Schutzhund began on this continent in 1969 with the formation of the North American Schutzhund Association (NASA). As in the history of Americans, we always want to "improve" on the ideas of others, and Schutzhund was no exception. Instead of adopting the well-established German rules, we created our own by combining German, International, and our own familiar AKC rules. This ill-advised attempt at Americanization doomed NASA from the start. Schutzhund experienced in the States at this time was almost non-existent. To learn a new sport and new rules made it very difficult for the novice handler. Additionally, the unique rules adopted by NASA made it impossible to purchase trained dogs from other parts of the world and show them at NASA trials without extensive training.

In the mid-70's, the German Shepherd Dog Club of America (GSDCA) was forming its own Schutzhund organization. This aroused the displeasure of the AKC  and resulted in a split, forming the basis of what we now call United Schutzhund Clubs of America (USA). The split within the GSDCA was probably ideological in nature since a new group was formed in the mid-1980's with the national Shepherd association called the German Shepherd Dog Club Working Dog Association (WDA). The formation of the WDA was purely a defensive move by the national Shepherd organization. They wanted to retain official representation of the German Shepherd Dog in the eyes of the World Union of German Shepherd Dogs (WUSV).

A further split also occurred in the late 70's within the USA. Again, it was a difference of opinion that resulted in the formation of the first DVG clubs in North America. Initially, these were just four separate Auslåndesgruppen. They had no voting status in the DVG and simply used the DVG as a record-keeping agency and to sanction trials and titles. In 1984, the American Landesverbänd of the Deutscher Verband der Gebrauchshundsportvereine (LV DVG America) was formed. North America now had full voting privileges in the DVG and was on equal status with all other LVs.

The most recent group to form was the American Working Dog Federation (AWDF). This is an alliance between several breed organizations and is the first attempt to unite the various Schutzhund factions in North America

Unlike NASA before them, all of today's Schutzhund organizations utilize the West German Kennel Club (VDH) rules. This allows the free exchange of dogs between countries and also allows organizations such as LV DVG America, USA, and WDA who have ties to German organizations to compete for international recognition.