Muzzling a dog and then trying to train it protection work from the beginning is impossible. A dog needs to bite and enjoy biting in order to move through the training steps to becoming a dog that will actually protect you (there are rare cases where an untrained dog protected its' owner). Protection work done with the muzzle is to build confidence, drive, and fight in a dog who already knows how to bite. But I agree that most thieves, criminals, etc "bad guys" will take one look at a large dog and will run...hear it bark, and I don't think they're never coming back. If you train a dog for schutzhund, he will be a good protector, but it doesn't mean that he will bite someone. You'll have to specifically train for a personal protection dog using slightly different methods. (that one might bring a great convo...) I can see how the law in your country limits you to this.

I think people everyday get involved in sketchy situations that could have or did cause harm or danger. I don't think I've met anyone who hasn't been in one. A dog is an excellent deterrent and at best, a civil, personal protection dog, but I don't believe it should replace a good firearm. Getting a dog as an extra layer of security is a great idea and should not be discouraged.

Alison Voore

I think it's a great addition,(for us) to have a protection dog that actually will protect if the fight is there.I certainely don't want a monster , but a dog that can focus ,knows where to bite ,how to bite and stay at my side if I need him.You can make many dogs "guard" but don't think they will stay for the fight.
I understand your point on the people that want a protection dog and get off on seing their dog bark growl, lunge but have absolut no control of their dogs.Seen plenty of those kind of individuals.That is why I don't care for PSA groups but for us we trained ours with people that know what it takes to have a reliable , clear headed biting dog and that should be very to the people that want a ppd dog.
As far as muzzle work , it does not teach a dog not to bite , it simply teaches a dog to use his body in a fight, dogs by nature will use teeth first.It also shows a dogs courage to stay in the fight restricting his most powerful defence-his mouth.We've done muzzle work and the helper really has to know what he is doing and be able to take on a dog that is going to hit hard with his body, and not injure himself or the dog.

I think just having a capable looking dog is as much protection as most people will ever need. When I was 12 a bully about 4 or 5 years older than me announced that he was going to beat me up. I called my GSD. He threw rocks at her to run her off. That happened to be one of her favorite games, and she tried to catch them. She didn't run off. He decided he wasn't going to beat me up. I have no idea if she would have actually tried to protect me if he had laid a hand on me, and neither did he. That doubt in his mind was good enough to deter him.

Some people need them and most people don't