Real protection dogs question?

Question

I know we've had the protection question before - protective versus possessive. But I want to ask this every time another question about "good protection dogs" comes up, but I'm easily distracted. lol

I know we have some people here who have experience with REAL protection dogs. So does anyone have any memories of a REAL protection dog ACTUALLY protecting. This would be cool to compare to stories of people's pets "protecting" them.
If you don't have a story from personal experience have you ever seen real protection from a dog who was properly trained to really protect?

Answer 1

The only 2 people that have REAL experience with REAL protection dogs on this site have been MIA because of juvenile delinquents....so I doubt you will get a good answer which is the unfortunate truth...



I have never seen a real protection dog protect their owner.

I have seen Schutzhund dogs compete in the protection component of their trials and even that in itself is amazing to watch.



I have also seen people on here believe they work with real protection dogs and watch them live in their little fantasy world - THAT is also something really amazing to watch ;) LOL



ADD: I should clarify that when I made mention of the 2 people I meant Greek and Dutch.



ADD2: Yeah shoot Greek an email - he's always around to answer.

Also, I don't know how someone would think it's okay to "deploy" a dog in a public setting like a Walmart parking lot. How utterly irresponsible. You're lucky all the dog did was take the kid's shirt off if that's all the dog ended up doing. Real PP dogs have a pretty serious bite on them and someone could have been hurt.

Because remember - even if someone was being robbed, if your dog attacks them you are still going to be held liable.



You're also lucky that the officer didn't slap down more fines on you.

Keeping a dog under control and contained in the car is just as important as outside the car. If you are having issues keeping your dog controlled while in the car - perhaps you should crate it while in the vehicle.

Answer 2

This is probably not what you mean (actually I'm sure it isn't). But anyway....

I have a Saint Bernard. They are very very large (150+ lbs) and there have certaintly been times where I have been in a sort of situation where she would count as protection. You know when you are out walking and run into strange people out in the woods, when you are all by yourself? I used to walk our saint out in the woods when I was 10 or so. Since she is so big, you can be basically sure that nothing is going to happen and who cares whether she would actually bite anyone (she wouldn't, she's too well trained). While I suppose she doesn't count as a real protection dog, she does feel like real protection and I would go places with her that I wouldn't go by myself

Answer 3

I did have an incident with my Dalmatian. I was walking her in the yard when a guy walked into our yard. He just came toward us without saying a word. She started growling and raising hackles and I told the guy he had better stop and let me put her up. He kept walking toward us and put his hand out to her stating how much he liked dogs. By this time she was baring her teeth and lunging toward him. It took every ounce of strength I had to haul her up the steps and into the house.

I knew the guy was the new neighbor behind us but he is an ignorant man when it comes to dogs. This was the only person she ever confronted. There was something about him that we both did not like. I believe she saw him as a threat. I still do not like this man.

Answer 4

Early on in my dog "career" I was involved in Schutzhund. (Google it and you'll see what it is about.) Part of the sport is protection work. As opposed to what most think, dogs are trained to do protection work off of prey drive as opposed to fear drives. Dogs trained off of fear drive are extremely dangerous dogs. The old "junk yard dog" type of thing.



I've done the protection work. You dress up in padded bib overalls, with a sleeve that has heavy plastic piping (so the dog doesn't break your arm) that is covered with burlap. That's at the advanced levels. At beginner levels, you actually just use a towel.



The only time that I was truly afraid was when I slipped and I was face to face with a dog that I knew was trained to bite. It certainly does get your heart pounding. The dog hit the sleeve and didn't think of anything else.



In the 10 years, or so, that I was involved in the sport, none of the dogs that we trained were ever in a dangerous situation.



That being said.



A woman friend with a highly trained (obedience) Rottweiler. She was out at a beach by herself. A bunch of teenage males came toward her thinking about hassling her. She called her dog over. Grabbed his collar. Told the dog in a VERY LOUD voice, "NO BITE". The teens couldn't get out of there quick enough. I'm sure her dog looked at her thinking what the heck are you talking about.



This is a tip that I've always given to my students.



Most people are extremely frightened of dogs and don't want to hang around long enough to actually see if the dog is protection trained.



Added - UHave2be. I can't find the article. Many years ago, there was a California police officer who was "attacked" by a group of small dogs. They were the size of Pomeranians. Owner got fined. I'm sure that the officer took a LOT of grief for a while.

Answer 5

I do not have real experience with real protection dogs.



BUT I did have a dog protect me once....PROTECT not possess. In fact the particular canine I'm referring too would have given his life for me even though that was never expected of him...EVER.



People think their out of control, spoiled lap dogs are protecting them...or there unstable, fearful messes they call guard dogs, but in all reality the dogs are just scared or being possessive & saying "that is MY human".



People will twist things in any way they can to make themselves feel better about owning an uncontrollable monster or because their dog lacks training & discipline, which would be their fault.

Answer 6

I own two trained PP Pomeranians.



I am waiting for the day a vertically challenged criminal tries to break into my house and the Poms I assure you, they will take him down.



When they do I promise I will have quite a story to tell...............



ADD: Oh I bet that officer never lived that down.



NEVER underestimate the Power of the Pomeranian.

Answer 7

I've done tracking and detection with a dog but never really deployed one minus someone walking in my backdoor (which was left unlocked because...hey, I had 3 GSD's and a Rottie in the house)...don't worry though, it was an innocent mistake, they meant to rob the house next door not ours -scratches head-. Was really no big deal. Lasted all of 8 seconds, shirtless man in the den, deployed the dog, outed the dog, he ran, I let him run, called the police. My mother half deployed a dog...parking lot of walmart, somebody grabbed her purse with both hands while it was on the little compartment thing where children sit. She grabbed it, they played tug of war, dog was in the back of the SUV, came out, took the boy's shirt off, the end.



The only interesting time was getting out of a traffick ticket...the officer didn't want to stick his hands in the window with a barking dog in the backseat.



I've resumed training with my guys I'll put up some videos...training is about as "real life" as it gets unless you're an MP or Police Officer. Even then live bites are rare in most areas.