Protection Work Training In Young Dogs
First of all, I would like to apology that I mention such a soft breed of dog like a Bernese Mountain Dog in this book that
only deals with the strongest and most aggressive dogs and the BMD does not belong among them.
What I am showing here is a proof that all the breeds of dog can be trained for protection work and all the breeds of dog can
be dangerous. However, the degree of dangerousness in companion breeds of dog is very low and the degree of dangerousness in
utility and fighting breeds of dog is very high.
Soft breeds of dog like the Bernese Mountain Dog are not good defenders and even this one that I trained a little used to
behave like a Poodle in many types of situation, possibly someone could walk him away or touch him or give him a food in some
type of situation (however, a good Rottweiler and similarly would be aggressive and protective even in these situations with
no problems). But when the type of situation that he was trained for or when he was given a command, then it was different and he was aggressive. But I would never fully rely upon him to protect me. Only partially and only in "our" type of situations (one funny story: one time a female conductor in a train let us go for free because my dog was barking at her).
If you want a dog that will be good with people but able to little defend when some clear and strong impulse like a nosily
attack with quick movements, then more breeds of dog will do and so will the BMD. However, if you want a real defender who
will always be aggressive in any circumstances, then please never buy such a companion or soft breed of dog but prefer the
best and most aggressive breeds - Dobermann, Rottweiler, Caucasian, Central Asian, German Shepherd and similarly.
Please be careful with what breed of dog you will possibly try my way of training. For example, if applied in a Caucasian
Ovcharka (the king of kings), it may result in a "walking death".
Disclaimer: This writing about defense (Schutzhund, bite work and protection work training) serves educational purposes only. It's goal is to inform the reader about our personal opinion on this subject, but on the first place about the importance of defense training in dogs. However, our information is no officially recommendable way how to train dogs in this respect, so that the author does not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, safety or usefulness of any posted information. Anyway, when teaching the dog defense, everyone must always go by all the valid laws (for example, bite suit biting can be banned in the country where he or she lives and similarly).
As a foreword, I would like to say please accept my apology for the amateur and low quality pictures. My dream was to make a movie about the real protection work (not only about insufficient sporting cynology) but I was too poor so far to afford a digital video camera to make it.
My own methods work. Even a softer breed like a Bernese Mountain Dog can learn something in the protection work and Schutzhund tasks. First of first, the Bernese puppy I trained was teased very often by various strange people in various environment (street, train, bus). When 7 months old and one helper in civilian clothes behaved violently towards me, the very young dog began to bark at him, jumped in front of him and hit his bare hand with the muzzle, so it was clearly seen that he is able to bite and he wants to.
To be frank, I have never wanted this breed of dog but my sister wanted it. So once the dog was at home, I began to train him. I am little disappointed about him, because his aggression and ability to fight is lower than that of the Rottweiler that I was used to. The BMD is not that attentive neither hard nor such a good fighter like the breeds mentioned in "Defense Of The Owner".
Most people start the bite work training using a biting roll:
When you want your dog to bite a protective sleeve, I would however recommend to skip the biting roll and try to bite the sleeve straight on like it was the biting roll. So first of first the sleeve like the biting roll...
...and when the dog has learned this, the helper can finally put the sleeve on:
You can also try to make your dog bite the sleeve at a larger distance than on a leash only (this dog is already fully adult):
After the dog has learned to bite the sleeve, it is recommended to switch to the biting of body bite suite:
Another good thing is a muzzle work, but only when you use it very seldom. The 9 months old Bernese Mountain Dog is snapping after the helper's body:
The most important thing is to make the dog distrust all strange people and to be aggressive towards them "anyplace, anywhere, anytime". A leashed dog should growl and bark at strange people who try to come close to him:
When we let the young dog teased by strangers, they should wear normal clothes to look naturally (if you would only tease your dog with helpers that have protective clothes, you would spoil him). When the dog will have to defend you in a real street situation setting, he would probably have to bite people clothed in normal clothes.
The dog has to actively try to bite every stranger who approached you:
(When our puppy is teased, we must repeat some command such as "Attention!" or something and we use that command in all the training of the protection work.)
Every stranger is possible danger, so that if you rest somewhere and someone try to come close to you, it must look like this:
A few pictures of some protection and bite work just for a start. As for particular breeds of dog, then such like a Bernese Mountain Dog has only partial endowments for the Schutzhund protection work. So if you want to have a top defender, never choose these breeds of dog. Of course, much better results are reached with the true kings of the defense - breeds like Caucasian Ovtcharka, Rottweiler and Fila Brasileiro. They are much more aggressive.
Here you can download protection work training videos. There are a few snapshots (the first one is unwanted attack on the throat):
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Note: This dog doesn't represent my ability to train dogs for protection work. This Bernese Mountain Dog (born 17.6.2006) is sharper than Agar (born 16.11.1996) and even partially able to defend [partially only in contrast to two real killers - my RTW Bredy (born 19/20.11.1993) and my CO Gero (born 7.1.1991)]. I have made with him some videos and pictures and posted them here. But...
Let's say that someone said that if I introduced this dog almost like a defender in my ebook, it would be "nice" to prove that I am a liar and the same dog is accepting food from strangers and lets them touch him, does not defend me and is unattentive.
The fact is that when I needed to buy something in a shop, I used to take my dog with me because I was afraid to let him alone at home because sometimes bad strange people used to break into there and the puppy / young dog could be spoilt by such an experience. However, when my young dog was leashed in front of the shop, I found out that probably somebody was throwing some food to him (there were some pieces of food lying around the place where my dog was leashed etc.) and possibly someone even recorded that my puppy accepted food from strangers to prove that I am not able to train a dog not to accept any food from strangers (but I am). I have trained with this companion dog a couple of things only.
It is sad because the Bernese was not that bad in defense and without such impacts he would surely be better. And I hope that nobody will say that Bredy or Gero were not defenders or that they were not bringing down humans or that this is my imagined story only.
Lesson for you is to never let a young dog without supervision, whether it is at home or anywhere else. Never allow anyone to spoil him (I saw a woman that tried to pet and to give a food to a German Shepherd when his owner wasn't at home and so she was spoiling the dog). During any contact with strangers please use teasing with good helpers and make your dog aggressive toward them even if they are throwing a food to him. I have participated on such a training 20 years ago with the result that a food and in the hand of a stranger was a signal for the dog to attack.
Please train your dogs not to accept food from strangers:
I think that the dog should be given and thrown a food by helpers - strangers - who will attack you and your dog immediately after the attempt to give him a food and the dog then will get used that as soon as any piece food in the hands of a stranger there will be a fight. But it is necessary to train this everywhere, not only at the training ground - both at home and in the town etc. Of course, it however requires a lot of good helpers that alternate.
