Hello, this is my first post and would firstly like to thank the developers of this very informative site.

Now I have two issues as below:
1.) I have just acquired a Male Fila Puppy like a month and half back from Brasil, but couldn't train him as he was suffering from Lyme disease.
Now he was raised on a farm and there are many other dogs and puppies as well. I had requested for the pick of the litter in terms of dominance and temperament. A couple of days after he settled in, he became territorial and protective.

This puppy is now almost 6 months old, he is taking obedience fine. About 4-5 times I tested him by tying him in the balcony and outside the house and leaving the main door ajar and asking a guy to come slowly and threateningly and run away when the Fila gets up or growls or barks, and it ended positively, with the Fila barking and trying to lunge.

My puppy came when he was 4 months old and I don't think he has been thoroughly or at all socialized. He is getting used to the sounds of the city, is scared of crackers and CANNOT STAND ANY HUMANS. I just ignore him when there is any loud or unfamiliar noise, I don't comfort him or reward him, just plain ignore him, this is what I did with my Rottie who now gives a damn if a cannon is fired. When he is alone with me in the compound down, he doesn't display that confidence (okay he is small and in a new environment and will take some time) which my Rottie displayed. He is meant to be a pet and guard dod. A couples of nights back, when I was standing down with him and my rottie, a family of 4 people came to touch him, he initially barked but then became quiet and I thought I saw fear on his face, I warned the family not to get any closer as he bites and the moment they turned this guy was lunging to grab them. Presently, if there is any loud or unfamiliar noise or if a group of people come charging, he is surely not at all confident to face them, which is again understanble because he is yet to be moulded. His prey drive is average (lower than my Rotties), but he is very territorial and protective and I think has a very strong defense drive. He has now seen the vet many times but still is suspicous of him, he only allows him to sit, no gettig up and moving around the house. Nobody is allowed to get close to me.

My question/problem: How do I socialize him at this stage, and how do I make him very confident in any situation anywhere, and make him immune to different sounds. Like when my Rottie was a puppy and if there was an unfamiliar sound, he would not be disturbed much, he would not freeze. This guy freezes. He sits and observes, doesn't respond to anything for sometime. He was scared of the noise the carpenter made sawing wood, but now he is fine, he is ot scared, he has overcome it in 2 days. I just take him down and let him sit there and know that the noise is not going to harm him.

Presently, I take him out alone for a short walk, as well as with my Rottie. When alone, he is fine, confident, but he is TOO ATTENTIVE to every single movement and sound around him. When with my rottie, he is more or less the same, a bit more confident though.

Should I start his protection training now? I play tug of war and let him win, but he doesn't like to play much of it. I want to be 100% sure that he learns to FULLY BITE anybody getting closer than a certain limit, WITHOUT any command from me.

2.) My Rottie is a very confident dog with excellent prey drive. He sleeps with me and my wife on the bed. He NEVER tries to dominate us and is NOT SUBMISSIVE. He has always won in tug-of-war, and in all simulations, he has won. He leaves the rope on command. Now I will tell you about what he does during agitation. I stand holding the Rotties leash, he is sitting and the agitator comes with a sleeve, charging towards us. The Rottie is unmoved, but his eyes, concentration are riveted on the agitator. The Rottie doesn't bark. When the agitator is close enough, the Rottie grabs the sleeve and tries to rip it for a few seconds and immediately focusses on the agitator himself and wants to go after him. If I leave him, will he go and bite the agitator?
I get many visitors in my house, the Rottie growls and is curious, but when I ignore him and let the person in, he is fine and even lets the person caress him. But if that person turns out to be a robber, and though he is caressing my Rottie, if I command my Rottie to bite him, I am dead sure he will turn a deaf ear to me. How do I over come this?

Basically, I want him to BITE ON DEMAND ! Please help

 Quote:

You are what your deep driving desire is, as your desire is, so is your thinking, as your thinking is, so is your deed, as your deed is, so is your destiny !

This is painful.

" I want to be 100% sure that he learns to FULLY BITE anybody getting closer than a certain limit, WITHOUT any command from me."





Sorry, we don't discuss that type of training here on this forum. if you're looking for advice where the end goal is uncontrolled aggression, you're on the wrong board.

A few of us here are professional protection trainers, but I certainly wouldn't take a client that requested this out of his dog, nor do I know of any ethical trainer that would train a dog with that end goal in mind.


Topic locked. And Pritesh, feel free to discuss obedince on this forum, but any topics you start that discuss protection will be immediately locked or deleted.


Will Rambeau
Moderator

You have a tremendous amounty to learn on how to live with and train a dog. What you are doing is just about ALL WRONG. I suggest you get a couple of my training DVD's - How to Raise a Wroking Puppy http://leerburg.com/117.htm
If you want to learn to do protection work get the DVD on building Drive and Focus and Preparing Your Dog for the Helper.

I also suggest that you read the articles and Q&A on my web site. If you want to learn the information is here - just dont be offering training advice on the board. At least not for a year or so.

I was waiting for the gunpowder in the food to crop up. Please, please, sell your dogs to someone smarter than you, then go find a train track and play on it until the little light gets really close. Remember don't move until the light is really close.

Attn: Will Rambeau

Tks for the reply. I regret posting the wrong topic on this forum. It seems my assistant has miscommunicated a lot in an attempt to provide the whole history of these two dogs. Correction: The Fila is doing just fine, is building confidence by the day. The Rottie is perfect.

I however, with due respect, refute your statement about "uncontrolled aggression". Around here, there are kidnappings/muggings and violent crimes on an individual level which have no warning. From your views, your trained dog will not attack unless given the command and will be a silent spectator while somebody is assaulting you, because in doing otherwise, it is uncontrolled agression. I believe, that certain degree of space or periphery around the protection dog should be observed. Clients here demand a guard dog which can act upon situations without waiting for a command. If I have failed in understanding you, kindly explain to me what you mean.

I have other queries pertaining to protection, but I will post them in the appropriate forum.

Assistant? *cough* Perfect dog?

Where can I order these?

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Pritesh,
Your reply simply gives us yet another example that you have no idea about what you're talking about.

The type of dog training you're talking about isn't safe and won't be discussed in these forums, as I said before. Please follow Ed's advice, it was good.

 Quote:

I was waiting for the gunpowder in the food to crop up. Please, please, sell your dogs to someone smarter than you, then go find a train track and play on it until the little light gets really close. Remember don't move until the light is really close.

Jeff -

That is totally unsafe...there is a much better way to verify the facts:

http://www.nerdtests.com/ft_stupid.php

"I warned the family not to get any closer as he bites and the moment they turned this guy was lunging to grab them."

Lunging at a family as they walked away? This dog is a weak nerved ticking timebomb due to unsocialization and the tie out training method you described. Please take Ed's advice to spare an innocent person an attack from this dog.