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German Shepherds have a long history of serving in protective roles for both other animals and people, and keeping their families safe is one of the primary reasons people choose these dogs.
But German Shepherds need firm, positive and consistent socialization and training to grow up to be great protection and guard dogs.
It’s not just about training your GSD to attack it needs to know what, when, and how to attack.
This involves honing your dog's natural instincts right from puppyhood, and begins by learning the basic obedience commands. Only after your GSD puppy excels at obedience training is it time to enroll them in Schutzhund to begin protection dog training.
Some of the most common situational protection training protocols your dog will learn here include home invasion protection, car theft protection, outdoor protection, and multiple attacker protection.
A welltrained protection German Shepherd will also learn how to respond appropriately to attack at close quarters and at a distance both inside and outside the home, in or near the car, and with a single attacker or multiple attackers.
But despite the benefits of specialized training, German Shepherds were developed to have heightened protective instincts and so we can expect them to be instinctively protective of their owners.
Formal training builds on this, teaching the difference between a friend and a threat, and how to obey you while also protecting you. Once this is achieved, your dog will be ready for Schutzhund which is a German word that means "protection dog".
This is a type of protection dog training that was specifically designed for German Shepherds, and while Schutzhund today is considered a canine sport, it’s also the best way to properly train your GSD to protect you.
When a German Shepherd learns to "attack" this way, it means they learn how to maintain a firm grip that is immobilizing so that their human handler can take appropriate action against any threat, and as part of this training, dogs will learn obedience, tracking, and protection skills.
All Schutzhund training starts with obedience training in order to teach the dog to stay calm during stressful situations. Here, the dog will learn both passive restraint and active restraint. Passive restraint involves barking and herding, while active restraint involves biting and holding.
The critical part here is to make sure that your dog's first allegiance is to you and your commands, and not to their own instincts and drive.
Schutzhund will also teach dogs a comprehensive type of tracking that starts with scent work in a variety of conditions, which enables your dog to stay focused, manage their stress, and stay the course no matter what obstacles come before them.
And finally, the protection training portion of Schutzhund involves the three basic drives that all GSDs have: defensive drive, prey drive, and social drive.
The social drive is what bonds your dog to you, and the prey drive is a deeply instinctive drive that is born of an innate urge to chase, hunt, bite, and eat, and is what can quickly get out of hand in a GSD without the proper training.
The defensive drive is more of a learned drive that is based on the ancient fightorflight survival instinct, and involves growling or barking, to running towards or running away from the threat.
German Shepherds that have mastered the use of their defensive drive won't necessarily choose attack as their first line of defense since their ultimate goal is to see the threat in active retreat. If barking can accomplish this, then attack won’t be needed.
Now you may also be wondering if there is a difference between classical Schutzhund training and personal protection (or K9) training.
If you don't plan to participate in Schutzhund canine contests and just want your GSD to learn how to protect you in a variety of situations, then you may find personal protection dog training to be the better fit.
Either way, by taking your dog's personal protection training step by step, you’ll be sure to train a confident dog that can protect you no matter what.

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