# Cross post Honest questions about PP



## Mari Steward (Mar 3, 2008)

Here is a cross post from another forum. I have my own opinions about this post and have not posted them on that forum yer. However, I wanted to post these questions here to get the opinions of th eworking experts here.

pen Class
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 58 

















*Honest questions about PP* 
I wanted to hear some honest answers about PP dogs. I see allot of these dogs performing bitework, mock attacks and such and my question is this: how many of you doing PP and I mean REAL protection not the kind where the dog likes to play with the sleeve and then it looks at the trainer (which it knows very well) waits for the next move and it looks very rehearst all the while its wagging its tail. I mean the real civil stuff like unknown decoy, decoy clobbers the master in a fake attack, rush attack and things like that would actually trust their dog with someone it doesn't know to come up and attempt to pet it in a hurred fashion or better yet walking in the park and have a jogger run up behind you and the dog almost swipping within inches of the master and have the dog not react? I here allot of people say that they can do PP training then walk through a group of people afterwords and the dog will not look twice but what about people attempting to pet the dog after these sessions? I don't mean a closed fist, sniff sniff for a minute then pet. I mean an all out over the head reach out and pet the top of the head? I am starting to see a very defined line in PP dog and everyday companion dog or am I not correct with this? The way I am starting to see PP is a stable dog that will walk at your side, pay attention all the time, very focused and otherwise will ignore distractions BUT will show signs of protection to the master if approached to closely by someone it doesn't know.
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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Mari our style of PPD training is something like doing karate. We spar with the dog and don't beat the hell out of it. I have a gas can with rocks in it, it is used to body tap or hit the sides of the dog. We use cladder sticks and padded sticks to slap the harness of the dog. Bite suit work involves body movements that reproduce attemps to escape the dog. The courage test is a real run at the dog with yelling and fast movements. 

In the real deal, we get bit. One guy had his ring finger broken, one had the top of his head bit, countless cuts and bite puncture wounds through the suit. This is all decoy stuff. One of our handlers broke his leg, others take spains to the ankles or wrist. In the big picture we are as safe as the "game" can make it. When I was doing karate, I got hurt, but I also kept training. Train for pain and train for success over pain...handler, decoy, or dog.


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