Schutzhund trained family protector - Page 7

Yes Jim it is one portion of the OB routine in PSA. 4 random people are picked to be our "group" they stand in a square, 1 person in each corner. Handler comes out with dog, muzzles the dog for the judge, "somebody" snaps the muzzle to check that it is secure. Handler and dog, heel into the group picking any 2 people to figure 8 around, in muzzle. Points are given for heeling position and focus. Judge then has the handler sit the dog in the middle of the group, leave the dog and a down, turn and face your dog, return to dog, sit your dog and exit group.

No muzzle fighting in PSA and I have yet to train for it. I'm more focussed on getting my 1 without injecting other problems that may crop up with "extras". After the 1's, I would love to move more towards PPD and Police type tracking with live finds, building searches and such. Really I think my dog would be the ideal police K-9, clear enough to do school visits and all the fun PR stuff.

4pack, I would have him wear the muzzle in a variety of situations and I would work on people "checking"  his muzzle.  I don't think a dog should be faulted for being aggressive if someone grabs their muzzle.  A dominant dog will react to that and it is to be expected.  I don't know what the PSA rules call for as far as a "temperment  test" go, but it would be normal for most dogs to growl when the muzzlle is yanked on.  My dog would never let anyone grab his muzzle, or his leash.  If a stranger or 3 rd party tries to correct him he'll nail them.  He won't even tolerate a stranger touching his collar, to him that's a no-no.  He's a dominant dog and doesn't like strangers getting in his face. 

The figure 8 is really no problem and neither are the down in the group.  It is similar to a SchH BH routine, with several elements combined.  This will not be a problem for you two at all.  If he reacts to the muzzle check just give him a command to concentrate on like "watch me".  Get his focus then praise for the focus.  He'll snap right out of it and go through the group. 

A really good test to see how well your dog will fight in the future is a muzzle fight, with a decoy experienced in muzzle fighting.  It's different than decoying with a sleeve or suit.  A dog that will engage and stay with the fight in a muzzle will fight a person for real.  It does show you a different side of your dog dosen't it?

Jim

Jim

I wasn't saying that there aren't departments looking for a dog with aggression, etc.  The fact is that more and more departments are getting dogs.  Departments that are off of the beaten path don't need or want this.  They need a dog to ride in the car and do the occasional drug search at the local high school.  They do demos at elementary schools where the kids take photos for the local paper. 

Most of the Police k9 handlers I know or have met through training want a dog that will be there for them.  Most of these are in higher crime ridden areas.  My local PD just got a dog a few years ago.  I think I can count the officers on one hand in the dept.  One guy had to be the K9 handler so the one that likes dogs the most, got him.  They imported a very pretty show dog.  

You  have a gorgeous dog Jim.  Great posts, thank you!

Hello Don, I do agree with you and probably misunderstood part of your other post.  You are right that more depts are getting dogs or increasing their K9 units.  Both for patrol, narcotics and bomb dogs.  Some depts go the single purpose dog route only getting a drug or patrol dog.  Our PD which is a small to med sized dept, and has 8 dogs.  We have 7 patrol dogs, 6 of those are cross trained for patrol/ drugs the other is patrol/bomb.  We have 1 singlle purpose drug dog.  We could easily use 15 dogs.  Our neighboring PD's  have about 20 dogs each.  we have some rural Sherriffs depts here that have gotten dogs.  I give those guys a lot of credit because their nearest backup could be 15 minutes away; that's along time to fight by yourself.  Often times it is the guy who likes dogs who gets the spot.  Often times handlers get put into K9 with no prior dog handling experience.  Hopefully, the handler has a "knack" for dogs and learns quickly.  I hope the GSD your local PD has is working out for them.

I do demos for the elementary schools, the grammar schools, churches etc.  But I don't let anyone pet my dog.  The dog is approachable, but I won't take a chance on him tagging someone, especially a kid. 

Jim 

Red Sable, thanks for the nice comment on my dog.  I like him, heck I love my little buddy.  He's a good dog.

Jim 

Jim very smart approach.

Thanks Snajper, yas usual your posts have been right on.

Jim

Jim

Outside of the dog world, or possibly the working dog world, nobody knows what single and dual purpose means.  Just like behind the door or fence, the average person sees a gsd and thinks they are all the same.  When they see a k9 unit, they think they are all dual/bomb/swat/etc, etc. 

I talked to the local PD unit and he knows they got shafted on the dog.  He understands that he is learning, loves the dog, will work with the dog until he retires and find a more suitable partner.   Doesn't sound too bad to me!  I wish I had a job that paid me to work with a dog.  I guess I should go be a groomer.

well it is ok to feel that your dog would protxect you but reality is that a dog must have the right temperment for this type of work and we are not talking about exceptions to the rule,cause there always are.generally speaking most shutzhund dog are not cut out to do this mostly because of there training but also thwere temperment. any one here knows who Kevin Sheldyle is  a k9 handler and one the best police dog trainer take a look at his police dog now there is a dog who would give up his life for you a seriously tough dog also it is the type of training he went through that made him so tough.i would not want to mess around with this dog.you would seriously hurt.ouch have a nice one.