Is this the world's best guard dog?

Spooky demonstration of trainer's control over animal as it attacks target

Stills from the video showing the dog attacking (LondonLive)

Video footage has emerged of what might possibly be the world's best guard dog.

The animal, which has been trained to attack and release on command, was filmed during a controlled demonstration in a video released on YouTube yesterday.

In the video a man calmly gives the order for the Alsatian breed to attack a man wearing a specially padded jacket.

The dog launches himself at the victim, quickly locking his jaws around the man’s arm as he attempts to shake the animal off, violently swinging the animal around in a futile attempt to dislodge the hound.

The owner and trainer, wearing a red hoodie, says “enough” and the dog immediately releases its target and sits watching the man, before the owner gives another command (“with me”) and the animal returns to his side.

There is also a moment when the trainer tells the animal to bark, causing the animal to unleash a ferocious volley of growls and barks before he is silenced with another command.

It is a spooky demonstration of the control dog trainers exercise over their animals – and the damage these highly trained canines are capable of.

Comments below the video on YouTube are not overwhelmingly positive, with some users condemning the brutality of the trainer as well as the animal.

Attack dogs are used by various military organisations, as well as police forces, around the world. They are trained to hold or slow down a target rather than to inflict injury.

In 1975 an American study noted that 75 per cent of dogs who bite humans had received attack training at some point in their lives.