# Pet Therapy wl GSD



## Alexiad90 (Aug 14, 2020)

Do you think a working line GSD could be a good therapy dog? I would like to train my dog to work with children and elders (she really likes to meet new people and to socialize with them) but I'm not sure because she has a great pray drive and high level of energy...any advice? Thanks 🌹


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

As long as she is very social with a stable temperament, she should be fine. The prey drive and energy are managed with obedience training and maturity, and will lead to an increase in calmness and impulse control. Some dogs with an edge or mistrust are not candidates for being a therapy dog.


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## Alexiad90 (Aug 14, 2020)

Chip Blasiole said:


> As long as she is very social with a stable temperament, she should be fine. The prey drive and energy are managed with obedience training and maturity, and will lead to an increase in calmness and impulse control. Some dogs with an edge or mistrust are not candidates for being a therapy dog.


Thank you...another thing: in italy therapy doga are allowed to work only 3-4 hours per week, to prevent stress in their job. So, it could be a good idea to canalize her energy in sport too? Or could it create problems with her training as a therapy dog?


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

By sport, if you mean a protection sport, based on the description of your dog, sport would likely be a positive outlet for your dog. There a misconception that doing bite work with a dog will make them more aggressive. If you already have a dog with some genetic aggression that is close to the surface and really teach the dog to fight, that can be a different matter. Your dog would likely see something like IGP/IPO as a fun game and it would be an outlet for her prey drive and help with reliable obedience..


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## CeraDean (Jul 9, 2019)

I will second Chip here. 
My young male does service work for my son (including public service) and IGP club. He loves club. It’s his fun day off from service and helps build our bond and communication skills. It could be just age and maturity, but I feel protection has taught him discretion. 
He works high drive in sport and it’s a completely different gear and attitude for the majority of his service work.


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

People who are misinformed often overlook that protection sports put a lot of emphasis on when not to bite.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

Chip Blasiole said:


> People who are misinformed often overlook that protection sports put a lot of emphasis on when not to bite.


Chip, we have all seen the threads on will my dog protect me and the concensus is for most dogs, not without training. No doubt IGP can teach discernment among other things, but couldn't one say that a dog could be conditioned to bite if there is a predisposition where it normally might not have been provoked to bite?

Example is a friend's dog that had a high threshold for aggression. It was the very kind of dog that one might doubt if he would protect. My friend bought another dog started in bitework. That dog was more inclined to be protective. My friend would later go on to start his older dog in IGP as a mature adult dog that had been raised as a family dog with lots of rules and heavy on obedience. At this point I am going to speculate that between his dog's exposure to the trained dog coupled with his IGP training, that those two things were at the root of his dog ultimately biting a guest that periodically visited and interacted with the dog since it was a pup. The cause of the bite was when the guest attempted to pet the kenneled dog as he had previously done before. IMO, this dog has been displaying increased aggression between the two.

I would like to hear your opinion on what went on there or the opinion of any other experienced person as this incident seems to fly in the face of IGP training will not make a dog aggressive. I already understand that many dogs function strictly in prey and view IGP as all fun and games. But what about this dog?

Honest question, not challenging anyone.


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## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

Not actually knowing the dog or his training, I can't say. Once you teach a dog to bite, that can open a door that was closed, but I still say temperament is more a factor than learning. The bite could have been related to the other dog being added to the mix. Most domesticated dogs have a natural inhibition to bite humans because they tend to see us as an adoptive creature of their own kind. Plus, training in prey only is unlikely to lead to biting in aggression because the end goal prey instinctively is consumption of the prey and dogs typically don't see humans as prey. There are always exceptions, an example being non-classical prey, which is uncommon, where the dog does see a person as prey. You usually see this in extremely prey driven breeds such as Mals.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

Chip Blasiole said:


> Not actually knowing the dog or his training, I can't say. Once you teach a dog to bite, that can open a door that was closed, but I still say temperament is more a factor than learning. The bite could have been related to the other dog being added to the mix. Most domesticated dogs have a natural inhibition to bite humans because they tend to see us as an adoptive creature of their own kind. Plus, training in prey only is unlikely to lead to biting in aggression because the end goal prey instinctively is consumption of the prey and dogs typically don't see humans as prey. There are always exceptions, an example being non-classical prey, which is uncommon, where the dog does see a person as prey. You usually see this in extremely prey driven breeds such as Mals.


Thanks Chip! I agree that once you teach some dogs to bite, that it can open doors for those dogs. I guess it depends on how you interpret things, and on the individual dogs, but bitework can make a dog more aggressive with the right dog.


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## Kazel (Nov 29, 2016)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> Thanks Chip! I agree that once you teach some dogs to bite, that it can open doors for those dogs. I guess it depends on how you interpret things, and on the individual dogs, but bitework can make a dog more aggressive with the right dog.


Not GSDs but we are almost certain the person we got a mastiff from was trying to train him in protection sports like she had with rotties. When we first got him he’d sometimes try to go for an arm bite during play if the body position was just so. So right/wrong dog and especially the wrong training can I personally think really cause some issues.


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## davewis (Jan 7, 2020)

I would suggest giving it a try and seeing how it goes. I was looking at doing therapy work with my dog at the local VA. However, my dog is very slow to warm up to new people. He likes to hang out and watch someone for several hours before he lets them touch him. That was not a good fit for the type of group therapy our local VA provides.

He was not aggressive or hostile, just very introverted towards people.

On the other hand, the way he walks the perimeter of a new place before settling down to nap by my feet while watching the entrances to the room was cathartic for vets with PTSD.

I am going to wait another 6 months or so before I take him back to group.


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## HollandN (Aug 12, 2020)

With my previous gsd Rorie I took her into visit a friend in a nursing home Staff there encouraged me to have her certified We started volunteering at a nursing home Once when I wasn’t watching closely an Alzheimer’s patient pulled her tail kinda hard she just moved away At the same time I also did schutzhund so you can do both


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## Alexiad90 (Aug 14, 2020)

Thank you all for the valuable advice, you were all very kind. As for my dog, she has never shown aggression towards humans, on the contrary she is enthusiastic about being approached to new people ... it happened (to make an example) that they accidentally crushed her tail and she did not show the slightest fear or anger about it ....is such a sweet heart 😂🌹. Thankfully she unleashes her need to bite and her predatory instinct in playing.

I will take her to a Sports Center and gradually see if she enjoys IGP, or other activities, and if her attitude toward people will change in some way or not


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

may not be an issue there, as the US tends to go regulation crazy about everything.... but some organizations will not allow a dog to be certified as a therapy dog if it has had any bite work training. sure there are misinformed parties in some part of that chain, but ultimately it’s for liability reasons.


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