How many people really think anyone can do "Personal Protection" Training in dogs?

When you say train themselves, do you mean they are the trainer or the handler? if you mean they are the trainer, than no, without proper experience and understanding of dogs an average person will not be able to train their dog to be a PP dog. If you mean as a handler, than sure, with proper instruction from the trainer most people can learn how to train and handle their PP dog. BTW, making a dog mean has nothing to do with training a PP dog. these dogs are not mean! they are confident and trained how to act and react in certain situation. I mean / aggressive dog can never be a good PP dog, to unpredictable. Jasmer have you ever seen a well trained personal protection dog / ring dog or schutzhund dog? these are the best behaves, predictable dogs you will ever encounter. they will not attack unprovoked. In fact they are the ones nicely walking in a heel position next to their owner and ignoring the rest of the world as it does not concern them.

I have been training dogs for about 30 years. I like to think I'm pretty good at it. I've even read about PP dogs and how to train them, so I think I have the knowledge, the temperament, and the common sense to train one on my own, although I have never done so. That said, I would NOT train a dog for protection for the first time without an experienced protection trainer guiding me. Just because I THINK I know what I'm doing, doesn't mean I do. I'd rather do it under the supervision of someone who is experienced with it. If I screw up attempting to train my first tracking dog on my own, no harm done. But when you're teaching a dog to attack people, and you screw it up, the repercussions can be serious.

Of the common household pet owner? I would say maybe 3% at the most - if they are trying to do it alone based on reading books, watching videos or visiting Y/A lol. I believe if you go to someone who knows what they are doing that your likelihood of being able to train in PP goes up. But I also think there is a large percentage of those people AND their dogs that aren't cut out for PP training. Not just anyone can do it because it takes a lot of commitment, money and time - 3 things people around here have admitted to not having all that much of. Some dogs just don't have the right temperament for it either - no matter how badly the owner wants them too. Just because your dog is a GSD, Doberman, APBT, Rottie, whatever else - doesn't mean they are automatically cut out for that kind of training. There are people that are lazy enough to show up to a couple of training sessions and then decide they can do the rest by themselves at home - that is dangerous! There are 2 statements I live by when it comes to dogs: 1) DOGS ARE ONLY GOOD AS THEIR GENETIC GENE POOL; and 2) DOGS ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS THEIR OWNERS

Not all dogs apply. Dog needs to be evaluated...your average Joe, wouldnt have a clue whether or not a dog has what it takes. Personally, I wouldnt know where to start. You cant get that information in books, i think it would have to be someone who's had years and years of experience. In either case, if I needed protection, for whatever reason, I really wouldnt rely on an animal to provide that. There are plenty of other, more reliable, options.

To make this short and simple. I firmly believe that no one should train their dogs to be aggressive unless their is a legitimate need or the dog is trained in duty or as a service dog..ect Many people choose their own views and opinions, even when their opinions endanger the life's of others. I agree with you completely. Ignorance is truly bliss, and many people try to justify their wrong doings.

I agree 100 %. I think an unqualified person training any dog for personal protection is about the same as someone that knows NOTHING about guns carrying one that could misfire at any time!!

There's more than a fine line between training a dog for protection and teaching one to be human aggressive. The idiots who ask those questions are not likely to even need personal protection, they just think having a 'tough' dog will make them look more manly. I get an even bigger kick out of the ones looking to make their labs and GRs to be guard dogs. If it was that simple (buying a book) to train a dog for protection, then a properly trained dog wouldn't cost tens of thousands of dollars. Wrong breed + wrong trainer/training = disaster

Hell no. I have many years of obedience training experience, but would no more think of trying to train a protection dog than I would think of doing major surgery on myself. I think it takes a special kind of person to do this training; someone that is not 100% commited to it will turn out nothing but dogs that are a danger to be around.

I don't think an average Joe can train a dog for protection. They would more than likely go about it the wrong way. I think an average Joe can train a dog for protection if they had a trainer, someone who is experienced in this art.