I have a 10 month old male boxer and have been bite training him since a pup. He has a great bite and hold with good focus as well. However he is without any reputable pedigree as far as i know and has just recently been alerting to someone coming up to the appartment. Although, it is with a weird low bark/howl. I have read that boxers were used in WWII because of this 'silent' type of alert. Is this true and how can I be sure that is not nerves or any sort of skidishness. He seems very stable and confident except when walking next to a busy road and a loud truck passes by, then he will spook a little. However he has never shown any shyness or diffident behavior towards any people he is even quite agressive to all. Is his 'defensive' alert behavior what i want in a PPD or an indication of shaky and unsteady nerves?

Russ,
the Boxer types used in WWII are long since gone. Even the Germans are having a problem maintaining the working ability of the Boxer, and Boxers that can work in the US number probably in the dozen's. It's certainly under a hundred, and may well be under fifty - really bad odds for you.

If you mean by " without any reputable pedigree " as in he's an American breed boxer from AKC lines, you might as well just stop training him as a PPD - it just won't work. He's already showing signs of spooking when heavy traffic passes, that alone might fail him on a BH - and a BH ,while an elementary test, does test dogs for living in a town/city environment ( the Germans got that right! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> )


Also, living in an apartment and having a PPD don't mix. You might want to re-think that.

Sorry, I'm not trying to rain on your parade here, but if you have a real need for a PPD, you need to start with a sound dog that can truely do the work. A lot of people kid themselves about their dog's ability to protect them, don't fall into that trap.

Thanks for the advice. Following your advice i am not going to persue any more protection work other that false fronts he could put on. I would love to train him to bark at strangers (on comand) to have a 'civil' outward appearence. Any ideas that could help now assuming that he has no protection future or is this a dead end as well. Any ideas much appreciated.

An alert bark should be doable with almost any working breed, because the dog would still have the option of escaping if it was really threatened ( not to say that your dog would seek escape, I'm just explaining the canine behavior )

Most people can't really tell the difference between a prey drive bark and a defense drive bark ( many of Ed's protection training tapes shows the difference between the two different drive barks well ). Does your Boxer bark for the sleeve during the bite training that you've been doing?

Does your Boxer bark for the sleeve during the bite training that you've been doing?

yes and no, at first i made him bark for the prey but then edged it out so that it could be developed into a defense bark and hold. but the answer is yes he does. I am quite the amature and will bite the hook, how can i convey this from the prey item to some one random on the street

Russ,
Check your PM for further info...

Little off the subject but maybe not. A boxer fan will really like this site.
http://www.euro-boxer.com/pages/boxer_galleries/working_boxer/boxer_ring_sport.html

I enjoy seeing breeds other than the ones that I work with or have worked with.

Unfortunately, like Will said the working boxers are few and far between.

Thanks for the link. I truely is great to see the boxer do what it was ment to do. Any protection working animal with such instinct and drive is the true purpose of breeding.

I'm not even a boxer fan, but those boxers were very impressive, probably just because I'm so green, but even still, I've never seen a boxer as anything other than a big slobbering friendly dog and to see them like that....wow.

The working boxers that I've seen in the U.S. during my years of working dogs:
Wendy Mayhall in mid-Florida showed several in DVG in the 1990's
A German couple in Altanta had two or three import boxers ( they looked more like bull mastiffs ) , they made a fair showing on the field with them.
A young lady from Finnland who was a member of the Fox Valley SchH club in Wisconsin. Her boxer was a Finnish import.

That's not many boxers for 20 + years in SchH. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />