At an early age your dog learns weather people are there to meet you or him. A good way to teach him to be under control is to take your time, and slowly let people and other dogs meet your dog. Every time you go out he doesn’t have to interact with others. Your dog doesn’t need attention from every person he sees.

You can take him to a ball game and stay off to the side so he can see all the activity and remain calm. Then over tie you can move closer to the action. Depending on each individual dog this may be as quick as a few weeks or take considerable time. This all hinges on breed, energy and how much socialization he has been exposed to in the past.

When he is introduced to new people, ask the people not to pet or be overly friendly to your dog. The high pitched voice and physical contact tells your dog is time to play and be wild. These meetings need to be calm at first. Then once he is acting calm with meetings you can make it a little harder for him by having someone tempt him with the high pitched voice. Eventually he will stay calm even while people give him every reason to be crazy.

This will soon translate to control while working in protection dog training.

By Wendy Aston, Training Supervisor, Global K9 Group, LLC

When contemplating training for your dog or puppy, you want to be sure that your dog is physically and mentally ready for what you are about to embark on.

If you are starting with a young puppy it is suggested to let him mature before getting into formal obedience classes. There are two reasons for this: one is that you don’t want your puppy to receive so much information at to young of an age. This can cause boredom which many times looks like rebellion. Focus on behavioral training until he reaches six months. The second is that a young puppy is much more susceptible to contagious illnesses. His immune system is not completely in place there for you are counting highly on everyone else to have been diligent in their care for their puppy. Let your puppy be a puppy, you wouldn’t want to put a two year old boy into the first grade.

Various parts of training are done once a dog reaches an appropriate age. For example; Obedience Training is done at a minimum age of 6 months old. Prior to that age the focus should be behavioral training such as housebreaking, excessive barking, chewing, etc. Territorial Training (car & home) is done at a minimum age of 8-9 months. Lastly, we do not do the full protection training on a dog until he/she is a minimum of 12 to 14 months old. It is important not to rush aggression training to have a dog that makes good decisions. A trained protection dog has to make mature decisions and if he learns the work to young he won’t have a good foundation to rely on. This schedule will aid in raising and training a great family protection dog.

By: Wendy Aston, Training Supervisor Global K9 Group, LLC

Family Protection Dogs should be trained to the highest standards for interaction in homes with and without small children. Basically, these dogs are meant to become a valuable ‘dual personality’ member of the family.

Properly bred and raised dogs have a flatter curve relating to their various drives .  On that curve is a strong level of ’stability’, which is most important for social situations.  When a dog is properly temperament tested the results will show that the dog is willing to position himself between a family member and a criminal, and also be friendly to friendly people. The owner of a well trained protection dog should be comfortable taking their dog any-where with anyone present. Properly trained protection dogs should do its job in any environment, at home or away.

You should feel comfortable having dinner guest in her home while the dog is present. Also safely deliver her children and the neighborhood kids to the soccer game. Then, while being a spectator at the game, friendly visitors can comfortably meet the dog and visit without fear of getting hurt.

If any adult family member decides to go for a walk the dog should work extraordinary obedience on lead and off lead. Of course family members will want to walk in public areas with their dog on lead. If the handler decides to stop and talk with a friendly person, the dog will quietly sit by their side. However, if someone decides to grab or become aggressive with a member of the family, the dog will automatically disable the attacker.

By: Wendy Aston, Training Supervisor, Global K9 Group, LLC