Airedale police dog is this an oxymoron? This is from the September 2001, issue of Dog World. “In many parts of the world the Airedale is a valued member of the police and or/military”. I found this interesting because the article continued and said that Airedales tend to be stubborn and do better with clicker training, or operant conditioning, I have a few question that need answers to satisfy my curiosity. I am not asking these questions about Airedales per se, it can relate to other working breeds besides the GSD. Can other breeds be trained for police work the same way you would train a GSD, Doberman, Rot?. Can they hold up to the same stress put on them as the above mentioned? I remember an article that I read in Ed’s q/a. I am not sure in which section, but it went something like this. A man was calling Ed biased on GSD, and he said he knew of a standard poodle that can do bite work as well as any gsd. I believe Ed’s reply was I could just see you telling a bad guy to come out of a warehouse or I’ll sent my poodle in. Obvious intimidation has to be factored in choosing a police dog. Lou, Kevin, and Don have you ever trained other police dogs besides gsd and mals? Sport enthusiast which breeds that are not the norm, have you seen titled in Sch?

Milt

Milt,

Airedales are have been used for police and protection work. The breed did work very well at one point. Now, like many other breeds, it is hard to find one with the temperament to work. The tendancy with some of them is that they tend to try and keep you entertained. They do have the size to do the work and have a bit of the typical terrier temperament.

There are individuals in every breed that have the temperament to do protection work. The problem is finding those individuals. I have heard of lots of breeds that have been successfully trained to be functional protection dogs with in the limitations of the breed (size, agility,temperament). These breeds include, Std Poodles, Whippits, Mini Schnauzers, Labs, a Min Pin, and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. Some work better than others. If you want a protection/police dog I wouldn't go looking at a breed other than the traditional working breeds. If you already have a dog of another breed and want to try protection training, and have access to a very experienced trainer willing to put in the time and effort you may be able to get the dog trained to some level. Most people need a dog that will bark only and that isn't that hard to train. It often takes tremondous patience, and understanding of different dogs behavior, and a trainer with the ability to carefully read the behavior of dogs other than traditional breeds.