Personal Protection Dog Training

[Familyguy]

please dont anyone take this the wrong way ...neither of my dogs are scared of a thing ...shotgun shells going off ... fireworks ...raised voices ... not a single thing i have seen in there 8 years of me having them can i say they have seemed scared ... when they hit or hold they wag there tails as there enjoying it and with them feeding off each other they seem to be more confident ... i think anyone buying a attack/watch dog first time should get a proffessional in or if the dogs read wrong signals they will cause alot of damage without realising what they have done was not expectted of them.... totally my opinion and like i say my dogs are not ever scared and fangs dont lie ...lol.... please dont anyone ruin this thread and take what i say as a personal attack on them

[g79]

Some dogs are fearless sometimes.When my dog is out on his leash with me he is totally fearless because he thinks I am the alpha male of every living creature and therefore everything else is terrified of me and by proxy him too.It's the way dogs think.They see you as the alpha male and they know how powerful you are so they assume everything else knows this too.The list of leadership to a dog goes along the lines of
Alpha male(you)
family(wife and kids)
Themselves
everything else.

So it follows that in any situation where you are with the dogs they are the top dogs after you so the only thing to fear is you and nothing else.

[00111001]

BONUS - the sire of the pups has had personal protection training. In my local area too

[Paul]

No one would argue about that G79, you're dogs are bullet proof. Or are they?
My present one is scared of frogs. Innoculous enough thing that is but it goes into a fight or flight state. It takes a while for it to relax despite reassurance.
Previous dogs I've professionally handled, hail, mopeds, cats, ticking accumulators on trains, crow alarm calls, the list goes on and my mates (two of whom are current drugs dogs handlers) have seen worse down to one who attacked a woman wearing lace gloves.
My sniffer dog was afraid of cases with wheels on. She'd clamber over everything including these cases but when a case was wheeled near to her she would react nervously.
Sometimes it's the subtle things that cause distress and whilst a dog is thinking about that, it's not 100% on the job.

[00111001]

Put deposit down on the pup on Saturday, go an pick him up this weekend

[Clare]

Hi Paul

I'm probably being a bit dim but what exactly is SWMBO mean? I'm stumped.

Thanks.

(30 April 2012, 15:22)Paul Wrote: Wow, impressive.
My dog knows who is boss, the SWMBO first then me although:-
If scared it comes to me,
(Show me a dog that doesn't occasionally feel scared and I'll show you a dog that lies)
If hurt or feeling bad it goes to SWMBO,
It doesn't take food from anyone or off the ground.

Every visitor is watched like a hawk until they are declared safe and properly introduced.

If either of us looks threatened, it's hackles rise and God help anyone who touches us.
If it attacks, history has it 100% of the time responding to the safe word and lying down.

Professional training? No, just me, praise, lots of fun, and loads of padding on my arms and really thick gauntlets.

[Tonka]

I’m fairly dubious of using dogs as weapons... well family dogs anyway. Fine for the fuzz. As for training I think it also depends a lot on the individual dog. Sometimes even professional training just creates a dangerous dog. It can be a throw of the dice.

I used to work with a dog unit doing private security patrols. I wasn’t a handler, my role was the backup for the dogs!
One night one of the dogs caught a ‘trespasser’ and refused to let go on the release command. By the time his handler got him off, the ‘suspect’ was missing a bicep. After that he had a bit of a blood lust, and turned on his handler a couple of times. He was understandably going to be retired, but on his last day on the job he turned on me. Whilst his handler was off on a skive, he just clamped onto my wrist while I was opening a door. Now I’m a bit soppy with animals, and I don’t like hurting them if poss, even crazed German Shepherds trying to bite my hand off. So I left his eyes alone, and just forced his jaw open (with thumb and forefinger… the same way you give pets tablets) and then got a good twist on his collar and carried him at arms length to a high wall and dropped him over the other side. It wasn’t high enough to hurt him, but high enough that he couldn’t reach me.
I don’t know what happened to him afterwards, but he was unsuitable for work, and would have made a very unpredictable and dangerous pet.

I suppose the point of my anecdote is that you don’t want to turn a family pet into an unpredictable and dangerous pet. I’m not saying don’t do it… but what training is given is very important. Better a dog that is useless at protecting your family than a dog that one day bites the face off one of them… all it takes is one bad day for an otherwise loving dog to bite… I have a load of examples of that too, but I’ve rambled enough. I’ll try to end on something concise to put my point across… or I may even make a stab at profound...ish:

A Dog is a deadly weapon, with no safety catch… and a will of its own.

All that said, Rottys are very cute.

[00111001]

(7 May 2012, 23:29)Clare Wrote: Hi Paul

I'm probably being a bit dim but what exactly is SWMBO mean? I'm stumped.

Thanks.

(30 April 2012, 15:22)Paul Wrote: Wow, impressive.
My dog knows who is boss, the SWMBO first then me although:-
If scared it comes to me,
(Show me a dog that doesn't occasionally feel scared and I'll show you a dog that lies)
If hurt or feeling bad it goes to SWMBO,
It doesn't take food from anyone or off the ground.

Every visitor is watched like a hawk until they are declared safe and properly introduced.

If either of us looks threatened, it's hackles rise and God help anyone who touches us.
If it attacks, history has it 100% of the time responding to the safe word and lying down.

Professional training? No, just me, praise, lots of fun, and loads of padding on my arms and really thick gauntlets.

She Who Must Be Obeyed

[Clare]

Trust a girl to ask that!

D'oh

but thanks too.

[Paul]

(7 May 2012, 23:54)Tonka Wrote: I’m fairly dubious of using dogs as weapons... well family dogs anyway.

ETC

A Dog is a deadly weapon, with no safety catch… and a will of its own.

You are quite right Tonka.
Dogs can be unpredictable and where children are even remotely encountered (home or on the streets), training a dog to attack humans when it's natural inclination is to avoid conflict is daft.

The problem is with the security dog industry.
To raise a dog specifically for CP work takes a lot of dosh as training starts off at a young age i.e. birth.
A good trainer and responsible breeder will reject quite a few animals for temperment problems. Note I say GOOD and RESPONSIBLE.
Taking hand-offs from the general public works occasionally but never as well as 'purpose bred for CP' dogs.

Commercial security training for dogs works to a standard for both the dogs and the operators BUT the push is to get the pair through a standard test routine and not to check the full temprement of the dog in all situations. The results can be 'unpredictable' in a stressful situation.

I feel sorry for good trainers forced to work with hand-offs though and I've heard rumours about a refusal to train resulting in dole queue time.

Some lesser trainers let their ego get in the way too. The label of being able to train anything at any age CHEAPLY can be a licence to print money. There will always be the occasional rotten apple in the barrel.

It's relatively easy to make a dog lose it's fear of attacking man. The problem is getting the 'OFF' switch to work and just 'WHAT CONSTITUTES A THREAT' over to the dog.

I'll stop rambling now as there are probably dog trainers online that will chip in here.

Suffice to say again that attack training is dangerous BUT necessary if you want a dog to protect you efficiently.
As for the safety of your children, ultimately that's your call mate.