Dog owners know that dogs have to be trained if they are to offer the kind of security require of them.  The belief among many people is that dogs are trained so that they can obey their masters and do whatever is commanded of them.  However, this notion is very misplaced and in fact most people train their dogs to make the bond between them and their pets stronger and also to increase the safety that the dog as well as other people will feel and have in the company of each other.  Security dogs need to be trained to ensure that they understand how to react to their owners being attacked and how far they should take a defense.  Dog training also makes communication with the security dog easier as it will be able to understand what it can or cannot do.  Therefore, security dogs should be trained to ensure that they understand the roles in the life of the people they are supposed to be protecting.

When training a security dog, it is important to ensure that it understands whatever lessons are being taught.  Puppies are easier to train as they have not yet formed a character and they can easily be shaped at a young age.  If the dog being trained is an adult, then different techniques and training methods would have to be used.  An adult dog already knows how to react and trying to get it to stop is difficult.  For large and small dogs alike, regardless of their ages, the most important training technique is getting them to learn how to obey commands.  This initial lesson is called obedience training and at first involves teaching the K9 to recognize its name and how to respond to it.  Other phases of obedience training such as recognizing danger and how to react to it can then gradually be introduced after this first phase.

Because obedience is the most important part of training a dog, other lessons can then simply fall in place after this initial training.  When a dog obeys and responds to people giving instructions, it will become more docile and manageable and will therefore play a more important role when expected to offer protection to its owner.  Because of this training, many trained dogs understand that they should not attack unless they sense danger and they are trained how to recognize danger.  Owners of security dogs such as police officers or property guards should be keener on their dogs because they are solely for security purposes.