Okay, I'm a bit confused.

You're saying that, by purchasing the "right" book, one can learn to train their own dog to do basically any canine discipline? That if the "right" book is found, you would not need any other outside influences- that the information contained therein will thoroughly prepare a dog and handler for competitive obedience/SAR/etc?

Man, I wish I could find these books. I would love to learn to do search and rescue simply by reading about it.

Sarcasm aside, I don't believe there is any dog sport that can be learned by strictly gathering printed information. There is only so much that one can get out of a book. Sooner or later you will either want or need the advice/guidance of someone who has experience in your sport of choice. There are lessons to be learned from the experts in anything, but the potential for disaster is really heightened in a sport where you are teaching a dog the proper way to bite someone.

If you are convinced that it is all a big secret, then unfortunately you just have not found the right people to talk to. They ARE out there- I've looked! The decoys in my Ring club were more than willing to share their experiences and training techniques- although I'm not entirely convinced that this wasn't because their audience was mostly young women.. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> I also have been out to visit a Schutzhund club in my area, and was made to feel quite welcome. And there are a whole lot of people on this board who would want to help fellow trainers/handlers avoid any training pitfalls.

You know, not everyone wants to publish all the best ways to turn a dog into a maneating machine. . .and for good reason.

Training a dog for duckhunting or for obedience isn't going to get much play with the dirtbag crack dealer set in the hood, but "How to Turn Fido Into a Lethal Weapon" (to guard your stash) just might.

Something to think on.


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

Michael, I think there is a USA Schutzhund club about an hour from you. I've recently joined a local club here in Virginia and learned quite a bit from these guys. It is probably the only way to learn Schutzhund or PPD. It's like any other skill. You still need to read and study but like plumbing or Psychiatry it requires an apprenticeship/internship. I wouldn't want to try to re wire my house with only the information from a TimeLife book. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Put me on your waiting list Will. Are you going to have lots of pictures? It has to have pictures other wise I can't read it <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Sorry, no books exist that *completely* explain those categories of dog training that you pointed out. No handler has ever just picked up one of those type of books and ended up with a dog well trained in obedience, tracking, hunting, etc. Books have never been a great source of training for physical skills - look at all the sports books on the market. Has anyone here ever learned a detailed sports move and mastered it just from reading about it in a book?
I've trained hundreds, if not thousands of students by now in both group and private lessons. Many of them have been highly motivated and read many books on obedience training prior to attending obedience classes - they had some advantage in class, but none of them really had what could be considered a 'trained" dog.

Teaching protection demands physical skill. Let's use this as an example:
You can get a book that details mountain climbing in great detail. If you read that book, are you qualified to start climbing mountains? ( a dangerous pastime that I know of first hand, I'll carry scars for the remainder of my life from failed climbs ) Of course not.

Protection training if done wrong can read to serious injury. Also, a large part of protection training is about reading a dog, and that's something that simply takes years of practice - it's the "art" portion of protection training, really.

And as far as your statements about protection training being highly guarded, or that there is not "open sharing" of protection training knowledge, you have some serious misconceptions there.

Besides the fact that a protection dog can be like a loaded weapon in the wrong peoples hands, I think the main reason books are not written on specific & complete protection training, is that it's like an art that takes years to learn to read a dog correctly, just like Will said. In other sports, dogs progress forward to learning new things and become trained in certain aspects. In protection, it seems like you have to "dig up some of their instincts" that wouldn't normallly come out unless you trained for them. That's where the art comes in. There are too many variables and split-second changes in a dog during protection work that flood into sooo many other aspects of topics that to even begin trying to explain it all in writing would be like fifty books in one. Not to say that tracking or search and rescue (or any other dog discipline) doesn't rely on some of a dog's natural behaviors, but I think most would agree that protection training relies more on these particular characteristics than any other. Unfourtunatly, every single dogs is so different and the way certain mistakes or accomplishments during protection training can drasticaly affect a dog, makes it a foggy subject sometimes. The person that is a animal behaviorist or a top champion in OB probably has a lot of knowledge on the ways of dogs and how to train, but until you actually train many protection dogs from start to finish (birth to death), I can't see how anyone could even begin to grasp all the specifics of proteciton training. I guess some people just have to find out for themselves.

I suppose the most I can hope for is a decent person to show me the ropes. I haven't found anyone in my area thus far.

I do understand what you mean about the thugs using these dogs for thier own use, but really that can't be the main reason there isn't easy access to the training. I mean, bad guys use guns, guns are much deadlier than dogs, there is many more guns...and there is easy access to them. Bad guys use guns, I don't think they need dogs.

Everything takes practice and practial application. You can go to med school, you still need to be able to apply what you learn. I think that's kinda the point you were trying to make.

I'm learning already <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
Thanks for the info.

You make a great point Dennis.
I would agree %100 that an apprenticeship is necessary to learn most of this stuff.
What is the name of the club you are referring to?
You are in Virgina, are you working with Armin Winkler?

I found these clubs at the USA Sch web site http://germanshepherddog.com/clubs/mid_eastern.htm
I go to Metro Richmond Schutzhund Club, George Medina is the Director. I havn't met Mr.Winkler. I think I've been to about 6 or 7 meetings now. I've learned something new each time I go. They even help me with Max the nerve bag until I get a more suitable dog.

"Put me on your waiting list Will. Are you going to have lots of pictures? It has to have pictures other wise I can't read it"

Dennis - check your E mail and see if you like that picture. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />