The Practical Protection Dog

One area of our business that we get the most questions about is the protection dog training. People want to know: What is it? Will it make my dog mean or aggressive? How will my dog know the difference between the bad guys and the good ones?

Well it's a complicated process, but there are some easy ways to tell if your dog would have the right characteristics to make a good protection dog.

The most important thing is temperament. The dog should be social, confident and environmentally sound. This means your dog would be able to perform in a variety of different surroundings. A dog should not be intimidated by a noisy crowd, a shadowy garage or any place that might be new and unfamiliar.

Our friend and fellow trainer Mark Leamer has developed a curriculum in order to create a training program/competition sport called Practical Protection Dog (PPD). It is intended to produce a well rounded and useful personal protection dog. The appealing part is that it is open to any and all breeds whether they be pure bred or just a well suited mutt! PPD training also uses situations you easily could encounter in everyday life - an ATM hold-up, a personal assault,  a carjacking or a home invasion, so as the name implies, it's practical! The competition is based on three components: obedience, agility - can your dog easily jump and climb - and the protection portion. The pair is judged on their performance in all areas.

On March 21 - 22, Mark is hosting a PPD competition in Dawsonville, Georgia and we are excited to be a part of it! I will give a full report and as always, be taking tons of pictures! Email or Facebook us if you are interested in learning more about PPD.