Shawn and I were 15 minutes eary to the seminar today.  The classroom was ready, although we still had some technical difficulties with the AV equipment (none available) which meant I had to lecture old school. We began with a discussion of Explosives recognition, and some of the newer advances in explosives training aids including NESTT, Scent-X (TATP & HMTD), and how we structured, specifically, the explosives training regimen. A lot of good questions followed the lecture, and we pressed on to the bitework.

As I began the lecture, discussing prey & defense drives, and drive channelling, one member of the class had some kind of objection to the theory – something to do with dogs don’t go in defense in bitework – he was quite vociferous about it all….and then the entire class started arguing with one another about the veracity of what I said….never had such a thing happen in a seminar, so Shawn and I stepped out of the room, had some coffee while they continued to argue, and then when all calmed down, I tried to explain it again (was met with a disapproving look, again) and so I asked him if he had his dog with him (of course he did not) so instead we showed some video of Shawn doing a PSA style courage test, tried to relate a cop running after a suspect to a suspect fighting him for control of his weapon, etc to get the point accross thet defense is real and dogs experience it, and if they don’t get trained in defense, they will more likely get run off a grip,

So we asked who had a dog thet could take the pressure seen on the video, and one guy from Argentina said his dog was very strong, so away we went to the agility field, moved some jumps and PSA in Brasil began. After Shawn ran the dog to a one tooth grip in the shoulder, the objections quieted, and we worked the rest of the dogs to introduce defense, teach drive channelling, and in some of the younger dogs, simple prey work, grip building, teaching the adjust, etc….

Lunch was called at about 12:40pm, and we adjourned to the Cantina for another lunch – some new stuff on the menu today (ribs, vegetable tempura, roast beef, abnd various rice preparations). After lunch we drove to the Brazilian equivalent of Costco (about 5 times bigger) and bought some DVDs so we could burn powerpoints, add pics and video clips to them, and that is what Shawn is doing now.

After lunch we discussed training skills of out and redirects, and demonstrated the out with a schutzhund dog who was having some out issues…..which we cleared up rather quickly. Nice solid black and red GSD and a very appreciative handler. We moved to the out with a couple other dogs, and then onto the redirects with the dogs from the Argentinian police. The dogs from Argentina were very powerful Malinois, big and strong, with very good fundamentals. Eartlier in the day we worked these dogs in the shoulder, PSA style, and they responded nicely, pushing into the grips, and moving with rather than against the helper. This afternoon, we  worked on the redirects, using both compulsion to work the out, and also with a couple other dogs, using only motivation to get them out. Some of the dogs with existing out issues, showed some improvement, but will certainly require more training to get the exercise. The exercise itself was well received and new to many.After re-directs we got a couple new people to decoy, one Brazilian and one Argentinian) – and both did very well.

We left re-directs to discuss a tactical application, felony vehicle stops & extractions, and there once again erupted an argument about tactics, cars were moved, bulletproof glass was mentioned, local laws in Sao Paulo that generally prohibit any apprehension bite save for one where the suspect pulls a gun to shoot an officer in plain view of that officer or another one. Once the dust settled we explained how it works in the USA, and they liked to see how we do things, even if they can’t do it themselves.

The day ended with a short lecture on tracking by Jerry, and then the Brazilians did their version of a tactical perimetered night track. Unbeknownst to Shawn, they brought 3 dogs into the area, and he ended getting blinded by a flashlight and double dogged without any prior warning…..I guess the language barrier got the better of everyone. Shawn was unscathed. We left for showers at 7:30pm after starting a 9am sharp, so it was a very long day.

Oh, and during one of the coffee breaks, there was a Brasilian Jiu-Jitsu match with Shawn and one of the cops in attendance. Shawn won by tap out from an arm bar in about 10 seconds…….I was pretty impressed and the crowd of Brasilians was pretty shocked. Shawn was happy, it was a nice side note to his trip here.

We had an update on our press appearances (I say that tongue in cheek) but we will be going to the Federal Kennels in Diadema – SP Brasil. Evidently a car is being sent for us to go to the kennel for a tour, and then we will be interviewed by a local reporter. Still a possibility of a TV appearance on wednesday before we leave.

We miss our families, but this is a unique experience. There was talk of another trip in the fall to Rio de Janerio for a seminar for the local authorities in Rio in August of this year. Depending on how things go, maybe another return trip to Brazil.

 Photos are coming…..here is the URL of the photobucket folder where the pictures will be:

http://s412.photobucket.com/albums/pp207/TarheelCanine/Brazil%20Seminar/