Ed wrote in one of his articles that defense training can be very stressful for dogs and that the dog should be mature before starting. He also mentioned that dogs mature at different rates and that in some cases dogs reach maturity at 3 yrs. I really do not want to mess up my dog, so my question is: How do you know your dog is mature enough for defense training?
RobbinMann Webboard User Reg: 12-19-2006
Posts: 842
Loc: Arizona
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This is a tough one for anyone to really answer, Maria. As he says in the article, each dog can and does mature at a different rate. I am protection training my dog but have no intentions of doing any kind of defense work any time soon. Right now we are strictly bite training, my dog is very immature at 13 months as most gsd's are. To put him into a position where he is stressed would probably be disastrous at this time. As the dog is doing bite work, time will build his confidence and his attitude and a good helper will recognize the readiness in a dog before he ever starts 'defense' work. I know this is vague but it's really one of those things that you cant really put a finger on. As I recall, Ed wont even consider defense work until after 2 years of age.
Thanks for the reply, Robin
My dog is now 2 yrs and 8 months old and I am still training my dog with Bernhard Flinks (Drive, Focus and Grip), and haven't begun with First Steps of Bite Training yet, so I think there is a great chance that he will be mature enough when I start with the defense training. I just wondered if there would be signs that one could recognize the level of maturity in his or her dog, I guess not...
Rest assure, I have read a lot of Ed's articles and Q&A'ers, and I know that I should never work defense on my own dog. I will only start the defense work after I have found a helper I can trust, even if the search will take months or a year. I just wondered if a person could tell his/her dog was mature enough to endure defense training, with a helper, of course
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How do you know when your dog is mature for Def.Tr
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