. But, like with the Obedience teachers that still preach tug and jerk, you have to pick your trainers and your clubs wisely. Done correctly, it's a pretty cool sport.

The greatest Schutzhund dog I ever knew was Ch, HCH Antrieb Von Boylan, Toby. Toby was one of the top Conformation dogs in the country, a Herding Champion (one of only 5 in the history of the Rottweiler Breed), a TDI-certified Therapy Dog and a Schutzhund III, the highest rank you can get. Toby worked with us at the Meet The Breeds booth in Orlando the first year of the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship and he stood shoulder to shoulder with Rowdy greeting adults & children with puppy kisses.

During the 2002 National here in Florida, I was shooting the Herding Trials and Toby had already run and hadn't really done that well. His owner was not very pleased with him. I was sitting under a tent eating lunch and she put Toby in a down/stay right next to me. Toby was also a UD Obedience dog so there was no way he'd break a stay. But he really, really wanted to nuzzle me. So, he slowly crawled over to me on his belly until he was laying across my feet, rolled on his back and let me rub his tummy until his mom came back. She laughed, took him out of his stay and let him cover me with kisses.

Toby had learned all his skills the correct way and his schutzhund work was not an expression of aggression; it was a trained response to a certain behavior that could be turned on or off on command. He didn't hate the sleeve or the person wearing the sleeve any more than a puppy hates the rope or the person holding the rope in a tug of war.

If you want to see some really good Schutzhund work, let me know and I'll recommend a club in your area that does it the correct way. Once you see how it's trained and how much it encompasses beyond the bite work, I think you'll be impressed. That does not mean I want my dogs or any dogs bred by us to be trained in Schutzhund. You can't tell which type of trainer you'll get until you're involved. But I've seen it performed by incredibly stable dogs both here and in Europe and it's a very impressive sport.

Jim