Service Dogs V/S Schutzhund Training

[Abhean]

I was recently involved in a conversation on a Facebook Group about a person that has decided their new puppy was going to be trained to be a service dog and was going to intermix bite training with the dogs training regimen.

For those that might not know schutzhund training is also known as bite work, attack training or protection training, it has a lot of different names. The training includes obedience, tracking and protection. You can check out the Wiki which can explain the sport and training much better than I can here. In a nutshell, though, this is the training that you see police (multipurpose) dogs go though.

As for the sport schutzhund training can be great fun, for the training it can also be a great thing if that is what you need the dog to do. For service work or cross training, it with service dog work it is not a good combination.

You will see me here quoting the IAADP a lot here. The IAADP is pretty much the leader in required training for service dogs worldwide. In this instance they specifically calk about protection training within service dog training.

"Prohibited Training: Any training that arouses a dog's prey drive or fear to elicit a display of aggression for guard or defense purposes is strictly prohibited. Non aggressive barking as a trained behavior is permitted in appropriate situations. (See IAADP's ban on the enrollment of protection trained, attack trained or aggressive dogs as an assistance dog with our organization. Click Here)"

There are many reasons for this prohibition.

Dogs, especially service dogs, pick up on our emotions very quickly. There is always debate whether this is due to body languages, scents, or what have you. What happens if you get nervous, worried, or scared while in a public access situation? More importantly how is your dog going to respond?

If you have been in a PA confrontation you will understand what I am talking about. Service dog teams are going to go through this, and it they can be very stressful. I had a trainer that gave me some advice I still talk about today, he said "Anxiousness runs down the lead" meaning the dog can read you better than you can read him or her.

If the dog is trained to protect (violently AKA bite) what may happens to the person "causing" the stress or worse those just standing or walking around?

Why even entertain the idea of schutzhund training a service dog? Even if you can successfully call off the dog from a lunge or attack you have still shown that you have a "dangerous dog" which can place the handler in the defendant's box in court. Most "experts", even with the trainers training logs, and certificates for the service dog will tell the court or jury that protection training is not allowed as part of a service dog training curriculum.

With all that being said let's talk about ethics a little. I wrote an article about service dog team ethics a while back. The important take-away was that everything we do as a SD team reflects on every SD team that comes after us. It either makes life for that future SD team easier or harder. Would you want to come after a bad incident with another team?