Weak K9 almost gets handler killed - Page 5

OK.. It is possible to have the best of both worlds, a good protection dog which is also clear-headed, but you sure cannot mass produce them. It is the product of a good home rearing, with lots of time and attention, being well socialized and habituated, AND good genetics. I do believe that genetics is the foundation, and that it must be there, or you are going to waste a lot of time producing a dog which is better than it would have been (without the added on effort) but maybe not satisfactory, after all. Probably my BEST adjusted (reliable) dog was Candy von der Knappenmühle. He was recommended to improve temperament, as was his sire, Grand vom Ritterberg. He was the only SchH3 dog I owned who I would really allow almost anyone to interact with, and he showed an uncanny ability to discern a real threat from "not a threat". That dog was not over the top aggressive, but would fight a man. He NEVER let me down, and I actually stood by and watched while some visitors did some perfectly stupid things with him (harmless but stupid, i.e. dropping to their knees, grabbing the ruff of his cheeks, looking him dead in the eyes from a frontal position, and then ROLLING AROUND WITH HIM, on the ground!!!! I guarantee you that I would NEVER let anyone do anything like this with any other bite trained dog, or any dog at all, but Candy was rock solid. To this day, I am still amazed by him and the things he did. One day a friend wanted to use him to do a demo for some clients. We met at their home and this guy was BIG and very intimidating. Candy did the bark and hold, finally settling in front of the decoy and just waiting to make the move. He reattacked perfectly, then we did it again. Suddenly, without warning, a little five year old girl in a pink dress came running out and hugged Candy tight, around the neck. Candy never moved.. kept his eye on the decoy. You couldn't imagine a more perfect demonstration, and it should have been staged or rehearsed, but it wasn't. Candy was just like that. I could always trust him to do the right thing. Candy produced good temperament, too, and in my opinion he was very close to the ideal of what a GSD should be. Herr Urs Ochsenbein (who started the Swiss national avalanche rescue program, and who wrote a book on the GSD), LIKED Candy, very much. He was here, giving a SAR seminar, and evaluated many dogs over a period of several days. When he gave his final analysis, he said that Candy and only one other dog there.. an Australian shepherd.. would be suitable SAR candidates for training. When he said that, he was immediately circled and verbally attacked by a bunch of handlers who disagreed strongly. This 75 year old man (very fit, and still training), came all this way to teach and give a critique, and got this bad treatment! But, this is what happens when you criticize a dog, and someone disagrees. I see the same thing, here. Some people are saying that this dog did her job, and all I am saying is that she tried, but the handler / officer was VERY lucky! God apparently did HIS job, or maybe it was Lady Luck, and nobody is praising them! On a different day, that cop would have been dead. And, I STILL say that this "Princess" is not a "bad" dog, but NOT the dog I would want as a patrol dog!

There was also a protection trained bitch, named "Diamond" out here, many years ago, who belonged to a jewelry store owner in the jewelry district in downtown Los Angeles. She was not what I would consider a heroic dog, but they went ahead and trained her, anyway. One day the store owner was held up, and Diamond came over or around the counter, as she was trained to do. The robber pistol whipped her, too, and she took off, out the door and down the street.. But, it gave the owner the chance to get his gun and kill that armed robber! Princess did a lot better than that.. She actually came back in and tried again, after some moments of confusion and pain. No, she's not a BAD dog, and she sure helped. I would never go so far as to say that she nearly got the officer killed. But, a dog COULD get an officer killed, if he didn't do what he was supposed to do and ended up complicating the situation. Clearly, it was not this officer's day to die, and Princess was the little angel who nudged the Grim Reaper away. But so much was luck. I am not a gambler, and I don't like to trust anything to luck, if I can do better by stacking the odds. Starting with a really good prospect and really putting the time and work into it is what I call "the best insurance you can get".

DDR-DSH
  What you state about Diamond is seen everywhere.  It is not the dogs problem, but a human problem.  i have seen all too often a dog sold under the guise of a PPD when it has no business being sold as such.  Many of these people that sell these dogs don't care what happens to the people that actually need such a product.  i have seen PP trainers sign up dogs and their owners to a PP contract when they know the dog isn't going to do squat.
People are scumbags.  any way that they can make money, they will.  they know that a trained PPD will bring them in X amount of $ and they train garbage to look appropriate to the average person.