Can I train my dog for protection work ? Can I train my dog to attack on command ?
This, “Can I train my dog to attack on command ?” is a question frequently asked for various reasons. Usually either someone has seen a trainer training bite work with their dog or they are having a hard time finding a trainer to work on protection training with their dog and are considering doing it on their own.
Let me explain what it is you see on videos and makes you wonder if you should train your dog on protection work yourself. What you see on video, is a professional trainer teaching their dog the biting technique, the parts of the body the dog should bite, the “out” command should they want the dog to out during protection work and more.
The key word here is “professional trainer”. Meaning, the person training the dog has attended a dog training academy to become a professional dog trainer. The professional trainer has been professionally trained , he has not learned by watching videos or others working. The professional trainer has studied the theory required to fully understand what, when, why anything should be done during training and to be able to correctly read the dog. The professional dog trainer has accomplished the results you see because he had a trainer who taught him and corrected him when he was studying to become what you see today.
The purpose of these videos in general, is for a trainer to present the technique and skills of their dog. In rare occasions the purpose of the video is “instructive” in the sense of sharing knowledge with other professionals not teaching bite work through the video. Sharing such videos for other professionals to see is useful by means of offering a new perspective , possibly lead to an adaptation and something new in the work done.
On whether it is a good idea for a dog owner to try and train his dog on bite work or protection work on his own, no it is not a good idea, not at all!
This is not like teaching basic obedience commands where making a mistake will just cause the dog to not perform the “sit”. This is about teaching the dog to bite something more than a ball or tug. This is about teaching the dog to full bite the sleeve and to get into confrontation with a human.
Most trainers, in an effort to explain to their audience what it is they are seeing in their videos and avoid being considered crazy for teaching their dogs to bite, they refer to what is being shown as a friendly sparring. You will often hear them say that it is the same thing as playing with the tug only difference is wearing the bite sleeve. This is a simplification, to help people understand what trainers are doing.
But this is just a simplification. There is nothing simple about protection work training. A dog trainer knows how to teach the dog to specifically target his bite and has a clear understanding of the dog’s drive state during training. A dog trainer knows how to handle his dog to prevent him from feeling uncomfortable. A dog trainer has worked several hours before he reached the outcome you see on video. A dog trainer did not just presented his dog with a bite sleeve one day.
The most common reason why a dog trainer trains his dog on bite work by himself , is because a good decoy is not always available. So what we do is train our dogs ourselves so when we get a chance to work with a good decoy we do not waste time on teaching the technique we can teach ourselves. When having the chance to work with a good decoy, we work on defensive drive and some scenarios depending on the dog’s level of training.
When one does not know what they are doing or think they know what they are doing because they watched some videos or trainers then one risks giving the dog the wrong signals. Giving the wrong signals in a work as serious as bite/ protection work will have devastating consequences.
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