Puppies At Work: Foundation for Bite Work

There are very few things in life cuter than watching a GSD puppy start learning bite work.

The end result of this type of training is this:

(source)

So, how do you go from an adorable little bundle of fur, to a full-fledged protection dog?

Dennis is a Lieutenant in the Milwaukee Police Department, and has been raising and training dogs for over 20 years for family obedience, behavioral issues, personal protection, police, sport competition in Schutzhund and Service Dogs of America competitions. He has trained several puppies all the way to executive protection and police service dogs.  Dennis and his dog Xeus are the only team in history to have all Service Dogs of America protection titles on one dog. He is an incredibly talented trainer, and both he and the dogs bring a contagious excitement and energy to the room when training.

Protection work and bite work are very specialized types of training, that most people don't have experience with. One of the first days I was at Pet U, I watched Dennis training with Allie, his competition-winning German Shepherd. It was a little scary, a bit emotional, and unlike any dog training I'd seen before. So naturally after seeing the finished product I was intrigued as to how this sort of action was taught.

How does it work?

Our puppies are temperament-tested for their potential as police dogs as early as 2 months old. Drive is the want and desire to do something. In this case, to be a protector and to take down the instigator. There are 3 fundamental drives needed in protection work that we test for.

• Prey drive - The want to catch the prey
• Defensive drive - The want to defend and protect itself
• Fight drive - The want to win even under extreme stress

Some puppies naturally have more drive than others. Drive can be increased and improved, but it is important that the puppy naturally has a high drive to begin with. We begin training with the simple game of tug-of war. At the same time we test their social drive and prey drive, and their sensitivity to noise. The games and tests will increase in difficulty as the puppy grasps the concept. The idea is to teach him how to best use the 3 drives in order to produce a trained response under pressure of attack.

Puppies in action

Playing with the rag teaches the puppies how to bite fully and to fight for it. We introduce them to as many of our training items as possible in this stage. This is the stage that decides which puppies will continue with training. Broc passed with flying colors!

Broc - rag work

Stay tuned to learn more about the process and see the next stage in training.

And remember, training protection dogs is not easy, and should not be attempted on your own. If you are interested in learning more, please contact us here at Pet U! We would love to answer any questions!