Q: What's the earliest you can start a dog on attack training, and can you recommend a book? -- P.T., via e-mail
A: Dogs who are trained for "bite work" are carefully chosen for their stable working temperament from known working lines. They're carefully trained nearly every day for months, and that training is constantly reinforced over the life of the dog.
If you do not have a dog from known working lines, and if you are not prepared to train nearly every day and to maintain that training for the dog's life, you are asking for trouble with your plan to "attack train" your dog.
For the overwhelming majority of pet owners, teaching a dog to bite is a stupendously bad idea. If a dog is badly trained to bite, putting the genie back in the bottle is hard. The best you can do is to work to keep your dog under tight control. People who know what they're doing with protection-training compete in the sport of schutzhund, and it's among the most demanding of dog sports.
Want another opinion about whether or not you want your dog to be trained to bite? Ask your insurance agent. A dog who knows how to bite and does so may be seen in a vastly different light than one who bites "accidentally," as far as your homeowner's insurance is concerned.
It's better to get a security system if you're worried about crime than to try to make your dog into a man-stopper if you're not really sure of what you're doing.
Q: Why do dog-show judges check to make sure a dog has testicles? Who cares? I just saw a dog show on TV and really didn't get this part of it. -- S.W., via e-mail
A: Judges have to put their hands on the dogs to assess their structure and make sure all the pieces are where they ought to be. The alignment of the teeth, for example, differs from breed to breed -- the undershot jaw of a boxer doesn't go with a collie.
With longer-haired dogs, the grooming can be so skillful that a judge could be fooled into thinking a dog is put together better than he is. That's why in addition to a hands-on examination, the judges have the handlers "gait," or move, the dogs around the ring.
As for the most personal of examinations, there's a reason for that, too. Dog shows are supposed to be about evaluating breeding stock, so the judge has to make sure both testicles are evident in male dogs. Anything less is a disqualification.
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