Chimera Kennels

Hello everyone!

I thought this might be the place to introduce myself but if its not my apologies. I have a few questions that I was hoping someone here could help answer for me. First at what age would you want to start training a dog or personal protection? Second how much time of training until I could say the dog IS a guardian or prepared for the work that I need him to do? Does this vary from dog to dog? And finally what about a dog who cant or simply wont preform? is a guarantee something I should look for or expect in looking for the right dog and/or breeder?  If these are stupid questions or if this isnt the place for them then I'm really sorry im not trying to be silly on here. well thanks in advance to anyone who has some answers for me. :]  

To MAXIMIZE a dog's potential, one should start training the first day they get a pup; however, let me explain what I mean by this.

1. Bond with the dog. This is the most important part of training IMO. Why would a dog protect you if you have no bond or loyalty to the dog. Spend time with the dog and establish a close relationship and communication.
2. Expose the dog to different environments. Socialize not only with people, but also expose the dog to new things on a regular basis. In these environments, remain calm and unconcerned about things...and also show an investigative inquisitive nature. The dog will pick up on your confidence from such. Also, by "socialize" that doesn't mean let just anyone play with your dog. On contrary, I don't believe such is wise in a PP dog. Instead, show the dog to accept others with stability, but a degree of impartiality. They can pet the dog, but other people should dominate or submit to the dog. Instead, they should just have a "mutual respect."
3. Train OB using motivational methods.
4. If you want to do some bitework, that is fine.
5. When of age (based upon dog's demonor moreso than actual age), begin some training suspicion training and incorperate defense initially by using "defense of prey." Move from there to prey and back to defense...letting the decoy read the dog to work at a pace the dog is able to handle. A good breeder should be willing to replace a dog that does not display the drives or confidence for such work.

That said, please go to your login information and edit your profile. We do not allow "anonymous" posts to remain on the forum, so if you are unable to edit your profile please understand that your post will end up being removed from the forum.

Welcome to the forum.

thank you very much. And compliments on your dogs by the way! I think they are just beautiful. I have one more question if you don't mind. Would you say it takes a certain kind of person to handle a Swinford or Bandog intended for personal protection? thanks again.

also, if my profile is still "anonymous" please let me know. 

Your profile is still being shown as "anonymous." The policy of the board is to remove such posts, but since you seem to be asking sincere questions I won't remove the post yet. If you could get it fixed within the next day or two that will be fine.

Thanks for the compliments on the dogs. I wouldn't say it takes a "special type of person" to own or handle a Swinford for PP work; however, I prefer they are owned by people that have good common sense (as should be the case by any PP dog). The type of person that should NOT own a Swinford is someone that has a chip on their shoulder and wants to go look for trouble...or an irresponsible person that wants their dog to "roam free."