Quote: Aaron Myracle

You cannot train your own PPD.

Period.

If you're serious, you're going to have to find experienced, knowledgeable people to train with. It isn't possible to do it on your own.

wasnt implying that i would be trying to do it on my own

Dennis, there are some that can be somewhat social to varing degrees. But AI think that the majority of the real deal dogs, are not going to be the social butterfly at the neighborhood block party in the cornor playing with all the neighbors kids. If they are, then I would not want to be putting my life in their hands..... ah...paws.

I have also seen a number of the police dogs of late & at least around here, many of them are primarily used for tracking, evidence location & drug detection & many are alot less dog then the ones that they used to have. Maybe some of it is that it is harder to find good dogs & also maybe the handlers leave alot to be desired & many can't handle real dogs. Many are somnewhat social, as many of them, can be walked thru crowds without problems. They are rarely used in aprehension unless it is a felony crime. They are mostly used for intimidation. There has been alot of lawsuits & controversy about 'lethal force' being used around here. So the dogs are not doing much biting of felons. Too bad, might be a good deterrent to some crimes if they did.

Don't know what kind of need you think you have James, or perhaps do need, but living with a ppd is a genuine pita.
Doesn't matter if they are social or not, it's what they are trained to react to, and many times what they'll react to are just innocent 'stuff' between us humans.
A surprise slap on the back from a friend on the street. A big wrap around hello from a wayward uncle toward one of the children before dine. A close friend pulling out his newest Kimber toy to show off. It can be almost anything that sets the dog off.

PPDs are a pita. It's a 24/7 job.

I misunderstood. I had to re-read your original post to sort things out. I thought you were talking about training this puppy as a PPD, in the absence of any external support.

Most people not wanting to make the sacrifices that are needed to keep these kinds of dogs*& don't truely have the need...is one of the reasons that the CPI kind of 'venders' stay in business.

I think people just like to say that they have a PPD. They don't really want to own one..,or assume the liability of ownership.

no, i have a need, i build performance motorcycles and 3 times in the last year my home has been broken in to. People in this sport know me, what i can do, what i have, and its not hard to find where i live. how long before i walk out on someone? not to mention also that we have a house boat..and even in the middle of a marina, its still not safe. incidents happen all the time out there.

..i see what you mean about reacting to the obvious. i can see how it would be very difficult for the dog to differentiate between situations. and i can see how it would be a full time job.

i would add though.. the dog should be under enough control that you can stop it before that over reaction turns bad.

Regardless of what you are going to do with the pup later, at 8 weeks old I would just be concerned about exposing the pup to as many things as possible.

Elevators, escalators, stair, grated stairs, busy city streets, tunnels, road grates. Crowds of people. Busy construction sites are wonderful for exposure to noise, heavy equipment.

The idea at this age is to expose the dog to as many things as possible in a positive confident building manner. If they startle or are unsure of themselves, not a biggie, you are there to help them work through it. In a very calm matter of fact way.

With a pup I don't really concern myself with drives, I look at nerve and do everything I can to make sure I have a pup that has been exposed to just about everything, and a pup that nothing bad has happened to.

i agree..i guess it wont hurt to stop him from being rubbed on and loved on for a few weeks until we find out what we are going to be doing with him.

also, i did a bit of research. the "chinaman" breed of APBT is know for being man biters. it seems (from the research i have done) to be that these dogs have started moving away from the APBT's natural tendency not to bite humans. (you can read it on Protectiondog forums and with a google search) this could be another indicator that this pup might be cut out for sport work. Ill keep digging for more info. I have raised pits all my life, but never considered them for this kind of work till now. so, well see.

 Quote: James Biggs

no, i have a need, i build performance motorcycles and 3 times in the last year my home has been broken in to.

What type of security system do you have on your home?

i have a normal system like most houses are equipped with nowadays..but since ive been broken into they have since installed extra motion detectors and glass break sensors. But these people dont care. last time the alarm went off (140 db siren) and they still made off with 60k worth of performance engines... My concern isnt the bikes and parts..its, what happens when my wife comes home and im off at a race somewhere and someone knows that and comes up in my house?? or what happens if i cant get to that gun quick enough (i carry 98% of the time, but that 2%...) thats why i want a ppd.