protection dogs Archives - Protection Dogs Plus

Selecting Safe Toys and Treats for Your Protection Dog

Ashleigh Behisy on September 27, 2023

The market offers a wide array of dog toys and treats, but when it comes to choosing the right ones for your protection dog, safety and health considerations should top your list of priorities. Not only does this ensure your protection dog’s well-being, but it also safeguards your investment. While we strongly advise against leaving your dog unattended with toys, as any toy can pose a hazard, these are our go to’s. Engaging in interactive play with your dog is the best way to go in terms of mental stimulation. When making a selection, choose quality over price. Always opt for high-quality toys made in the USA. Cheaper alternatives, particularly those from China can contain chemicals and tend to be less durable. Here is our guide to Selecting Safe Toys and Treats for Your Protection Dog:

**Goughnuts**

Unlike the popular Kong toys you’ll see in every pet store, the majority of them are made in China, and although they have been tested in the USA, we have found that Goughnuts are more durable and crafted from natural rubber while being made here in America. They offer an exceptionally durable range of toys, such as the Black Ring Power Chewer, along with an assortment of sticks, balls, and more. What sets these toys apart is the Goughnuts safety guarantee; if your dog manages to chew through the outer layer, they will replace the toy. Goughnuts toys also feature a “chew toy safety indicator,” making it clear when it’s time to remove the toy from your dog. You can check out Goughnuts here; https://www.goughnuts.com/.

**Farm Hounds**

Another American-made option, Farm Hounds, offers rolled hide chews that will entertain your chewer for hours. Unlike traditional rawhide, these chews consist of all-natural animal hides that are dried and rolled and are free from the chemicals found in regular rawhide, making them easier to digest. Farm Hounds also offers a variety of treats, all without the use of fillers and preservatives. Their delivery is impeccable, with treats arriving beautifully packaged, and the label even indicates the farm of origin! You can check out Farm Hounds here; https://farmhounds.com/

**Bully Sticks**

Bully sticks present a healthy alternative to smoked and cooked bones. They are entirely natural and provide an excellent chewing opportunity for your dog. However, it’s essential to ensure the stick’s size matches your dog’s needs. For our protection dogs, we typically recommend a 12″ stick. Keep a close eye on your dog, especially initially, as some dogs take hours to chew them down, while others are more vigorous chewers. Once the stick has been sufficiently chewed, it’s time to remove it before it becomes a potential hazard. For added safety, consider using a bully stick holder so that you can be less worried about the small ends when your dog is done chewing.

**Items to Avoid**

1. **Tennis Balls** The abrasive material on tennis balls can wear down your dog’s teeth and, in some cases, pose a choking hazard. Balls that are too small, have been chewed apart, or flattened can pose both a choking hazard and blockages.

2. **Sticks** While playing fetch with a stick may seem simple, dogs that snatch them quickly can risk throat obstructions or injury to the delicate tissues in their mouth.

3. **Soft Stuffed Toys** Soft toys and protection dogs typically don’t mix well, as these toys can easily come apart, potentially leading to ingestion of small parts and blockages.

4. **Rawhide (Traditional)** Traditional rawhide products are laden with chemicals, challenging to digest, and can cause choking or blockage if large pieces break off and are ingested.

5. **Smoked/Cooked Bones** These bones can splinter into tiny fragments that your dog may ingest, posing a risk to their digestive tract. They can also damage your dogs teeth for those that are hard chewers.

6. **Marrow Bones** The central hole in marrow bones can trap a dog’s teeth or jaw, potentially causing injury. These bones may also fracture or damage teeth.

Lastly, always steer clear of toys that may contain pins, springs, or batteries, as these pose additional risks to your protection dog’s safety and well-being.

Don’t have a Protection Dog yet? Check out our Available Dogs: https://protectiondogsplus.com/our-dogs/.

Protection Dogs: The Modern Woman’s Best Friend

Protection Dogs Plus on October 12, 2020

The current environment of the world is uncertain. Honestly, I sometimes avoid the news because it’s almost overwhelming. Left and right, there are new stories everyday about a new danger to watch out for. At the end of the day, there’s only so much you can prepare yourself for without becoming paranoid that everything is a threat to you and your family.

Every woman should be able to walk by herself at night without fear, be able to completely trust the male individuals in her life, be able to leave her drink unattended at a bar without worrying that someone will slip something in it, and feel confident going into unknown scenarios alone. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that almost every woman experiences these fears often.

Here’s the reality:

“It is estimated that 35 per cent of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner (not including sexual harassment) at some point in their lives.” https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures
“In a multi-country study from the Middle East and North Africa, between 40 and 60 per cent of women said they had ever experienced street-based sexual harassment (mainly sexual comments, stalking/following, or staring/ogling), and 31 per cent to 64 per cent of men said they had ever carried out such acts.” https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures
“Estimates of assaults on women by partners range from approximately 2 to 4 million per year. The Illinois State Police recorded 114,373 domestic violence offenses in 2000; 76 percent of these offenses involved assault/ battery charges. A total of 54,640 orders of protection were issued, with 4,574 of these orders being violated. About 25 percent of all hospital emergency department visits by women result from domestic assaults.” http://www.idph.state.il.us/about/womenshealth/factsheets/viol.htm

“Alright well how do I possibly protect myself?” – you might be asking. Well, you could go join a martial arts gym and train for years. You could go out, buy a gun, and take shooting lessons to learn how to use it. You could lock yourself in your house and never leave. You could avoid nighttime altogether and distrust everyone you meet.

There are a million things that you could do. The problem is, all of these take valuable time, energy, training, and overall make you distrustful of society and people. But I get it, it’s so frustrating to be aware of all the threats against you, and still go to work, get an education, care for your children, and keep a steady mind at all times. It’s a lot. Here is where our company comes in.

KB started this company with the intention of training dogs to not only be intimidating, obedient, and powerful; but to also express extreme loyalty, endless love, and fearlessness in the face of danger. He, and his talented team of trainers spend extensive time with these dogs. They’re trained to fit the needs of specific individuals while also being socialized and taught to be an essential part of a family unit.

What we want to give you, overall, is peace of mind. These dogs are loyal, incredibly well trained, healthy, strong, smart and obedient. They are taught real life scenarios in which they know their only goal is to protect you and get you out of harm’s way, safely. We teach the dogs to trust the family unit, but we also teach them to respond to potentially violent behavior with caution. We know that most crimes against women & children come from relatives, acquaintances, friends. This dog will be able to function as a typical loving family dog, with training that is activated by certain commands. If you want to be more secure in your family’s safety, a professionally trained dog who is tailored to your lifestyle is the perfect addition to the modern family home. Working dogs are being accepted into so many more aspects of life, and as these dogs excel in obedience, they can be integrated into a variety of ways of life, careers, and surroundings.

Our trainers do “in-home” training when the dog is delivered to you, which allows for situational training determined by your residence, and also allows for specific training for those at risk. Children absolutely love our dogs, and the dogs love them fiercely right back. The trainers will prepare your kids to work with the dog, say the right commands, and reinforce the training, so you know that your dog will protect your children even if you’re not around.

There is the reinforcement of commands and continuation of training that is required to keep this dogs at their peak performance level, and this will fluctuate based on your drive to ensure your dog continues the work it was trained to do.

However, you do it right, and you build a bond… You will have a friend for life. You will have someone that will stick up for you regardless, wait for you to come back, and you will be able to finally have the peace of mind that you have someone reliable who won’t hesitate to stand in harm’s way for you.

“Dogs are loyal, patient, fearless, forgiving, and capable of pure love. Virtues that few people get through life without abandoning, at least once.”

― M.K. Clinton, The Returns

Overall, Protection Dogs Plus wants to match the right people with dogs that will fit effortlessly into their lifestyle. We want you to have a protector, a companion, and a guardian for your children. Our company is family-owned and operated, and we emphasize that family safety, happiness, and wellbeing comes first. Our dogs will be ready for all of that, plus endless belly rubs when they’re “off duty”.

Let us match you with a best friend who ALWAYS has your back.

View our Available Dogs or Contact Us if you’re interested.

Written for Protection Dogs Plus by Ashley Smith

Some of our Protection Dog Training Obstacles

Protection Dogs Plus on April 21, 2014

Drago, a Belgian Malinois protection dog, leaps onto a roof during training.

Our clients demand the best possible training for their protection dogs so that they will be prepared for whatever situation they may find themselves in. Emergency situations are unpredictable and can change from second to second. That’s why our protection training system incorporates a broad range of challenges that equip our dogs to adapt to new situations and stand up to extreme pressure. Below are just some of the challenges our dogs take on.
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Turning On Against a “Passive Threat”
Dogs are keen at reading body language and recognizing threatening behavior, but what happens when a threat is standing perfectly still with a concealed weapon? If the threat tells you that they are going to harm or kill you without making any overt gestures, you need your protection dog to be able to come to your aid.

We take this preparation to the extreme; our dogs can be directed to bark at or bite a person even if they are sitting perfectly still. This is something they only do on command, and it is something that should only ever be done if you feel that the person genuinely intends to harm or kill you.

Building Searches
Building searches are one of the best ways to train protection dogs to overcome pressure and follow their noses to the bad guy. Believe it or not, most dogs don’t search with their noses by default. It takes careful training to give them the ability bite without relying on their eyes. A dog’s nose is 10,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than a humans. That gives them a massive advantage against any home invader trying to avoid detection.

Going Over (and Through) Obstacles
We use many different pieces of training equipment to simulate realistic obstacles that our protection dogs might encounter. Our German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois practice jumping into and out of moving vehicles, diving through small windows with precision, jumping onto high platforms (such as roofs) and more.

Fighting Against Armed Attackers
The two things we value most is your safety and the safety of our dogs. We prepare our protection dogs to face off against armed attackers in a way that is as realistic as possible while still being safe. Training with simulated gunfire and other weapons is performed to ensure that dogs will not back down from any pressure in a critical situation. You can see examples of this in our protection dog training videos.

Muzzle Attacks
Asking a protection dog to go after an attacker without using his or her mouth is like asking a police officer to arrest someone with their hands tied. By placing a sturdy, padded leather muzzle on our dogs, we can then send them for a bite against a trainer wearing no equipment. This exercise encourages tenacity and boldness. By the time we offer any of our fully-trained protection dogs for sale, they have demonstrated not just their willingness to go forward without the benefit of their teeth, but to compensate by tackling and wrestling with the threat using their whole bodies.

See One Oklahoma Protection Dog Owner’s Review of PDP

Protection Dogs Plus on February 18, 2014

We recently delivered a stunning sable German Shepherd protection dog named Aspen to Oklahoma. His new owner, Josh, sent us his review and his thoughts on working with Protection Dogs Plus:
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When we decided to have Aspen join the family, it was the best decision we had ever made.

We have had the worst luck when it came to dogs. Training had never been anything we were good at….ever. Potty training, obedience….you name it, we can’t do it! We were looking for a dog that was 100% kid friendly. We wanted a dog that wasn’t going to jump on the kids, or play and bite in a rough manner. We needed a dog that was already housebroken and trained in obedience. We found so much more than that.

We researched several companies over the last year and made contact with many of them; some of which never returned our call. Other websites we looked at were old and outdated. The Protection Dogs Plus website stays updated so we were able to go through it and see any changes that had been made. We ultimately decided to go with them for several reasons. When we contacted Protection Dogs Plus, the owner Khaled actually called us back and answered every question we had. He was readily available to talk to and we never felt like we were bothering him with our questions, and believe me we had a ton of them. We never felt any pressure to purchase a dog.

We decided on Aspen. Before delivery, Khaled would call us with updates on Aspen and even sent us a video of him. At delivery, they were very professional and explained every command and behavior to the extreme and never rushed our training. Their main objective was to make sure every family member felt comfortable around Aspen and worked with us until we felt good handling him with obedience and protection.

We had very high expectations for a dog of that quality and price so I wasn’t willing to accept anything less than what Khaled promised Aspen to be. Of course, I had doubts due to the bad dog experiences in the past. Not only did Aspen meet our expectations, he exceeded them in every way. Aspen’s obedience is flawless and his protection work is superior. He is the perfect fit to our family. We instantly bonded with Aspen and our shih-tzu even loves him!

We are so happy with Aspen and our decision to trust Protection Dogs Plus with placing him with us. We will never purchase another dog from anyone other than Protection Dogs Plus.

—Josh D., Oklahoma

Protection Dog Trick Training

Protection Dogs Plus on February 5, 2014

Just one of the many ‘pluses’ clients can request from Protection Dogs Plus is trick training!

Why would I want my personal protection dog to know tricks?

Our personal protection dogs are one of the best layers of security you can rely on. They have the ability to detect and defuse a dangerous situation before it escalates. We’re realistic about the fact that 99% of the time, the dogs we offer for sale will be working as trusty sidekicks and not baring their teeth at bad guys. Our priority is making sure that should the day ever come when you are in a dangerous situation, that you have a trained bodyguard at your side at every possible moment. How do we do that? By making it a daily joy to have a personal protection dog!

The cornerstone of that effort is our advanced off-leash obedience training, powered by First Choice Canine’s proven obedience training system. Once your dog is walking by your side and hanging off your every word, you won’t think twice about bringing your dog with you on trips into town, vacations, or anywhere else you might be.

Tricks are the cherry on top: trick training is a great opportunity for your family to have fun bonding time with your dog while reinforcing his or her obedience. If someone is intimidated by the sight of a well built German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois protection dog and you don’t want them to be—in the case of a nervous friend, for example—you can help set their mind at ease by running through a trick routine. This will illustrate that your personal protection dog is highly trained and good natured, not something that any honest person needs to fear.

What kind of tricks are possible?

Lots of them! Some examples include speak, roll, spin, walk backwards, and “fetch a beer.”

Recently, we delivered protection dogs to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including a pair of Belgian Malinois who can be seen here showing off at their new home outside of Dubai (Abu Dhabi).

Which of your protection dogs for sale know tricks?

Trick training depends completely on the natural ability of the dog, and keep in mind we’re talking about a completely different skill set than personal protection. Just as you wouldn’t expect every Secret Service agent to be able to play classical guitar, don’t expect that each dog is capable of the same tricks. If you see a dog that interests you and want to know where he or she stands with trick training, send us a message today. You can even request special tricks and we’ll let you know if it’s possible or not.

Already have one of our trained protection dogs and want to add some tricks to his or her arsenal? Get in touch with us about additional training.

Our 3 Levels for Protection Dog Training Explained

Protection Dogs Plus on December 17, 2013

We train Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd dogs for home protection in three different levels: Protector, Guardian and Guardian Plus. All of these dogs are given the same thorough off-leash obedience training, so your personal protection dog can easily stay by your side all day long.The difference between the training levels is the protection exercises that are involved. You can see a visualization of included exercises at our training levels comparison chart, or continue reading for an overview.

We will often train and list a dog for a lower training level than he or she is capable of completing. We do this in the interest of offering more variety in our selection. If you are considering one of our protection dogs for sale but would prefer him/her to have a higher level of training, please contact us to see if the dog you have selected is eligible or currently undergoing further training.

Protector Level
Our personal protection dogs trained at this level represent a tremendous value: total off-leash obedience and great on-leash protection.

On your command, these dogs are capable of turning on aggressively toward a threat, turning off, biting and releasing.

Guardian and Guardian Plus
Our Guardian and Guardian Plus protection dogs take functional protection off-leash. This has some huge key benefits. For example:

You can call your dog to protect you from another room.
Your dog is trained in defending against weapons and fighting a threat with his/her entire body.
Your family can make a safe retreat while your dog remains engaged with the threat.
Your dog can be left in charge of guarding your car or home.
Your dog can be sent at an attacker over a great distance and be recalled at any moment.

The advantage of the Guardian Plus training level is that it includes our most advanced exercises.

Multiple Attackers: In a situation with 2 or more attackers, you can direct your dog to the most prominent threat.
Stealth Mode: There are times when your gut tells you that a situation is unsafe even when there are no visible causes for concern. In this situation, you can switch your protection dog into a state of silent, heightened preparedness. Without showing aggression overtly, your dog will be ready for anything.
Guard Specific Area: Even without the physical boundaries of a car or a room, you can direct your protection dog to watch over a specific object or area (such as the bottom of the stairs).

Tricks
Depending on the natural ability of the dog, you can also request that tricks be added to any of our training levels. Examples of tricks you can request are: Spin, Roll Over, Beg, Bow, Stand, Walk Backwards, Weave Between Legs and Fetch a Beer.

Protection Dogs Plus Still Serving Clients in Nigeria

Protection Dogs Plus on October 25, 2013

We will soon be delivering two German Shepherd protection dogs to the area of Lagos, Nigeria: Rex and Falco. These are dogs trained at our Guardian Plus level, which means that these dogs are given our most complete off-leash protection training, including stealth mode, handling multiple attackers, and guarding a specific area. (Click here for a glossary of these terms and more).

In addition to working independently, it was important to our client that the dogs be trained to work cooperatively in a protection scenario. This gives his family the flexibility of using a dog for home protection and taking the other out for errands.

Background reading:

The Benefits of Training Personal Protection Dogs in Pairs: When Two Protection Dogs Are Better Than One

Kidnappings Threaten Travelers to Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and More

See two personal protection dogs trained to work together, including Rex and Falco.

Falco is one of the German Shepherd protection dogs we will be delivering to Nigeria:

Training Personal Protection Dogs for Texas Life

Protection Dogs Plus on September 9, 2013

Some of the best graduates of Protection Dogs Plus’ training program are keeping families safe in Texas. See Klaus, one of our Guardian level protection dogs, being delivered to his Houston, TX in this video. A key component of preparing personal protection dogs for life in Texas is getting them accustomed to working not just under high stress, but in high temperatures. This summer has given us plenty of opportunities to do that, with MA and NH experiencing several heat weaves in the past month alone. Daily outdoor protection training sessions in a all different temperatures mean that the German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois we train for protection don’t need much pampering. Even when the heat index is high, they still display amazing feats of speed and strength.

Believe it or not, German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois with thicker coats are not a bad fit for hot climates. Their fur acts as an insulator to keep their bodies both from getting too cold and from overheating. Despite their low maintenance qualities, when we deliver personal protection dogs to Texas homes, we stress the importance of providing plenty of shade, airflow and water to any outside guard dogs.

A Texas protection dog is much more likely to find himself tackling a threat in the great outdoors than a protection dog in New York. This is another place where our outdoor work proves its worth. We get the dogs used to covering all kinds of terrain, going over natural obstacles and searching for a threat in thick wooded areas. The dogs are conditioned to track movements with their eyes, ears and noses.

This protection dog training video shows a variety of outdoor situations, including bitework in the woods, tree climbing and jumping over obstacles. In one example, Eteo, a Belgian Malinois trained for protection, jumps over a stream in the woods that would take a human significantly more time and effort to cross. In another, he scales a steep ledge with ease, proving yet again that a fully trained protection dog can run circles around a human criminal! A protection dog’s speed, paired with his sharp sense, means that he can cover and guard the kind of expansive properties that our clients in Texas tend to have.

Snakes are a fact of life in Texas, and creatures like the Texas Coral Snake, Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, Southern Copperhead and Western Coppermouth pose a grave danger to humans and dogs alike. One training exercise we recommend to owners of protection dogs in TX, FL, NC, GA and other southern states is snake alert and avoidance. Using docile, non-venemous snakes, we are able to teach our personal protection dogs to identify and avoid snakes to keep them safe from harm.

See more of our training exercises in our protection dog videos, and read about what some of our more advanced commands mean here.

Step by Step: Buying One of Our Protection Dogs for Sale

Protection Dogs Plus on August 8, 2013

Hicks and Aden during a socialization training session in Brentwood, NH

If our guide to raising a puppy for protection sounds too involved for your lifestyle, you might want to consider purchasing a fully trained Belgian Malinois or German Shepherd dog for protection. With this option, you know you’re getting a dog that has already been thoroughly evaluated and prepared for home defense, eliminating the risk of ending up with a dog not suited for home defense or companionship. From the time our dogs are puppies, they are handled by experienced professionals who know how to nurture their working drives and social nature. Once selected for our program and imported to the U.S.A, the dogs are given the most advanced obedience and protection training possible. The heavy lifting has already been done and the dogs are completely ready to keep your home safe.

You may be wondering if you can bond with an adult dog as well as you could with a puppy, and the answer is yes. Dogs have earned their reputation “man’s best friend” because of how readily they offer their unconditional affection. Even though we are training working dogs to be professional and precise, at the end of the day they are still loving dogs who would like nothing more than to protect and bond with their master. During the delivery process (shown here), our dogs are already forming a deep bond with their new family.

If this approach sounds like the one for you, let this post walk you through the process of selection, customization, purchase and delivery.

The first step is to figure out what qualities you want in a home protection dog. Start by browsing our current selection of protection dogs for sale. We also recommend taking a look at our Recently Sold page. These pages feature a variety of protection dog breeds, sexes, and training levels, but understand that any dog that we list on our website is healthy and fully socialized.

Choosing between protection dog breeds and appearance is simply a matter of personal preference. Click here to read our discussion on Belgian Malinois vs. German Shepherds for protection. The bigger decision is picking the right training level for your needs. An explanation of our training levels can be found here.

Once you have narrowed your search to a few of our protection dogs for sale, it’s time to fill out our short questionnaire. Clients in the U.S.A. should use this form, while we have a separate form for international clients. This form will let us better understand your lifestyle so that we can help you in your decision making process. After the questionnaire is submitted, we will follow up with a phone call within 24 hours. This is a great time to have any lingering questions answered and to learn more about the purchase and delivery process.

Our focus is on selecting, training and delivering the best protection dogs possible. We’re very careful about which dogs we select—we accept fewer than 5% of the dogs we evaluate in Europe. If none of our protection dogs we currently offer for sale seem like a good fit for you, contact us to let us know what you’re looking for. We often have dogs at our facility that have not yet been listed for sale. If none of the dogs in our inventory are just what you want, we’ll take your “wish list” on our next buying trip and bring you back a custom European import.

As soon as you have decided on the dog for you, we’ll begin modifying the dog’s existing training to suit your needs. If you selected a protection dog that was already listed for sale on the website, the training would already be mostly complete and simply needs to be customized to the client’s preferences. The amount of time needed for these finishing touches varies based on what is requested, but generally takes just a few weeks. Training a custom import from start to finish, on the other hand, may take up to 6 months. Once the training is finished, we will make the delivery.

Our protection dog deliveries are coordinated far in advance so that you can allocate time for learning how to handle your dog. The delivery takes just a few days, and by the end of it, you and your family members (or friends, hired help etc.) will have a full working knowledge of the training principles such that you can use and maintain the dog’s training every day.

Ready to get started? Click here to see our fully trained protection dogs for sale.

Update: Military Working Dog Teams to Get National Monument

Protection Dogs Plus on March 8, 2013

By Dan Moore

In January we posted about some provisions of the Canine Members of the Armed Services Act (H.R. 4103) making their way into the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013.

One disappointing omission from this act was that military working dogs will still be classified as “equipment” or “surplus equipment” as opposed to members of the armed forces. We were glad to learn, however, that these dogs will be recognized by a statue being planned for Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. This base is home to the 341st Training Squadron responsible for training military working dogs serving in the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.

You can donate to help build the monument by clicking here, or head to the project’s website to learn more.