May 17, 2011
Will protection training my 2-year Rott put my family in danger?
Full Question:
I have a two year old Rottweiler. He is friendly and we live in an apartment building. He is fully obedience trained. I would like to train him to be capable of protection work. My concern is that he will become aggressive towards neighbors and children during the training period? Will this training program change his personality and make him unpredictable? 
Ed's Answer:
If a dog has a good prey drive and good temperament before he starts training he is not going to have that temperament changed by bite training if it is done properly.
Read the articles I have on my web site about drives. There is nothing dangerous about prey drive work. In effect its a game for the dog. The dogs love the work (if they have prey drive).
If a dog does not have prey drive then that dog can only be trained by using its defensive drive. I do not recommend this. There are too few trainers that truly understand this type of work and it is too stress full for most dogs. I do not believe that family dogs should be trained strictly in defense. It makes them unstable.
So that's the way to view this. If your dog has good prey, you have little to worry about. If he does not have prey drive - forget it. You will only stress the dog and no one really knows how the stress will manifest itself without knowing the temperament of the particular dog. It is not worth the risks to family and neighbors.
It is very easy to determine if a dog has prey drive. Even inexperienced dog trainers can figure this out if they have the right information. If you decide you want to learn how to work a dog in prey, I recommend my tape titled The First Steps of Bite Training.
Read the articles I have on my web site about drives. There is nothing dangerous about prey drive work. In effect its a game for the dog. The dogs love the work (if they have prey drive).
If a dog does not have prey drive then that dog can only be trained by using its defensive drive. I do not recommend this. There are too few trainers that truly understand this type of work and it is too stress full for most dogs. I do not believe that family dogs should be trained strictly in defense. It makes them unstable.
So that's the way to view this. If your dog has good prey, you have little to worry about. If he does not have prey drive - forget it. You will only stress the dog and no one really knows how the stress will manifest itself without knowing the temperament of the particular dog. It is not worth the risks to family and neighbors.
It is very easy to determine if a dog has prey drive. Even inexperienced dog trainers can figure this out if they have the right information. If you decide you want to learn how to work a dog in prey, I recommend my tape titled The First Steps of Bite Training.
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