Choice of protection sport - Newbie question.

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by doggiedad

if the dog is on the right arm pit and the gun is in the right
hand why can't the person put the gun in his left hand
and fire it? i'm not questioning your training but your
training doesn't prevent a person from switching hands
with the gun.

I thought I explained my training. You cannot realistically train a dog to discriminate weapons in every scenario, so I don't. I train my dogs to bite what is presented (usually in training a decoy will "present" an arm, drop a shoulder for the armpit, etc) or bite the armpit. It doesn't matter if there's one gun, two guns, no guns, someone playing juggle with guns.... I have never heard of someone training a dog to follow a gun, as in let go and switch sides because someone is playing hot potato with a gun. Anyway I'm not sure how this helps the OP. Maybe start a new thread on this and some LE will weigh in.

[doggiedad]

again, i'm not questioning your training or the dogs bite.

Originally Posted by Liesje

I thought I explained my training. You cannot realistically train a dog to discriminate weapons in every scenario, so I don't. I train my dogs to bite what is presented (usually in training a decoy will "present" an arm, drop a shoulder for the armpit, etc) or bite the armpit. It doesn't matter if there's one gun, two guns, no guns, someone playing juggle with guns.... I have never heard of someone training a dog to follow a gun, as in let go and switch sides because someone is playing hot potato with a gun. Anyway I'm not sure how this helps the OP. Maybe start a new thread on this and some LE will weigh in.

[Liesje]

OK I guess I'm not sure where this is going then....??

[RushGSD]

Originally Posted by carmspack

hi - is it sport and titles , or the protection when out jogging -

The dog will definitely be our jogging partner and I think generally speaking, the GSD presence is enough to dissuade ill intentioned muggers.

At this time, I do not think we would worry too much about titles. It would be more for the dog and us to do something stimulating together and its nice to see that no matter the discipline, it includes obedience, tracking, agility, etc.

But who knows, if we and the dog get a lot of satisfaction from training, we may decide to pursue some sort of certifications/titles.

It's right though, it seems like the most popular offering out there is Schutzhund and even then, it requires quite the drive to get out there as there aren't so many clubs.

Thanks for the input, folks.

[Tim Connell]

Gun wielding assailants probably should be dealt with with another force option, and not a K9, but that's another whole thread, I suppose, as is the question of targeting.

Some sport dogs will bite for real...and some may not, as someone stated earlier. I think it comes down to the individual dog, it's clarity of training, and what it has been exposed to. Arguably, there's a completely different skill set for the dog that goes into a "true" protection dog, or a police dog than merely some exposure to bitework for a sport.

(bite suit, hidden sleeve, muzzle work, scenario based realistic training, etc.)

[Pirates Lair]

Most sport dogs (general rule) will not engage in a real fight. Hence the name Sport dog.

If you are concerned for your safety, find a qualified trainer in PP. You can have just as much fun with your dog in PP as you can with sports. There are now clubs starting to compete in real life PP work.

Kim