Should The Protection Dog Be Under Control?
Is the bedrock of the protection dog our control of the dog? I saw in a different post, that some are devoted to controlling the dog with obedience. IMO that is not a warrior, but it is a sport attitude. Let me make clear that when I am working with the dog, I am not talking about physical or mental "control". My point is that when I train such a dog, I am striving for 100% cooperation and when the dog gets an attack command, he is completely independent and FREE to induce his protection impulses, skills inherited, and learned ability to fight and drive until told otherwise.
However, one must understand that "told otherwise" does not mean control of him. What that means is that during the attack, the dog MUST be 100% efficient and unencumbered about worrying that he is under some kind of control. There, during an attack in the dog's mind MUST BE 0 = ZERO thought of control directed from handler to the dog. "Control" is not even a word I would ever use. How is that possible? In a protection situation (or in any working situation for that matter), we - I and my dog - are a team with the same interest. The same as herding dog herding sheep and the sheepherder. The sheepherder does not "control" the dog; he is merely telling him what needs to be done. This is a fundamentally different concept from today's training of the dog to be under control. Such control concepts are not that of a team. Think about hunting wolf pack. Are each individual members of the pack under someone's control? No in the name of efficiency, there is only cooperation and a job which needs to be done the best possible way! Thus there is no "control" per se because it is - or should not be necessary.
Today's prevailing desire during present tendencies during training to keep the dog from attacking needs control, which then lingers in the dog's mind and that makes him hesitate. I do not want hesitation during protection I want to annihilate the enemy with prejudice and expediency as fast as possible. The most direct, samurai-like way. I am using this dramatic-like expression which I am using for clarity of what I am saying. Or another way. ....When I am building a brick house, you hand me bricks, and I am putting them in place with mortar. Am I in control of you? No! We are in sync and on the same team. And when the wall is finished, we stop. You stop handing me bricks, and I stop laying them into the wall. There is no control. I am not controlling you to stop handing me the bricks. You see, the wall is done, and I say so, so you stop handing me bricks. Yes? If I need to control the person who is building the wall with me, then we have an incorrect working relationship. The same way if I need to control the dog during protection training. My dog is not a slave who needs to be controlled. He is my partner doing the same job as I do but in a different way and in a different part of it. He is my force multiplier. Same force, though. My task as a leader is merely communicating to the coworker or to my dog what job needs to be done and when the job is done, and he understands because he is on the same page as I am. Also, he will not attack my friend or person who needs not to be attacked, not because he is under control but because HE IS ON THE SAME PAGE AS I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thus there is no control per se. Control would indicate that we are in conflict because that would be the only way I would need to control the dog.
Where during my way or concept of training, there s no conflict; we - I and my dog - are going THE same way, so to speak, and I am just giving him directions same as the captain of the sailing ship gives direction to the sailors setting the sails. They do not need control, and they work the best if they understand the job and at the same time are unencumbered by "control," where such "control" would make them worried about making mistakes, and thus they would be less efficient and more hesitant due to worry, and the ship would not be sailed with the speed and direction she is potentially capable of. I, in my humble mind, think that this concept of training is of a higher level, and it needs to be taught, understood, and applied.