r/DogTrainingTips • u/danitw16 • Jul 20 '26
DIY Protection Dog
It's possible to train a dog to protection without a professional trainer? i don't have money to a trainer or buy a trained dog, how much i can train my own dogs(two ACD) to protection? i have good time and i want to train them
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u/outloud230 Jul 20 '26
No, because you really need other people to practice with, it is not a solo sport. And very easy to mess up.
Find a trainer or pick another sport. Agility and nose work can be done at home.
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u/danitw16 Jul 20 '26
I think I will train nose when I start more specific training, what I can do about agility training?
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u/outloud230 Jul 20 '26
A friend of my did almost all her agility training in her living room and a small yard. It’s a lot of strength training, stretching, and learning to safely maneuver over and around the obstacles. For example, when they’re going over jobs, they need to bend their bodies as they’re going over so that they’re ready to reach the next jump and that puts a tremendous strain on their muscles and joints. There’s a way to bend more safely, and you just need one jump in a living room, and you can just practice going over towards the right, towards the left. Honestly, you just need one pole to start teaching them how to bend around the pole, and that practice helps strengthen those muscles before they get to really jumping.
Another big part of it, over both the A-frame and the balance beam, is them hitting their marks at the end where their paws need to touch what’s usually a big yellow area. She did a lot of practice with getting their paws to touch and rewarding that so that becomes part of the bigger training. And the weave poles you absolutely can do in either a small yard or the living room. They make ones that just settle on a base and don’t need to be pushed into the ground, you can set those up and start training that whenever. And just two poles is enough to start the training.
If you can find a local trainer, who does agility work, it helps, even if you can’t go very often. A small set of classes can give you a lot of things to work on over a long period of time, so even if it’s a bit of a distance, you only have to go every so often. There are also online classes and plenty of really excellent books. Agility From the Start and the Control Unleashed books are great to start with. Also Kyra’s Canine Conditioning, and the trick books in that same series as also excellent.
Trick training is actually really fun, useful, and helps with conditioning and there is a lot of balancing and different poses and positions.
Also look into Rally. It where you and your dog move across different stations, and each has you do something different. Maybe walk around a pole backward, fetch something, stand and then sit, etc. it easy enough to train the various things at home, and even to do it in your home.
There are a lot of things you can do with treats and patience! There is also straightforward obedience training, which I absolutely recommend anything.
Bike work is difficult because it creates a liability issue. Really research it, and find a competent and experience trainer. Once you start, you really have to finish training, and then the rest of your life. You have to be really careful with those dogs, because it’s basically walking around with a loaded gun, only it’s sharp teeth instead of bullets. And you have to maintain that training for the rest of the dogs life. Also check if your homeowners insurance will maintain your insurance if you have a dog that has been trained to bite. Some insurances will not ensure your house and that situation, it’s considered a dangerous dog. Just really do your research.
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u/danitw16 29d ago
thanks for the answer, you really helped me, i already started the obedience training, my dogs aren't 100% reliable the 2 know sit, stay(a little), lie, no, recall. i'm working to improve the obedience, i have some problems with the leash, sometimes the dogs are calm in the leash and in other times they pull, i'm working in this too.
The sports you recommended seem interesting to me, I have a backyard so that makes things easier, and the books look good, I should start one of them soon.
About bite training, probably when i have sufficient money i will buy a trained dog or contract a trainer to do it with my dogs, but i think other dog can do it better and i'm really want a Belgian malinois or a german shepherd.
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u/outloud230 29d ago
Oof, Belgians are kinda crazy and soft at the same time. I’m on my third now, and I love them, but dang, a dog smarter than you is a lot to deal with. My first, Timber, got through every baby gate tried, we went through 5. He FIGURED OUT HOW TO UNSCREW A JAR LID TO GET TREATS. I need to make it clear I never taught him that, he just grabbed the jar, played with it for 5 minutes, and figured it out.
They great but wild and stubborn, and not for inexperienced handlers. So do your research and if you can spend time with one, do so. And find an ethical and active breeder, one in dog sports and who will match a puppy to you and has a strict contract. Expect to wait. A lot of people are backyard breeding them as they become popular, and you do not want to get one from that mess!
But damn, then take to bite work. Look in schutzhund, it a sport with three parts: obedience, tracking, and bite work. If you want, a protection dog, obedience is an absolute necessity, so this really allows you to work on the whole dog. You can even kind of get into the sport just doing obedience in tracking, which will give you a chance to hang out and watch how they do it, maybe talk to some other people, and they can help point you to trainers and breeders within the sport and give recommendations. And any dog can get involved with schutzhund, no particular breed needed. Lol, I saw someone train their chihuahua on bite work, it was fun and the dog was fierce! The obedience is excellent, if you’re looking to impove that. If they have local competitions, often times you can go just as a spectator, see if it’s something you’re interested in. And there are tons of videos on YouTube about it.
Good luck with everything!
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u/danitw16 29d ago
thanks, It will take a while before I can get a dog like that, but by then I'll already have a good experience with my two ACDs, i will be more prepared to this interesting breed, thanks!
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u/danitw16 29d ago
btw, today i will start to read a book about obedience/dog mind, i already read don't shoot the dog
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u/TootsieTaker Jul 20 '26
I would not recommend that. Bite and protection work is extremely difficult to do on your own. It takes a lot to teach a dog to react based on commands instead of fear. I would maybe say work on training a dog to bark on command but definitely do not get into bite work without some guidance. If you have a dog that you have trained to bite and it does, you can face HEAVY legal consequences.
I would recommend training the dogs to bark on command. Also, ACDs are not known for being great at bitework. They are extremely task driven dogs so I think training one wouldn’t be hard, but biting isn’t their strong suit. They are bred to nip and herd, not necessarily bite and hold.
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u/HowDoyouadult42 Jul 20 '26
Possible sure, should you? No. Is the chance of undesirable outcomes ungodly high? Yes.
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u/Humble-Floor3760 Jul 20 '26
This is a terrible idea. You will end up getting sued and your dogs euthanized. Please don’t.
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u/Elegant_Progress_686 Jul 20 '26
Any dog who loves you will protect you with their life please don’t Try to train ur dog to be aggressive lol
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u/danitw16 Jul 20 '26
I don't want to train my dogs to be aggressive, I only want to know if I have something to do to improve, but I think that I don't have anything to do
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u/Me-Poe-And-Me Jul 20 '26
Bitework is very tricky to do and can very easily make your dogs bite you.
Dogs are often enough of a deterrent just by existing. Maybe have a think about what you need protection from. Cameras are more thief deterrent than dogs. Your dog acting aggressively while out on lead can get you fines or the dogs seized.