Well.......since I try to avoid people like that, I haven't tried it. lol. I have been protected by my dogs when I didn't see it coming though.

I will say this. You don't need to do all this ...er...stuff....people are doing now in SchH protection training with these dogs. You bring them out at about a year of age and they BITE....the sleeve...hard... and fight the helper. No need to teach "targeting" or tug games or any of that other baloney people are claiming is so necessary now. They know how to work in protection because it is in their blood.

Excellent posts Anne thank you. I think I am understanding this better and better. Sincere thanks.

Thanks, Anne. I'm asking because my dog will always step forward, or place himself strategically so he can be in between me and a threat in a second when the situation calls. He will break the stay when he perceives danger (someone walking from behind, it happened), he's just there for me. Honestly, I like it but wanted to check if it's a sign of a weak leadership on my part.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject! Very interesting to read everyone's posts, they make me want to go back to actively training...

Anne, thank you for the long post. There is a lot of good information in there.

With all due respect, your personality is a bit stronger than mine, so what you would label as a “jerk” and what I would label as a “jerk” are probably very different. Also, I find humor in exaggeration and find the nickname "jerk" enduring.

Most of the behavior that I would label as “jerk” behavior is normal puppy stuff. I also know there are some other drives and behavior stuff at play too, hense the questions to Chris since she knows Grizzly. However, I think some of the "jerky" behavior is SA, a recent example being a dog interaction. I had my dogs at a location (not a dog park) where I can throw the ball for them and they can run off leash. A friend stopped by with her St. Bernard, Lilli. I was way across the field when she let Lilli out of her vehicle and Grizz was halfway there already. He approached Lilli with very aggressive barking. I called to him and he ignored me. I reached him and corrected him for not obeying. We resumed playing fetch and he kept an eye on her. He returned a couple other times to bully her and I stepped between and corrected him. Then he approached and did a normal doggie sniff greeting and then ignored her.

A couple weeks later, my friend and I went to an outdoor event with our dogs and I had Grizz on a leash when we saw them. He was polite but aloof to Lilli, no posturing, no vocalizing. We met several other dogs with no reaction other than a rude puppy that got a warning growl, but when he approached in a more calm and submissive manner, Grizz allowed it. (Not my choice to let the puppy approach BTW. We were in close quarters.) From what I have read here, I believe his reaction to Lilli was Social Aggression.

Am I mistaken?

I don't know. Maybe he just didn't want her near his ball. ;-)

LOL! Absolutely could be true. Though it is Bison that is ball obsessed. Grizzly just likes to run.

Started protection work with him today. So educational seeing agression sometimes defensive, and sometimes offense (SA). My first time working a dog using both aggression and prey. My Bison is a beast on the sleeve, but it is all in prey. He wasn't worked when young and he has a extremely high threshold for aggression. Had some great talks with Chris and later with Cliff to debrief what I saw today and how it will look later with maturity. This is going to be a fun ride, but man all my muscles are sore tonight from posting him.

What I was most impressed with is that he was very serious on the field, downright scary (meaning the display, not that I was actually scared, well other than being scared that I was going to fall on my butt and my helper was gonna get bit), yet I get him to the car and he was acting like we had just gone through a stroll in the roses, totally chilled.