Schutzhund trained family protector - Page 3

You're right, John,  I've seen those price tags too. And I should have said so in my last post that I agree, it does depend on the dog. And to reiterate what many have said, most of the time a big barking German Shepherd is all the deterrent you're going to need.

When you want a dog you want your dog to be the best at something it is my opinion that you should choose either SCH or PPD if you choose both train the dog for SCH first but build the solid fundation of PPD dog (streess test him all the time, work on his stress trashold) than once you done with SCH convert him to PPD, dog's that participate in two many venues in my opinion are not very good at any of them. Keep in mind that both dogs would be brought up differently, because both goals are different in my opinion SCH is about controll while PPD is about being explosive on my PPD dog's I don't do any obedience till one year old, and even than I don't aim for SCH type obedience. We start working our dog's from a puppy till the last day of their life, as well we would not pamper our PPD dog's they are preatty tough dog's.

Excellent points, snaiper! I absolutely agree with your last post 100%. I don't shoot for perfect obedience in my PPDs either; I aim for good obedience. The training is different and the pups would be raised different. I really like your point about constant testing of the dog's stress level.

The person that I train with is a strong beliver in a group training so during our training you have all kinds of dog's from the ones that are just worked in OB to the ones that are trained in PPD only the look on OB people faces when our dog's get hit is just priceless lol :) some even look back some never come back lol but our dog's always have fun they love it the more challange you give them the harder the dog will fight and at the end of the training is leaving with a big smile on it's face and sometimes little taste of blood lol :)

     This will probably hit most people here the wrong way, which is really, "NOT WHAT I WANT TO DO", But Again, I MUST throw in there;

     I am only just beginning to learn the sport.  MY Dogs, are 'A  BIG PART' of my family. With NO training other than your Basic Dog Training, I will bet MY LIFE::::

    YOU COME TO MY HOUSE WITH "ILL INTENT", and " MY DOGS WILL F&*% YOU UP!!!!

     No if , and, or But's   ABOUT IT!!!!   GUARANTEED!!!!!

Rexy,

I must agree with some of the others that it really does depend more on the dog than anything alse.

Trained or untrained your dog must want to defend you.   Training might get the ball rolling but it doesn't insure success.

Your relationship with your dog is more important.  

Raw aggression for strangers?   Thats not a good thing either.   Control and obedience is more important.  And having a dog with courage, not aggression.

A family protector must be part of the family.   Thats what has always made German Shepherds great in my opinion, they don't need to be trained to protect the ones they love.   Train them so you can control the situation.

Just a thought,

Moons.

I agree it does depend on the dog.  However, your chances of a dog actually protecting you are greatly increased with some training.  If nothing else the dogs bite pressure, confidence, bark , etc. will all be greatly increased through training, even sport training.  I raised my current Police K9 from a 7 week old puppy.  I originally bought him to compete in Schutzhund.  He is an excellent SchH dog with a civil side.  He learned to bite the sleeve but would also bite a decoys chest.  I have converted him to be my Police dog and he is excellent.  But I had to adapt my training for Police work, no more sleeves and a lot of muzzle fighting.   So, I would say yes there are SchH dogs that can and will protect you.  It still depends on the dog, there are plenty that won't.  But your odds are better, especially with a good working line dog. 

KitKat, no offense intended but most dogs without any training or a little training will not "F$&#" someone up period, definately not someone  who has real intent to do you harm.  Without any training nothing is guaranteed.  Most pet owners think their dog will defend them to the death.  Sorry, but it's simply not true.  Yea, most dogs will bark at a suspicious person or the mailman.  Or you'll hear the stories of "my dog fluffy scared away 3 guys in a dark alley."  Truth of the matter is those guys didn't want all the noise and weren't that serious.  Fluffy was probably more afraid for him/herself than it's handler.   However, when confronted with a real threat: I mean a person who is determined to do you harm and is not afraid of your dog most dogs will turn tail and run.  It's a one in a thousand dog that will actually stand and fight a really bad guy whose intention is to harm you and your dog.  It always amuses me when someone comes to a SchH club with a super tough "man eater" dog.  The majority of the time the dogs are fear biters and the owners just don't recognize it.  The dogs are really "tough" till a decoy challenges them.  Experienced decoys can see this right away, I choose to never run someone's dog off the field, but often it can easily be done.   Kitkat, I hope your dogs are as good as you say, but the only guarantees in life are death and taxes. 

I deal with these bad guys in my line of work.  I don't expect my dog to fight my battles and I would never let him fight on his own.  My dog is a tool or a helper in a fight, like my OC spray, my defensive tactics techniques or my baton.  If it escalates to a point where lethal force is necessary my dog is not an option and at that point I don't need him.  I'll leave him in a platz or back in my car out of harms way. 

JMO,

Jim

Jim, I'm glad to read your response, "I don't expect my dog to fight my battles and I would never let him fight on his own.  My dog is a tool or a helper in a fight..." May be you should post your comment again on this thread www.pedigreedatabase.com/gsd/bulletins_read/256580.html

Hi Bok, I read the post you are referring too and chose not to comment there.  That post was taken over by the king and queen of OT religious and political bs.  I understand that this is a free un-moderated forum, so I choose not to post on those bs threads.

Regarding that other post, here in the US we send  Mali's over to Afghanistan with our special forces not GSD's.  Our seal teams use Mali's exclusively now.  The Seals do some incredible training with their dogs and they are highly skilled.  I am actually working on incorporating some of their techniques for building clearing and area searchesinto my dogs training.  Fewer dogs than you would think are killed in Afghanistan and they have saved many lives.  The seal teams take exceptional care of their dogs.  

As I said earlier, my dog is a tool.  He is a force multiplier, he and I working together can do the job of several officers in a fraction of the time.  It is one of the most dangerous occupations on the police dept.  About 130 police K9's were killed in 2008 and those stats were reported by only 39 states.  Those dogs saved lifes.  When it comes to searching for criminals my dog goes first and I follow closely behind.  The dog will find the bad guy, and it's my job to keep us both safe, hopefully we both go home in 1 piece.   It's a very dangerous world we live in and seems to get worse every day.  I was involved in a shooting last year and a buddy who was standing next to me was killed.  So, I've been there when an officer was shot and killed.  

Jim

Jim,

As you know I've had the pleasure of seeing you and your dog work together.  And he is a great dog!

As much as we'd all like to say that our dogs would protect us tooth and nail.  The reality is probably not if that person truly meant you harm.  Like I said earlier, hopefully in most cases a big loud barking GSD will be enough of a deterent.