My Dogs Did Not Come To My Aid :( - Page 4

Goahead....you evil, evil person. The dirty word," breeder," has now branded you! LOL. (just kidding)

if you are in Michigan, you are lucky. there are many SchH and Police dog trainers here. Look some up and see if they
want to take on personal protection clients. there are still no guarantees of your dogs' reaction to a real life situation, but
you can increase your odds by teaching the dogs the basics of biting and outting. They may not know it is ok to bite, ever.

Brian Harvery in Hudson, MI has a SchH club and worked with non-sport clients as well. He might be a good place to start.

You learned a good lesson, and you didnt get badly injured or worse. Now you know your dogs are just a deterrent unless
you undertake some serious training. Dont make your decision lightly. Owning dogs that know they are allowed to bite a
human is a HUGE responsibility.

Sadly this normal, working lines or not, so don't blame your dogs.

I'm not as knowledgeable as some of the guys that have replied to your posts, but my experience is perhaps a little unique. As a SGT on a SWAT Team for the last 25yrs I get out of bed at 0300am to go and smash down the doors of scum bags, we run through the house in the dark screaming and literary drag them out of their beds whilstbtheir fighting like f*ck.
We only get asked to do this for your regular murderers, terrorists, psycho nut jobs, our 6 teams are doing this 7 days a week in one form or another; guess what 99% of UNTRAINED DOGS don't protect; pit bulls, Rotts, Malls, Crosses, dogs on horse steriods, drugs, creatine... no.
Cornered dogs with no escape route sometimes bite, and the very old dogs too strangely enough.

Bear in mind some people on here believe their dogs will bite, and they're probably right but very dogs will FIGHT, big difference!
Prepare yourself, prepare your dogs, remember everyone gets lucky now and then.. even the bad guy!

Ronin

   I Agree Totally with >SitasMom,<.......In the County I live,in Maryland,the Dogs attacking would have Resulted in a Fine, and a Yearly Dangerous Dog Fee,due in Full to the County Treasurer,in addition to a Possible Law Suit......

Not where I live (Canada).  The dog is quarantined for 10 days (rabies) and then, nothing.  Multiple bites may result in the dog being put down, but, here they prefer not to put the dog down.

Before you write that you believe entirely in positive reenforcement, you should do some research and learn that saying no is still a punishment. So you clearly know nothing about operant conditioning and need to do some research like most trainers/owners that claim they are just positive reenforcement. And I agree your dogs should not have acted, you should be the leader of your dogs not depend on them to solve your issues. As far as getting a malinois, that's a bad idea they require real leadership and even if they are trained in protection should know that you are in control when your present.

 

I Agree Totally with >SitasMom,<.......In the County I live,in Maryland,the Dogs attacking would have Resulted in a Fine, and a Yearly Dangerous Dog Fee,due in Full to the County Treasurer,in addition to a Possible Law Suit......

Boy thays cause to pack your bags. How does one tolerate to live in a a state that prefers to prosecute a dog that would protect itself and its owner in its own home. That dog had every right to injure or kill the man for punching and fighting its owner in its own house. Shame on any jury that would give you a penny for your damage or death. Holy cow Jon, thats amazing.

Maryland law:
http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusmdcrim_law_10_619.htm 

the key words are without provocation .

One of the first responses to this thread was the correct one. 

Without protection training, all dogs are flight or fight.  They make this decision very soon in the situation.  If they do not predict they will win, they wont fight period, unless in self defense cornered with no where to run, even then maybe not.

Also, without training, your dogs are living by the rules of pack structure.  It is your responsibility as Alpha to lead the fight, so they let you lol.

We've done some very minimal SchH type training with our dogs, enough to teach them the reactions we want whehn we say 'Pass auf". To them, it's fun because it always results in a reward of some kind, treats, or play, or a bite on a sleeve. The end result is that I can say 'Pass auf' to any one of them and they'll go into a bark-and-hold long enough to let me call the police.

By giving your dogs some obedience training beyond heeling and retrieving you can use them to assist you in tricky situations. And by choosing your friends and associates you can avoid those tricky situations. It's not really fair of you to put the consequences of your life style choices on your pets.