Schutzhund/Police/Civil
The Civil Personal Protection Dog is referred to as a dog owned by a civilian, which is trained to protect his owner by using his training to stop a physical attack upon his owner. A personal protection dog protects as a direct result from his training. These dogs are trained to be friendly toward non-threatening individuals, and react in a reliably protective manner when an individual displays violent or aggressive behavior.
In addition, the reverse scenario is also instilled in the dog. An example would be when the “agitator” (trainer), who has just gotten bitten by a dog during a training lesson while wearing protective underclothing gear, walks over to the same dog in a friendly manner and is able to pet the same dog without getting bitten or the dog demonstrating aggression. This is why protection dogs are exclusively bred, and could be expensive to purchase.
The protection dog is subjected to a variety of scenarios during their training, which he may encounter in real life threatening and non-threatening situations. These scenarios prepare the dogs for practically anything that could happen. Unlike the unreliable and improperly trained guard dogs which may indiscriminately bite out of fear, and aren’t likely to be ready for certain situations they encounter when threatened because these dogs have not been properly conditioned, having had no proper training to prepare them for many real life situations. This will cause the dog to inappropriately protect in order to stop what he perceives as a dangerous person. Alternatively, the dog will insufficiently protect, because although the owner was under the impression his “big dog was a good home protection dog”, when faced with a real violent encounter with a real bad guy, the dog was incapable of real courageous protection.
Many civilians are not aware of this very important fact. The more experience a dog has, the better they will work, which holds true for other training besides protection training.
The Bark And Hold Protection Dog is basically the same as a personal protection dog but without a bite. These dogs will hold a person in place by corning them or knocking them down and standing on them while barking in a monotone bark (one bark right after the other). They are trained to never bite in any situation. The use of muzzle agitation training is vital for these dogs so they will learn to not fear touching the bad guy and to knock them down correctly if the situation warrants the dog to do so.
Underclothing protective gear is also used in this type of training. During the muzzle agitation training, the dogs are trained when to apply the knocking down procedure and when not to.
The disadvantage with this type of protection dog, is that if the attacker becomes physically violent with the dog, the dog will retreat. Therefore, the level of protection afforded to his owner is significantly compromised.
The Police K-9 Dog is an advanced professional grade protection dog. They are trained more extensively to different real life situations. They learn to walk on uneven and unstable ground and jump over 6 feet of fence. They are trained to crawl under buildings, and track down suspects to hiding places. They are also trained to bite suspects in vehicles as well as on crowded streets. Many police K-9’s also have the ability to perform bites in multiple regions of the body.
The Schutzhund Dog is a dog that has been or is being trained to go through three phases of a training, which consists of obedience, tracking, and protection. This sport awards three distinct titles, which correspond with the three levels of training and skills.
The three titled routines are Schutzhund I, II, and III. Here I will only discuss the protection phase. Schutzhund training only focuses on prey/play items, not on people. The dog chases after the burlap sack, puppy tug, or jute sleeve not the person holding the item. If a person wearing a jute sleeve throws the sleeve while the dog is in pursuit, the Schutzhund dog will go after the sleeve.
However, if the dog was a personal protection dog the dog will go after the person because the dog is triggered by a different instinctive drive. A Schutzhund dog is not put through real life use of force situations; therefore, it is highly unlikely that a Schutzhund dog will reliably protect his owner in a real use of force event. A Schutzhund dog must be put through real life situations (practical applications), in order to be trained to react reliably toward them when these situations arise. The essential element in the outcome of the training process is complete control and reliability. Schutzhund dogs and dogs that have Schutzhund ancestors in their pedigrees make excellent prospects for Police K-9 dogs and Civilian Personal Protection Dogs.
