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Originally Posted by lblax  every animal/human has a flight or fight thesholds and that has nothing to do with fear aggression there is no such thing as you describe as a stable dog with fear aggression stable dogs are stable from birth. lack of socialization doesnt cause fear agression. i personally wouldnt just have a kennel dog(but not for any of the reasons that you state) but if someone wants to have a dog just for compitition and has proper housing(kennel runs and such) i see nothing wrong withthat either as most of those dogs get more excersize and more training that your average beloved house dog. |
Larry, Firstly I appreciate your knowledge base, however, I personally disagree. Yes, a stable dog is born that, stable, with stable nerve, however, we must remember that environment does play into a dogs behavior. I think that the MWD, or police dog's environment is hypercontrolled, thus it doesn't come into play as much as the "pet dog's" environment would, thus putting more dependence on the working dogs genetic temperament, but I do believe that the environment still plays a part in their behavior and reactions.
Perhaps I should have clarified myself when I stated fear aggression. I was speaking of aggressive acts out of fear. Is there a difference between a dog labled as fear aggressive, and a dog that is pushed beyond belief, or hurt, or abnormally startled that bites someone as opposed to a dog who due to lack of nerve is fearful and has learned that biting is the answer? I believe yes there is. There is such a varying degree of nerve development from weak to strong to middle of the road. I'm sure that a good varieity of the MWD and k9 units have the strong nerved dogs who are virtually unflappable, I do believe that there are some out there who are middle of the road, reactive, and less suited for the job they are intended on doing.
I would be very curious to find out if each and every MWD or police k9 unit is "just" doing their job because they are "serious working prospects". You can't tell me that these serious tough dogs, no matter how tough and serious they are don't experience fear, however infrequent, and if given an ultimatum wouldn't use their teeth to back themselves up....Especially considering their high fight drive!! They are at the core base, dogs. Perhaps bred to work through and prevail against high stress situations, but, they are in fact dogs.
Interestingly enough there is a k9 unit in the town next to me that has an unprovoked bite history. They had the dog on crowd control a few years ago when the Red Sox won the world series . The University of NH crowd was getting overly rowdy, so officers were brought in with k9's and mounted units. During a particularly tense moment when tasers and other forms of control were being applied one shepherd was walking with his handler, and took a cheap shot towards a reporter, who was minding his business, in his buttocks region. I was able to actually view the tape, and it was clearly a fear bite....Perhaps the stress was too much, perhaps the dog was not handled appropriately in crowds, but the reporter wasn't even looking at the dog, and got nailed...the officer didn't offer any commands to the dog either...Was this a "stable dog".... in my opinion, the stress got to much for him. No, he wasn't stable, or suited for that type of job.
So, while I think that these MWD and k9 units, and probably some of the Sch prospects are very strong nerved dogs who would have to have the earth come upon them to be unnerved, they may have a much higher tolerance threshold to stress, they STILL can be stressed, and still can react in a defensive way given the right situation.....Would some extra exposure in life help them out.... perhaps, if it was controlled well.
