Hi all I have an Older Rottweiler (about 1.5years) that Im considering training for PP.
my question is , Is she worth the time?(meaning will she actually excel regardless of her older age)
She is very Friendly with everyone she meets. Love's other dogs and animals. EXTREMELY stable....you could do anything to this dog and she would just stare at you. She is at least 100+ lbs but we have never weighed her. She knows some basic OB commands very well and is easy to train,. Well thats is the jist of her regular hum-drum family dog behaviour.
On the other hand..
She loves to play...HARD. Her Idea of play is jumping on you, "punching" you and grabbing your arm. She hits HARD very HARD. She has a very full grip. She was never trained to do that she just plays rough like that naturally.
At night(about 12:00am) when I take my GSD pup out to potty, I like to sike Eva(GS) out by walking weird making strange noises and approaching her irregularly. This is usually greeted by barks and growls(Im am so proud). The rotti who i am not trying to get a reaction out of , starts hopping up and down barking and growling...itis really very odd. She keeps this behaviour up until I call her over. Then she runs up happy as can be(with a GS puppy attached to her lol) Other times when I do this she barks and runs away!
So my question is again, should i work on bringing her preydrive out and start training her, or is she a lost cause and should I get rid of her (we are moving unexpectedley and can only keep 4 dogs as we are moving to a town) We are actually in need of a good PPD and not just wanting one "just in case" we are prone to break-ins, nasty threats and have one very mean ex husband that is in charge of it all....did I mention the P.I's? One time we came home to find our house broken into and our dog locked in a cupboard....sick f@%k

She is not to old but you need to get her under control. Leerburg has some great dvd or vhs on personal protection.
You need to find someone where you are to help you training.
You do not want her to bite you, that not right. You have to get a bad guy. You start with building drive and focus then preparing your dog for the helper.There some very good people on this site that will help you. You may need basic dog obedience to. Just ask Ed Frawley he will help.Lots of luck to you in your training.
Randy

Of course!!! I was not considering training her on my own (im not even going to do that with my puppy) but my question was , does she sound like the type of dog that would be good to do ppd training with. I know you cant asses her without seeing her but from the description can you let me know if she SOUNDS like the type of dog that would excel at this training?.
The description is very accurate, the only thing I would change is the weight thing. I tried to pick her up and weigh her only to find out I couldnt lift her!! she is not fat...infact she is lean and very agile.

1.5 years is not old at all. Of course you can try to train her as a PPD but I wouldn't approach it the way you do. Why would a "pack leader" act like this and make weird noises and other things. Why should the dog act defensive and should bark at you? You need to get you another person who acts like this and when the dog responds you need to praise him. You are the leader and you and your dog are a team and you have to work together to get rid of the 'bad guy'. Ed's video "The first steps of defence" is really good and it explains a lot of the things you like to do. You need to work on prey drive with ball and with tug of war games with her. This is the basics for future protection work. Let somebody else play tug of war and watch if she will play this with other people too. If she plays it good and hard she will be a good candidate for further training. If you find a club or someone who understands this kind of training would be the best.

No guarantee that any of your dogs are good candidates as PPD's. Please do a fellow Rottie owner a favor, if you are considering getting "rid" of the Rottie because it's a "lost cause" stop the BS you're doing with it. Exactly what do you plan on doing with the dog if it doesn't live up to your expectations? Taking it to a shelter? Giving it to another person whose obvious experience with the breed is sorely lacking? Rescue organization? Sorry folks but I hear this same kinda crap over the phone almost every single day. God as my witness there needs to be a test and license for dog owners.

"No guarantee that any of your dogs are good candidates as PPD's"
I agree.
"Please do a fellow Rottie owner a favor, if you are considering getting "rid" of the Rottie because it's a "lost cause" stop the BS you're doing with it".

Im sorry but I havent done a thing with her but basic OB , read my original post and you will find that she "plays" rough like that on her own..I didnt teach her anything as far as that goes. What I ment by lost cause (perhaps I should have worded it differintley) Is this:
I have 13 dogs, 11 weimaraners, 1 GSD and one rottie. I am moving (I didnt plan on this) and I have to get rid of 9 dogs. I cant keep "prospects" breeding dogs, show dogs, I cant keep my CH's or my imports...I can only keep good house pets..and of course my favorites. So you see it is very hard for me to make a decison as to whom Im going to keep. It would be ridiculous for me to keep a 100+ Rotti with no potential for anything but a pet over my record holding weims, SAR dogs..ect. I would like to keep ALL of my dogs..but that is impossible. I am considering my rotti becouse she is, infact one of my favorites.

"Exactly what do you plan on doing with the dog if it doesn't live up to your expectations? Taking it to a shelter? Giving it to another person whose obvious experience with the breed is sorely lacking? Rescue organization? Sorry folks but I hear this same kinda crap over the phone almost every single day".

I have a potential home lined up for her in the event that I dont keep her. They are a Rotti experienced home(they have always had a rott in there life..they have a male rotti right now actually) Im am not dumb and would never intentionally hurt my dogs by giving them to just "anybody". All of my homes are screened extensivley....
They know this dog very well and are aware of all of her flaws and abilities.


"God as my witness there needs to be a test and license for dog owners".

Again I agree.


I am new to PPD and have NEVER trained a dog even remotley in this proffesion. I am on this forum to learn and thank everyone for there advice. Yes I am working with a trainer...No Im not even close to being able to give advice on anything regarding PPD...nor will I try to.
I am so glad this forum is in place for new people like me..I obviously have made alot of mistakes in my training. Luckily I have a schutzhund club to guide me, my trainer...and this forum.