[leonberger]

I fully agree with everyone here. You can never socialize a dog eough. I am a professional petsitter. One of my clients is a canine police officer. He ownes three dogs, one of them his working police dog. The first time I took care of them (yes, I had already met them and thought they were friendly) I was very nervous about entering the house when I heard the GSD start barking as I opened the storm door. Once inside the house, I just stood in one place beside the closed door, I was afraid to move because the GSD was growling at me. As I talked calmly to him, he quieted down, came over to me, stood on his back legs and gave me a lick on the lips. This police officer had worked hard, trained a great working police dog but the dog was socialized enought that I was able to enter the house to take care of him.

I have heard of too many dogs being shot by police because the owner is ill or injured and needs medical help but the dog wouldn't let anyone get to the owner to help him/her. All dogs, from the smallest to the largest have teeth and need to be taught that teeth are not to be used on the public, or the owner. If the dog is being trained for protection, it needs to be trained to use its teeth only when told to. A dog that will protect its home/ owner without training is a dangerous dog and only adds to the bad press that our and other breeds get.