At what stage does a ppd dog stop and think about who he's attacking? I mean if you send your ppd dog to attack the strange man wondering around in your fenced yard then i'm sure he'll have no problem doing that but what if you hypothetically command him to bite a child, a family member in the house etc? At what point does he say no?

This is a fine line IMO because your best friend that has been around you and the dog for years might suddenly decide to attack or threaten you. What are the chances your dog that is probably somewhat good friends with this person will actually bite this person?

What an odd question. I would have no idea of the answer. I don't train, or live with, PPD dogs. I do know that my Biscuit, who I think now was a Malinois, but I had never heard of them back then, did an amazing leap and loud bark/snarl right in my ex-husband's face one time when he (ex) smacked me on the arm where I had just recently had a tetanus shot, and I yelled 'ouch'. I think Bickie woulda bit him if I hadn't grabbed his collar, and my ex was not my ex at the time, we were still married and Biscuit lived with us right in the house. So, I dunno.

Interesting. I've had a Golden Retriever "defend" me from a male friend who was tickling me (he just barked angrily), and also from a pizza store employee who was smoking in the shadows behind the store at night, but was otherwise a friendly happy dog. He never defended the male friend from ME, either.

He had NO training whatsoever. I think he could sit, though.

Probably with training a dog could distinguish when to bite and when not to.

"but what if you hypothetically command him to bite a child, a family member in the house etc?"

If you're going to ask bizzare questions like this, you've wandered into an area that would have *nothing* to do with PPD training, and I can't think of a serious PPD trainer that would spent the time to answer it, sorry.

I'm just being honest here, please don't get angry at my reply, it's just the truth of the matter as seen by a long time PPD trainer.

Craig, let's look at this from another direction.

What stops an untrained dog from biting a member of your family?

All dogs bite.
The question is, do they know WHO to bite, WHY to bite, and WHEN to STOP?

I am going to try to answer this question only because it presents some serious misgivings about the work that is done with dogs and about the character of the working dog and handler.


Can a normal dog be used reliably as a weapon, a tool to assault at will without preconditions being established?? Not really. It is the great role of the dog to be a human companion and working partner. They generally reflect the society in which they exist. For the most part the dog falls within societies norms due to the pressures on them in breeding, rearing, and training. Such co-evolution is the hallmark of the dog, the only creature flexible enough in behavior, and appearance, to fill such a role. Since society would frown on such a behavior by both the human and the canine involved it is just not seen or done at any frequency. In fact even discussion of such things is uncomfortable because they fly in the face of normal behaviors for both dogs and humans.

So, the answer to the odd question is really a social one. Why would this be of interest?? What test would one care to generate to prove such a thing?? And why?? What would benefit canines in general to participate in such behaviors, what benefit to humans?? None. So we just don't see it at any frequency and if we were to see it wouldn't it cause a huge uproar???

The question is tantamount to asking what is the best way to beat my wife or children?? Is there some sort of training I should go through to be capable of such things?? Is there a proof that it will work when I want it to??

Out of bounds questions with out of bounds answers.