I took my 13 week old puppy (German Boxer) to a parade today and she stole the show, my question is should I allow her to be pet and played with by everybody who wants to pet her? She loves the attention and actually seeks people out as we walk. I plan on training her for protection work, she comes from very strong working bloodlines. Boxersvonbachbett.com

Ahh a topic of heavy debate here! My answer is yes, others disagree. I feel that you can always train protection later and it's much harder to put trust in a dog then take it out in social situations. A smart well trained dog will always recognize a threat as compaired to happy people wanting to pet and play with your dog. IMHO. I would however want to control the "Type" of interaction with my pup. Such as no dominate type people that want to control my pup or give him a smack for mouthing etc...this I would be careful of.

I want my dog to see a threat and respond, or have me tell him there is a threat and have him respond, otherwise I want him to be happy and playfull with anyone. I don't want to end up one of thoes people that has to drag their barking defensive dogs around town avoiding everyone in sight.

But again thoes are just my goals and I am not looking to have a top level protection/Schutzhund dog. I want to enjoy the sport and have a nice dog to be around for everyone.

Ahh a topic of heavy debate here!

Every once in a while someone might bring up the question but I have yet heard anyone advocating against socialization. Don't mean to pick on a small point of yours but just don't want to give the wrong impression either.

If it means a good ol' board wide fight, then I may start advocating against. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Have not seen one of those in a few. . .days!

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
(see below)

I am one of the first to say that environmental exposure, when proper medical precautions are in place, is very important. However, I do not advocate every Tom, Dick and Harry touching, petting or getting stupid with my new INVESTMENT. Like all good things, it can be done to excess. This topic, will, invariably, lend itself to the whole sharpness/ approachability discussion.........again. Just for the record, a degree of aloofness and wariness toward strangers is a good thing in my book.

My pup (now 20 weeks old) has a strong aggressive, working background that I intend to utilize in training personal protection...that is..when I have completed a firm foundation of obedience training including socializing and exposing her to every possible enviroment that is within my abilities.

She does not seek out strangers to meet but with my permission will greet and accept those who I have granted permission to meet her. She looks to me for guidence and approval thru the bond that we have established. However; I did not take her outside of the safe enviroment (within my arms) for socialization; instead I carried her with her feet never touching the floor/ground where she could be exposed to illness until she had three vaccinations under her belt. The timing was a god send because of her growth, weight gain and my limited ability to pick up and carry her.

Once the vaccinations were complete; another world opened up for her on the ground. It's become a greater challenge now to "protect" her from illmannered humans and their illmannered companions be they dogs or kids.

My plan is teach one level at a time; complete that sucessfully and then go on to the next level of education.

I think good protection dogs should never see the light of day. They should be snarling viscous creatures that have never known anyone but me. No one else will EVER feed or touch my dog. My dog better scare the crap out of anyone who walks by my truck's window.

JUST KIDDING

If I can think out loud here and then perhaps the experts can chime in, I would think the level of socialization would be predicated on what the handler's specific needs are and, the dog itself.

My friend socialized his dog but not to the extent that everybody could pet him as a pup. The dog is now 5 years old. He's not a friendly dog but neither is he mean, aggressive or fearful. He just doesn't care to come up and greet people. My friend takes his dog places and the dog is fine around other people and their dogs. But his dog doesn't seek attention and really just seems to tolerate it when he gets it. I've seen him do bite work and he's confident and seems to be a pretty serious dog.

So is this dog like this as a result of his socialization? Or is it a combination of that and the dog's personality? I think the latter.

Anyway, is there a consensus as to how friendly and personable (for lack of better word <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> ) a true protection dog should be? Or is that really just an incidental with the primary concern being STABILITY. Your thoughts? Thanks.

Police dogs have to be very social because the public's opinion of the k-9's has to be good. Sometimes they go to schools or do demos at community centers and are usually very approachable dogs.

We have a dog in Holbrook that should NEVER do a school demo, because one of the kids would be on a milk carton, but she is a HELL of a police dog!