The fully-trained guard dog is supperior to most other dogs because it prowess and it's ability to protect property. The dog must respond aggressively when a stranger approaches. The dog should be able to pursue robbers and hold them at bay while barking to alert authorities. The dog should be gentle with its handler and people who live with it. In short, the guard dog has a lot to live up to and that is why Stephen of Stephen Guard Dogs does not take his work lightly. It's a healthy respect for the formidable weapon that a dog can be, and an admiration of the courage that these dogs wield in the face of all adversaries that drives the Stephen Guard Dogs School to continue turning out reliable guard dogs.

   After watching the gruelling performances by both men and dogs, we listened to what some of Stephen's School graduates has been up to. "There was this man who had been extorted of money 5 times. People used to break into his shoplot and terrorise him. The man finaly decided he had enough and bought a Rottweiler from us called Sabtu. Sabtu would sit under the new owners table everyday. One day, these extortionists struck again. They swiftly entered and put a knife to the wife's troat but suddently there was this black body swinging out from under the table at them and went for them with such ferocity that they were totally immobilised and couldn't leave until the police were called in." laughed Stephen in recollection. "There was also Doberman that I sold to a laser disc shop owner. There were a row of laser disc shops which were broken int o the robbed buy only this shop was not entered. You know why? Because only my dogs were trained NOT to accept food or be distracted by cats(apparently, some thieves throw cats into premises with guard dogs. As the dogs run after the cat, the thieves run after the loot.)!" He also recounted a story where his partolling dog in Cycle & Carriage come in time to see a robber whith a bag of loot making a break of it. A chase ensued where the robber managed to get away but the dog came back with the loot bag! "Once a watch dog of ours was thrown a punctured sardine tin over the wall. This is a common trick employed by robbers as the dogs would get busy trying to take the sardines out of the tin, making a big din, which would then camouflage the thieves entry into the premises. But this Dobe had been specifically trained to anticipate this exact thing and the unlucky theves were caught! Another time, a Malay farmer bought a Rottweiler to protect his farm found to his chagrin that every animal in this farm had died by taking poisoned food from enemies except... the Rottweiler! (which was unfortunately tied at the time unabling it to prevent this catastrophe.)"

   On what kinds of dogs can be trained, Stephen emphasized that not all dogs can be trained into becoming guard dogs and that training should always be done within the first two years of dogs life. "I find that cross breeds actually make the best guard dogs!" he quipped. "The price of a guard dog may put some people off but we have to simulate real-life situations which puts our lives at risk, and the work involved is tough! We wake up at 3.00 a.m. to agitate the dogs and train them under all kinds of unbearable weather so that they are always ready no matter what. This kind of training requires total dedication throughout the day."

   As parting words, Stephen had this to say, "If a dog displays aggression towards certain family members and visitors, it does not mean it is a good guard dog. It could become a manace. Such dog should be cured of thier temparamental problems and be trained, not all dogs are trained similarly. Dogs that are used for guarding warehouses and business premises are usually very aggressive and should not be kept as family dogs. Inexperienced trainers can do much damage by not reconizing the different level of agitation. But I believe a fully trained dog is anytime better than an untrained or worse, semi-trained dog."