Given the right genetics and the right preparation for how to breed a dog for sport,
HOW TO BREED A DOG FOR SPORT: I believe there is very little difference between the service dog and the sporting dog. To me, the basis of training is identical and once this is achieved, it is purely training them for the task required.
One can see that there is a complete change in the dog’s behavior and sometimes it is for the worst reasons. Some show it more than others because it is directly proportional to how the puppy perceives the stranger.
This is based on his genetic expression of self-confidence, previous exposure, and experience.
It is important to allow your puppy to jump on people when he is calm and collected.
Although the first few times your puppy encounters several strangers, allow the puppy to jump on people while in an excited state to establish that people are okay and not causing harm.
This behavior should not be acknowledged by strangers or reinforced at all. After a measured interaction, you will soon realize that the puppy will try to approach strangers with an anxious and excited attitude, however, only allow interaction when the puppy is calm.
This takes time to teach and is very important. The puppy must realize that the stimulation is coming from you and that people are just people, nothing to worry about or get excited about.
You will notice that there is an invisible line (known as critical distance), which determines how each puppy will react to unfamiliar people. Now you must keep the puppy outside that critical distance to avoid subservient behavior.
It is almost natural for puppies to act in this submissive manner to man, as they have an inherited fear of man due to their wolf ancestors. But we don’t want our puppies to act submissive to humans because of the type of dog we want in the end.
I encourage everyone to always keep the end result in mind.
Note: (I allow my dog to approach strangers and I never allow strangers to approach my dog).
Your dog should be socially dominant; of course, genetics play a role in this. He should appear confident, with ears held high and eagerly looking at people, but not trying to make contact to be petted, rubbed, and whatever else people do to puppies, which consequently can stifle them.
How can we get any active aggression in protection work if our dogs consider people as their superior (alpha)?
The only humans that can be superior to my dog are me and my family, period. During this exposure stage, encourage your puppy to play bite tug with you.
While doing this outside the critical distance of the behavior change to other people around you. As soon as the puppy shows no real interest in others, but seeks to play bite you and shows determination and bites quite firmly, toss the puppy’s biting item to a helper (stranger).
Then, the helper should pick up the shooter/towel that the puppy saw you throw. The puppy should now be eager to bite it again and the helper allows the puppy to bite deep and full and the puppy should take it away.
I only encourage this behavior a few times so I know that when the encouragement is given, the puppy will respond in the way I expect.
It is very important that he is encouraged to bite hard and be determined, although this is largely a genetic property and a matter of maturity and confidence.
If your puppy bites gently, you must be careful not to overwork him, as this can lead to frustration and passive biting. Such an animal is already passive by nature, so it is important not to reinforce this by repeating exercises, hoping to get a better response.
What I am saying is: you must be sure that you will get the response you expect.
Once the puppy can work with a stranger and positive behavior is established, which, by the way, does not take long, maybe 4 sessions, then I get three or four different helpers to work with the puppy over a two-week period. in multiple locations.
This is very important as it is the most crucial period in a puppy’s development, as discussed by Scott and Fuller in their publication, Imprinting, and Conditioning.
This period is famous for having a huge impact on establishing a fantastic foundation in the unit building if done correctly. (Note that I only allow the most experienced helpers to work with my puppy for very short sessions, e.g., 2-3 bites, at this stage).
I have experimented for approximately sixteen years with this and am convinced that this bite/pulse development, during the imprinting stage, is necessary but can also be detrimental. It should not be attempted if it is not properly understood.
At six months of age, a puppy should show an extreme desire to want to have a big drive, at every possible moment, and it will become very difficult to manage.
This is the attitude required if we want a serious working animal that shows a tremendous amount of power. It is during this stage that we teach our puppies how to act and react with people and create an attitude of Social Dominance.
I should also say that the puppy quickly learns that he must be in a “drive state” whenever he is in your presence. You must be careful to reinforce the “inactive states” (calm) as well as the “active states” (drive) to keep your dog balanced.
It is also much easier to create a dog with attitude and then concentrate on turning him into an animal you can handle, rather than imposing huge restrictions on your dog in his developmental period and then praying that you can bring him to a powerful level.
(It is also important that this not be misunderstood, as I also want my dog to be socially confident, calm, and relaxed with people and not a liability).
Once he is working as best he can, considering his age, and is confident with people, all social interaction with man slows down.
However, it is important that habituation to the environment of man and children is maintained for life. The reason for this is simple: over-socialization could make your dog too friendly or subservient.
Therefore, it is difficult to obtain confident aggression, as he must perceive a helper/helper as a rival and not simply as a playmate. Lack of extensive socialization will create the opposite: the dog will exhibit fear-based aggression and will never be confident enough to deal with a helper/man, in protection work, with conviction.
The other reason to reduce socialization is that from seven months of age, your dog’s defense mechanism begins to blossom.
Less socialization allows the dog to become a little suspicious and this promotes the defense/acceptance of seeing your dog demonstrate this behavior while on your territory, in your car, while walking him in the dark, etc.
This is one of the most important stages that most people neglect or abuse. Here again, you should encourage and promote this defensive/aggressive behavior in as many aspects of your life as possible.
Be very careful to promote the (confidence) component of aggressive behavior and not the reactive (fear) component. For example, if he is barking at someone and his hair stands on end, then your dog is insecure or afraid, so you should never praise him but ignore him, as this will simply reinforce the insecurity.
On the other hand, barking should be reinforced with confidence, conviction, and a desire to move on with the helper running away.
Note: This can encourage unruly aggressive behavior with some dogs, so measure the stimulation your puppy receives.
If you overstimulate him, simply reintroduce strangers back into your dog’s life until his behavior returns to balance. Initially, allow the barking behavior to settle down a bit before reinforcing it with praise.
Care should be taken during this stage so that the reinforcement is very quiet and does not distract the dog while you are working. This applies to all phases of your work.
You should not allow anyone to approach your puppy while he is in your vehicle, in his crate, where he is vulnerable, or where subordinate behavior may prevail.
There are times, in controlled situations, when I may ask one of the helpers to prompt the dog with defensive attractions so that the dog realizes he can avoid the threat. Be careful, however, as defensive drives are the same as avoidance drives.
If avoidance occurs, he is placed in a position where his defensive drives must continue until the dog reverts to forward aggression. This is not the desired way, as one must wonder what state of mind and state of mind the dog is in; surely not dominant.
Note: I almost never reinforce this developmental phase of aggression with biting, as I want to firmly establish and strengthen his aggression and confidence, not the other way around.
The right foundation in protection training is the answer
There are many people in the dog training profession who believe that training should not begin until the dog has reached 12 months of age. However, this approach has some limitations since learning begins before 12 months of age.
In fact, learning begins on day 21 of a puppy’s life, so waiting simply means having to train around all the inappropriate behavior the dog has learned in the meantime.
One of the problems with leaving protection work until the dog matures is that it has no established behavior to reinforce. When these instincts are triggered by a helper, your dog will have no choice but to handle it as best he can based on his previous experience, which is limited, to say the least, and the strength of his genetics.
For people who are unaware of the inverted U function, it relates to the relationship between changes in arousal and motivation. It is also known as the Yerkes-Dodson law.
The basic concept is that as the level of arousal increases, the dog’s performance improves up to a certain point. Once beyond that point, increases in arousal lead to deterioration.
Therefore, it is believed that some arousal is necessary for efficient performance, but too much arousal leads to anxiety or stress, which degrades performance.
I apologize for emphasizing this and recognize that most experienced people are aware of the point I am making, but I feel I must reiterate this, as it is easy for helpers to overlook this point, and I see it in training systems worldwide.
Recognizing the above will help us with what and how we teach our dogs in all phases, and what association (classical conditioning) the dog makes.
So what mindset has been activated in the dog? Let’s look at it from the dog’s sweating session.
The dog goes to a field. The dog sees a helper/stranger/human he loves because his owner allowed him to accept people as his superior during his critical period.
Suddenly, the human he respects threatens him and, as the dog has no previous experience, he will react in the most appropriate way to ensure his survival.
Possible reactions are confident aggression; fear-based aggression, which is usually the case; displacement; avoidance, or prey. The reaction depends entirely on previous experience, the level of threat, and the strength of the dog’s temperament.
Unfortunately, most inexperienced helpers will try to get the dog to bite the sleeve when it shows some type of aggression.
Now let’s say the dog bites reluctantly, which is usually the case. What has happened now is an example of where the dog’s introduction to the biting job is completed on the dominant side and in favor of the figurehead.
The dog then associates that if he bites to save his life, the threat may go away. I use the word ‘may’ because most helpers do not stop there, but continue to try to express what they have learned from a book, video, or some expert, despite what the dog’s behavior suggests.
What has also happened is that the helper has created a fixed point. This is a point at which the dog will start the next time it faces the same or another figurehead.
How else can the dog see this helper? Last week, the dog was not afraid of the figurehead, but now the figurehead has become something to fear because it threatens the dog’s existence.
However, what happens when there is no aggressive reaction? With a more experienced helper, you can go a different route and try prey attractions, which usually works well.
The reason it is successful is that most decent dogs have prey drive, which can be developed with just a little work. From the dog’s point of view, it will enjoy chasing a gunny sack because it is not threatening; it is connected to humans, who like it.
All in all, the whole picture is one of excitement and very little stress, especially when the dog realizes that he gets pleasure and success playing tug-of-war with the friendly human connected to the end of the jute bag, who now begins to pair up and look like one.
With this success, the figurehead usually continues with prey training until the dog becomes proficient, bites hard, and demonstrates wonderful attacks.
The handler then contemplates how to encourage aggression because achieving this in the dog is one of the main goals you have probably read about in training books.
Dogs must be balanced in Prey and Defense. The word ‘defense’ does not sit well with me as it denotes ‘fear’; something we should try to stay away from when training.
So, what happens now is that the wonderful human tied to the bag/sleeve, from which the dog gets so much pleasure, suddenly becomes a threat. The figurehead threatens the dog and tries to incite some form of aggression.
However, all of this perplexes the dog because for the past 6 to 12 months this human has been a source of amusement and now he is a threat. The dog reluctantly becomes aggressive because he prefers what works (prey).
This causes frustration in the figurehead who often resorts to the use of force, such as hitting or threatening the dog with overt aggression or some form of pain or whatever will provoke a reaction. Of course, the dog is forced to react.
This reaction almost always comes from the wrong mindset: one of self-preservation rather than self-confidence (confidence-based aggression).
Over the years, I have come to recognize that I do not like or teach punishment-based training. One thing you will notice is that if you start using punishment, you will get into the habit of always using it and will find it in other areas of your life.
A dog is looking for two types of information, information that informs him about accessing comfort and information that informs him about avoiding discomfort. If you use positive reinforcement punishing.
I also don’t believe that dogs are born resistant. Resistance in a dog is produced through punishment-based training. This is the reason I also believe that many helpers get dogs to fixate on the sleeve through unthinking defense training.
A dog will look for a way to prevent the punisher from returning to the reinforcer. The figurehead is the punisher when it hits the dog and tries to divert the dog’s attention away from the sleeve, which is the reinforcer.
If you really look closely, this type of guarding training is no different than forced retrieve training with dumbbells, except in this case, the sleeve is the dumbbell.
The dog takes the pressure off the figurehead by holding on to the sleeve, which could be a dumbbell since the dog doesn’t know the difference. Then we wonder why they don’t let go!
Let’s look at this a little closer:
How is it possible for the dog to show some form of trust-based aggression when the human he liked, who became a fun connection in the dam, suddenly threatened him and made the whole experience uncomfortable?
This situation is suddenly not in the dog’s favor and, therefore, the dog learns to deal with the threat with unwanted aggression, which is reinforced by the figurehead. It is natural for the dog to show complications when biting because the prey has become a threat.
And what do the old master trainers always teach us? The prey being (helper/guinea pig in this case) that has been previously mated never attacks the dog otherwise it is not prey. But for decades people have trained this way and still continue to train this way.
But does anyone really stop to think about what was going through the dog’s mind?
A very difficult skill to learn and requires a lot of time and experience. However, training has come a long way.
Science has had a profound effect on the quality of training in the last 20 years, but we must also recognize that we have allowed inappropriate dogs to pass as well.
Schutzhund was a testing tool for breeding service dogs, but high-tech training has allowed people to develop ways to disguise the true character of the animal.
Consequently, breeders are breeding dogs to suit the discipline in which they are involved. For example, it is simply a change of mindset that is required (high sporting drives and limited aggression) for dog sports enthusiasts and (high aggression and appropriate prey instincts) for service dog enthusiasts.
Often, the dog’s prey instincts are so high that inhumane systems have been put in place to stimulate some form of aggression.
Prey training must satisfy several important needs of the figurehead: the first and most important need is that it stimulates an aggressive response not based on fear.
It is essential to be aware of “Pavlovian fear”. It is more difficult to eliminate fear in a weak dog than it is to control aggression in a tough dog.
Most of the grips and barks I have seen in clubs in Australia and around the world are predominantly prey and almost all aggression is pain induced.
If we trained correctly and bred from the right dogs, inhumane training methods would slowly diminish and more thought would be given to effective training. I know that a quality animal that is properly trained is healthy, and safe and can be an exceptional sporting dog and an equally good service dog.
Such an animal shows real power that can be handled with limited compulsion. This is because the dog learns that it is in his favor to comply and do more of what he enjoys: working.
Obedience in dogs should generally not begin until 5 or 6 months of age, and that is where a good foundation should be laid.
Unless it is done correctly, with clarity, you can expose yourself to problems much later. Obedience or not to obey, this is a hotly debated area of discussion that is ultimately your decision. Obedience started correctly at a younger age will an earlier age will help maintain dominance at a usable level.
Also, consider that starting at a younger age may also limit the availability of driving to work in adulthood. It has been observed that dogs that are left for later have a much higher level of working ability. In addition, the obedience you set at that stage must be very clear.
Otherwise, problems will occur and will escalate very quickly. The best and easiest way is to have the breeder evaluate you and your puppy on a predetermined schedule.
Mistakes are going to be made; there is nothing wrong with that, just report them to your trainer or breeder at each training session. That way, they can be rectified and your level of knowledge increased accordingly.
The traits are:
- High recovery which is genetic.
- High pain threshold
- High energy but not agitated
- Excellent recovery from a stressful situation
- strong and solid hard grip
- Balanced impulses
- Active aggression
- Strong-intense prey drive
- Adaptability