can every dog be trained for personal protection - Page 1

I see more and more groups and posts on facebook from people wanting to train the dog they already have or puppy they will get, to be a personal protection dog

I think its very important for people to understand that majority of dogs will not protect, no matter what training you put on them, as suitability mostly depends on gnetic qualities to begin with

your overly social and happy, lick everybodys face dog will most likely never protect nothing regardless what training you put into it

so get informed, find trustworthy people/trainer that can help you select the right dog, and do the right work

high drive is NOT desirable for real world protection, civil agression and territorial behaviour is, unless you want a deterrent, that will bark on command, that will work in most cases for the low IQ criminals

if you want something that will stand his ground when shit happens you need more than that

internet full of myth about wonder dogs and seems every dog owner think his/her dog is one of that.
for humanity it took millennia of selection and development to start to receive desirable result - a type of dogs who will sacrifice own life to protect human and only a decade to screw-up and wipe off all previous achievement.

I often wonder what people think a 'personal protection' dog should be like, and what training the dog should have. To me, having a PP dog that cannot be trusted out in public or with you in everyday life, is absolutely useless. The whole point of a PP dog, IMO, is to be able to take the dog with you anywhere you go, whether that's a store, a cafe, etc. Therefore, a balanced dog with socially-neutral behaviour is very important, along with the correct [genetic] drives and training of course. You need to be able to count on that dog being there when the 'stuff' hits the fan, therefore initial and recurrent training is important, along with the critical selection of the dog. I think the percentage of suitable dogs for PP are even less than the percentage of dogs that can do sport or LE work.

koots my idea of a true pp dog is a dog that has low treshold, has suspicion. but is under control 100%, if its too social it will most likely not function, especially if owner for whatever reason is not able to give command

Duke - I understand what you're saying, the low threshold gives rise to the 'suspicion' but must also be tempered with strong nerve to be an effective PP dog that is not a liability, don't you think? You can't have the dog 'going off' and trying to bite anyone that presents what the dog perceives as a threat but is actually not. And agree 100% about control, it must be there for the dog to be effective in it's job.

over aggressiveness can be good for regular guard dog role on an object/location but you're right - not good if dog need to be on move in public.
personal protection role must be founded on level of dog's intelligence, beefed with physical and temperamental characteristic of that dog.
PP dog in fact means some degree independence and freedom for dog in assessing situation and according actions.
and you're very much right - such dogs always was hard to find even back in time when approach in breeding was much different that now.

imo we need to se difference between pp dog for random individual to protect against random low IQ purse snatcher, or someone in certain job with higher risk of being attacked specificly, im talking about second situation

I'll say it like this: even the breeds with history in protection/police/military background, it will ALWAYS be a hit or miss when it comes to selecting a dog for PP. Even with the correct genetics, there's no guarantee the dog will engage in every situation.

diamondgal, disagree, with the right dog it will engage in every situation, it only requires responsible owner

It's just like with Service Dogs. PPD's are IN and people think they can just get any dog and get protected by it. It's seriously annoying...