Should The Protection Training Be Fun For A Dog?

Should the protection training be fun for a dog? Here is my take on this. Contrary to popular belief, fun should not be the purpose of the training of PP. How to deal with adversity and real stress, which is not fun, is. My equation goes like this: Negative challenge > fear or suspicion .> which is overcome by courage > through aggression. Only secondarily, such training and subsequent potentially real scenarios lead to an adrenalin rush in a dog the same way as a combat soldier. Physiologically the adrenalin is then eliminated from the body by secretion of endorphins which will overshoot the amount of adrenaline - in other words, you need an enormous load of endorphins to suppress adrenaline. That over-supply of endorphins leads to an exhilarating feeling of high in the dog ( same as in combat soldiers after the combat.) This "high is then biologically desired, and if the dog is trained correctly, it mot be triggered by command only. That is why correct training is a must. In incorrect training, the dog becomes a rough fighter who will solicit the endorphin high at his desire by uncontrolled (not command-induced) aggression. So be careful there. So fear is not a dog displaying tucked with a tail between the legs and retreating.. this is an argument generated by detractors of this concept - an argument through the misconception that demands that the only way the fear is displayed is tucked tail and such. The dog's correct training is teaching the dog that FLIGHT under stress is NOT AN OPTION, but the FIGHT is the ONLY OPTION to the elimination of the negative challenge coming at the dog and dog-handler team pack of two. Effective training must not be based on an initial fun of the training and then saying to the dog (so to speak) that protection is fun per se even though the endorphin high comes later. The correct real training is teaching the dog how to deal with the UNPLEASANT not-fun situation when under the command of an attack of sorts. The dog MUST be taught how to deal with situations when the perp causes pain to the dog when he hits him with the stick or fist or kicks him, grabs him in an unpleasant way, and so on. That is the part of what I mean when I say "teaching the dog to fight and just bite". Thus allowing the dog to be comfortable when carried by the decoy and thus perp is and should be a big No-No! in my concept of training.

The excellent feeling of endorphins-based high is just a by-product of such training, an essential and helpful by-product, but

a by-product nevertheless. And not the purpose! Thus the purpose of the PP/LE training IMO ought to be to defeat PRESENT adversity of negative challenge, which makes the dog feel bad the same way a soldier feels bad when someone is shooting at him. The dog then removes the negative feeling by counter pressure, leading to relief. But there is no fun being shot at. I can tell you that.

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