Admittedly I am limited in my experience, but this topic is quite interesting. I have been observing and as of recently assisting with a few dogs, in a local schutzhund club.

One of the Male GSD's, has the kindest sweetest disposition a dog can have. No aggression toward people (the kind of dog you can let walk free at a party) or even other dogs. One of the other GSD's, tried everything possible to pick a fight with him while he was in his cage. He stood up looked him eye to eye, but is so confident he could have cared less. His attitude was like if you wanna fight I'll kick your a$$ but theres no need to fight.

Out on that field, when agitated, he turns into a much different dog. 4 out of 5 times he will hit the sleeve, but every so often he will do everything in his power to get around that sleeve. Its not an all the time behavior but when he does it, you can shove the sleeve right in his face and he will avoid it while attempting to lock onto something else. Now is this the type of "civility" we should be looking for? How would this dog rate in terms of civility? Is this behavior desirable?

Princlydeeds,

It depends what point in training the dog is at. If this a dog that is nearly finished or finished, then I would be concerned that it wouldn't take the sleeve with it presented properly. If this is a dog that is in the early or middle stages of training, it may be developing in to a good working dog. It may not be an ideal candidate for Sch trials, but would probably do well with another type of trial that doesn't concentrate so heavily on sleeve bites (Ring, or PSA, or NAPD).

If the dog is focusing on the man, and is concentrating on biting the man rather than the equipment, it is a dog that I would like to work with. It sounds like the dog is developing fight drive and becoming civil in it's work. Through training the dog can be taught to bite the target presented. This dog will probably be easy to teach to make bites in other areas than a sleeve. This would make the dog a good candidate for sports that aren't only interested in sleeve bites.

Or the helper is making the sleeve a defensive object by shoving it into his face and the dog is making the helper a prey object or just trying to force the helper away as a defensive action.

This dog truly loves to bite the sleeve, which makes his habit of going around it so odd. I was told he developed a full mouth bite with very little coaxing, and his focus is definitely there. In fact, they say the toughest task was teaching him not to hit the sleeve in the blind search. When he would come around the blind he wouldn't bite the sleeve but he would bump it very hard with his nose (this was painstakingly cured with an ecollar) and be completely locked on the sleeve waiting for his chance to get it. He would never attempt the body bites behind the blind only during the open field agitation/confrontation aspects.

This dog was truly a joy to work. Even to my untrained eyes you can look at him and tell he is special. He has his Sch1 title but IMHO, he was smarter, more driven, and excited to be out there than the club dogs with Sch3 titles.

Princlydeeds,

I would wonder if the dog was ever worked with a suit. If the dog only goes for a different bit in the open and on a charge by the agitator, he may just prefer a higher bite. Some dogs prefer one bite over another. You can change that preference, with some work.

I agree with Vancamp and Richard on this. I believe that a police dog should be civil. If Civil is being defined here as the ability to focus on the man and alert on a man. I think that this is a very desirable trait. I also agree that the term civil should not be confused with fear biters or dogs that are uncontrollable and will bite anybody. I beleive that a truly "civil" dog can be controlled and will not bite just anybody.