I recommend that you get him out for as many walks as possible. Take him to places where there are a lot of people. Bring along some cheap hot dogs (cut into very small pieces). See if he will take pieces of hot dogs from strangers.

People become confused about personal protection dogs. They feel that they should always be very aggressive dogs. This is not the case. A good personal protection dog has good nerves. He learns to accept people but react to a give set of circumstances. This can be a command from the owner or an action from a another person. The perfect example of this is my police dog. He is very very tough. He has bitten a number of bad guys while working - but he is very good with people. Strangers can come into our office, UPS delivery people can come in un-announced. He will simply go up and meet them. He is excellent with children. This dog has been trained that there is a time to work and protect me or to make an apprehension when I send him after someone. He also knows that there is a time to live a normal happy life. His nerves are good and he enjoys both areas, he is actually a very happy fun dog.

QUESTION:

I have a one year old GSD. He has been obedience trained and is very obedient. My problem is that he is a little too friendly. I cannot tell you how many times I have walked outside or come out of a convenience store only to see groups of strangers by my fence or around my truck petting my dog. I do not want him to be "mean," but it would be nice if he would not make friends so easily. I know that protection training is the best answer, but I don't have several hundred dollars to spend. Do you have any suggestions?

ANSWER:

This is a very common question. The answer is that at one year of age we want our dogs to be friendly. A one year old dog that is quick to bark at people probably has a bit of a temperament problem. I call dog that are quick to bark - "sharp dogs." These are dogs whose nerves are a little thin. They bark in a defensive manner because they are nervous of something they are faced with. Most dogs that are quick to bark at one year are not barking out of strength but out of nervousness. A dog does not develop a strong defensive drive until it starts to mature which is around 18 months of age.

QUESTION:

Ed,

I am raising my puppy to be a protection dog. I heard that you should keep people from petting your dog when you go out in public. My puppy is 10 weeks old and whenever I go out in public everyone wants to come up and pet him and say awh, he's so cute. Should I keep people from petting him? What should I say to these people? What should I do with the pup?

Charles Preasha

ANSWER:

Puppies that are being raised as personal protection dogs need to be socialized a lot. This means they need to experience as many differant things as possible. This means you take your dog to differant places all the time. Try and think of places where the dog will be a little stressed but not to the point of avoidance. Doing this two or three times a week pays off in spades.

Owners can take puppies around people but if the pup has good nerves they should not allow people to pet them. We want the dog to look at the handler as the only person in his universe. I dont ever let people pet my dogs - except if a pup is a little sharp. In that case I will ask people to toss him a piece of meat or a treat. In rare situations I will let them pat the dog to show him there is nothing to fear. But the minute I see that the dog is no longer concerned with strangers this stops.

It's important that this concept is clear. If the dog has good nerves then no one touches the dog, if the pup is quick to bark at people then I allow human socialization until humans are not an issue and then the socialization stops.

The people that told you to keep the dog away from people do not understand dog training. My advise is to stay away from them for future information.

To keep a dog away from everyone is only going to produce an unstable dog, a dog that is unsure of himself and as an adult may be a dog that is dangerous to have around. The goal of protection training is to produce a dog that will protect the handler when the handler is being threatened. A dog that has had little human contact is going to either be shy of people or worse (with training) be very aggressive to everyone. Of course we could consider a dog that wants to kill everything and everyone a person protection dog but that is kind of like a body guard going out and shooting everyone that comes near the person he is trying to protect.

I have learned that to be truly successful, I must select a self right dog. I define the "self right dog" as a dog with the attitude that any ground he stands on is his turf; and although he is willing to be friendly, he will defend his turf if challenged.
This attitude exudes confidence and lacks fear; it allows the dog to mentally focus on the task at hand. I am going to address the subject of juvenile dogs and specifically the question: "How do we produce a self right dog ready for police dog training?"

My focus will be on temperament preservation and what we can do to enhance it. I will address genetics with one comment: Without good genetics, what I discuss here will not work. All I speak of here is predicated upon the hypothesis that the dogs we choose to work are predisposed to good health and a self right temperament.