Would you rather? - Page 2

30 miles is nothing.
Real time protection is neither.
The winning is up to you and your dog.
Fence sitting is a bad habit.

I would advise you to go and visit each of these clubs...Interact with the members...ask questions...It's not only a Sport for you and your dog...It's also a social event of which if you're going to train with a club...You'll be spending a lot of time at the club and with it's members...See which club is to your liking and which group you seem to get a long with and would like to spend time with...

Another words check 'em out and see which is to your liking...

~Bob~

I´m with Bob - not only your dog, but you need to feel comfortable, too.
Participating in Schutzhund or FR with the goal of titling your dog means changing your whole lifestyle,
Vacation? No, it´s an important trial that weekend.
Birthday party? I need to train...

As others told you before, French Ring and IPO are sports, kind of education, and a good test for the working abilities of your dog, everything else depends on you and your dog.
I grew up with Schutzhund and still stick with it, but FR is a lot of fun, too. You do have the choice! That´s like a gift!

How old is your dog? Keep us updated!

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While I believe training is a necessary foundation for any dog from whom you expect protection because it teaches the dog that it can come up against a person and win and adds an element of control, I think the extent to which any dog will actually perform in that capacity is dependent more on the dog itself than on in which discipline the dog was trained.

From what or whom do you need protected?  I'm inclined to agree with zdog that if it gets real, I am more likely to be protecting my dog(s) than the other way around.  As I've said here many times before, if you come up against someone who sees that you have a big, scary looking dog and that doesn't dissuade that person from choosing you as a potential victim, that's a bad, bad person and you probably need a gun.

You can´t teach a dog to be a "real protection dog" , you can train and develop, not more, not less.
Either the dog does have the necessary temperament, strength, and hardness, or not. But "in normal life" these traits you can only see during training.
Keith and zdog already mentioned: A German Shepherd, maybe trained for barking, mostly is good enough - otherwise you will need a gun, no dog.

Serious: Whatever you do, you will need people training with you.
Your dog will need basic obedience, and your dog will need foundation work in bitework.
It doesn´t really matter if it´s IPO or if it´s something else.

OP: are you in WA state?

I trained with the NW Suitemen club in Seabeck WA for a couple of years. Never titled my dog, but I can echo other comments about FR being very prey oriented. My training director was very uncomfortable with my GSD going into defence drive when doing stick work and adding pressure to bite work.

It takes a trainer and decoy who can work with some real aggression FR. If you can find that combination you should do okay.

OP FEEL free to message me with any questions or to compare notes. I've been to the local Schh clubs too.