How do you know that a particular pup will make a patrol dog, taking into consideration the dog will have proper training?

This is a simple answer, "the pedigree." There are a lot of selection tests that can be done on a litter of pups. I show and explain them in my video titled Bite Training Puppies. You can also read about this on my web site How to Selection Test and Pick a Working Puppy. But the bottom line is, unless a pup has the right genetics it does not matter how much prey drive it has or how good the nerves are, it must still have the genetics for "fight drive."This term (Fight Drive) is the most misused term in all of dog training. People simply do not understand it. I hear people saying their 8 month old dog has a ton of fight drive - this is impossible. If you have a question on the exact meaning of the term (according to Frawley) read my training article The Meaning of the Term Fight Drive.A degree of sharpness is one of the things that is missing in most service dogs today. It's also one of the hardest things to spot in a youngster. Service dogs have to be a little sharp. They need to be a little suspicious of people. They need to be sociable but they need to have an edge. Trying to pick this is a pup requires a lot of experience and talent. Sharpness is going to show itself in a pup or young dog as a touch of shyness or even a little sharpness (barking when startled). On the other hand this needs to be balanced by a ton of prey drive. Can a beginner recognize this in a litter of pups? My opinion is "NO" Can someone like myself show a novice what it is? Yes - if the person comes to the kennel about 20 times. Are people welcome at my kennel that many times? “NO!!!!!”Now, assuming a pup has a good pedigree for police work and passes all of the selection tests that I talk about, there is still the fudge factor involved in raising that pup. People can say that they are going to do all of the training correctly, but this is a tall assignment. There is a fine line between "bite development"and allowing the dog to mature so that it does not become hectic. This is an issue that I have seen again and again. I have been lucky enough to get some really great dogs back from customers who simply did not have the patience to wait for a dog to become mature (18 to 30 months).So the answer to this question on picking a police dog is not a simple task. I wish it were simpler because I think we need better service dogs. The SV in Germany and the AKC in America are destroying the breed by attaching their own artificial requirements for beauty (show dogs) to a breeding program. They fear the thought of breeders breeding too sharp or too strong of a dog.

Last night my police dog and I assisted my sheriff's department with apprehending a felony suspect that was wanted for rape, car theft and gun charges. There were officer safety warnings out on this guy because of his willingness to use weapons and fight with police. He was a survivalist and a weapons expert. We put officers all around the home he was hiding in and then had dispatch call and tell him he was surrounded. With Otis barking his fool head off in a deep ("I WANT TO TAKE YOUR LEG OFF" mode) the guy came out and gave up. I wonder if the pansy ass SV and AKC officials would have wanted to have one of their 4 legged beauty queens behind the tree next to me. Going on a few operations like this would quickly change their mind on what type of dog their organization produced.