This is an excerpt from Controlled Aggression by Jerry Bradshaw....available by clicking on the link on this blog's home page....

The Patrol Test

 The patrol test begins with evaluating the dog’s demeanor as he comes into the testing area. It is preferable to choose a neutral testing area that is unfamiliar to the dog. Try to avoid doing all the testing on the dog’s home field. Remember you are testing his nerves in addition to testing his drives. We are looking for his pack sociability (how he relates to his handler including the bond in evidence, or possibly any negative attributes like hand shyness) and his public sociability (how he relates to you and anyone else unknown to the dog in the testing area). Is the dog is social or neutral, or worse, decidedly unsocial.  If the dog is very civil, and that is something you value highly, he should be alert to the people around him but confident. There is a difference between a sharp dog and a fear biter – the difference being confidence. Once you are happy with the dog’s public sociability the dog is ready to be tested.

 Defense Evaluation

 The testing begins on the back tie.  If it is a young dog in early adolescence, the dog can be held by the handler on leash. However, I prefer to see the dog work independently and as such I want the dog’s handler completely out of the picture.

We begin by testing the dog’s defensive instincts. From a hiding place, the decoy (dressed in street clothes, he may have a hidden sleeve on) comes out slowly and makes defensive contact with the dog by staring in his eyes and moving very slowly toward the dog, from a distance of about 30-50 feet. This is not training. We are evaluating how he deals with the stress of a confrontation with a stranger, without any hint that this will be fun or familiar. There should be no protection equipment in the testing area, and no warm up bites for the dog. No prey items at all should be in evidence.

The slow approach allows the dog time to think about what is happening, the posture of the decoy is to be threatening, forward, always engaged with his eyes on the dog, and the decoy must, in his mind, pretend he is going to hurt the dog when he gets close enough. You must watch the dog for his response. If he growls a low growl, and puffs air, that is a good start. But, you are looking for how the dog handles the stress of the approach, when his aggression doesn’t immediately scare off the threat.

There should be an aggressive and confident response. Look at the body language of the dog. You will likely see a mix of signals. Maybe some hackles up, snarling (short mouth), ears up or flat, tail up, out or slightly tucked. A dog in defense is posturing to look scary. Once he looks scary you then continue to apply the pressure. It is critical that you do not reward this with prey (quick movements, side to side or in and out) in any way, but keep pressing.

As you come further in, look for changes in behavior: does the tail tuck further, up ears flatten back, does the dog quit and look around as if looking for an escape? Does he back up or stay hard into the collar, his entire body coming forward? As you come forward match his reactions. Make your shoulders rise, bend forward more, lower your head and stare hard. Harden your facial expression into a human snarl. Look for how he deals with your aggression.

A dog in a defensive mood can do three things: He can fight, flee, or displace. In reality he can show a mixture of behaviors, as the pressure builds, maybe first trying to be aggressive to bluff you into retreating, and then choose displacement.[1] He might choose to flee, and run away hard into the back tie line. What we are looking for is a dog that meets threat with threat, and comes forward into the collar with confident aggression.

When you are close enough to step into the circle described by the back tie line, you can swing the hidden sleeve in for a bite or make a movement as if you are delivering a grip, and see if he bites the hidden sleeve or he clacks his jaws at your arm passing just out of his reach. You want him to turn that frustration and defensive energy into biting. Aggression must be met with more aggression, for this dog to be capable to fight in a street situation. Granted, there will be much more training to come to develop his drives, but we want a solid aggressive response to work with. We don’t want the dog to think about a way out of the confrontation.[2] If you use the hidden sleeve, work him hard and see how he deals with the fight after the confrontation. Look for weakness in the grip, and other signs that show he is not fully committed. Use lots of vocalizing, and sound real. After a short fight, weaken your fighting, and see if he wants to thrash you and punish you. Look for his confidence to rise.[3]

Prey Evaluation

If you are satisfied with his defensive reactions, now change gears and do a prey drive test. Go to a visible sleeve, or bite suit depending on the dog’s level of development. Use a lot of movement, use a whip and stick to stimulate the dog with familiar noises. Do a couple of pass-by moves, and then deliver the grip. Now you are evaluating his behavior in the prey mood. Evaluate the quality of the grip. Look for any stress that remains from the earlier defensive encounter.  The dog can become “stuck in defense,” and therefore unwilling to chase you around. If you didn’t give him a hidden sleeve bite after the defense test, he may not want to even bite the sleeve if the stress has caused him to be too concerned with the possibility of more threat to come, regardless of the decoy’s posture.

The ideal response is a change in attitude from a defensive posture, to a more relaxed prey posture. The ideal posture should be forward, with maybe a change in the pitch of the bark to a higher pitch, or perhaps silent, but straining to get the prey. The classical prey postures include the dog pulling forward into the line, front feet off the ground. The dog’s ears will be forward, and if he barks, the dog will do so with a big wide open mouth. The pitch of the bark may be a little higher than when he is in a defensive mood. He may still carry a bit of the seriousness from the initial defensive confrontation, and that is fine, as long as you are getting the response you desire. We seek a confident picture, one of a dog that wants to follow your movement, and lunge to catch the sleeve on the pass-by misses.

Once on the sleeve, look at the grip. We want a nice full grip. On one of your pass-by bites, intentionally deliver a half grip to the dog, and see if he will counter in when you offer him the opportunity. We want to be sure he is confident to press forward into the grip when the opportunity presents itself. Test him with the stick over his head, petting him with it, and give a few hits to the line on the back tie, finishing with a hit on the side while on the grip. Look for any changes in the grip with the pressure.

Further we are looking to see if the dog targets the sleeve well, coming in the middle and not to the hands or elbow. Coming low to the hand can signal a lack of commitment to the grip, by coming to an area on the sleeve that is farthest away from the body of the helper. Further, basic sleeve targeting is not something you want to have to teach a good green dog. Finally, check him with the bite suit as well. Make sure he will engage the suit. If he has never been on the suit, start by offering him a prey bite on the back of the arm, and then offer him the inside front shoulder. For some dogs, this will cause them to avoid the grip altogether. Look to see how his grip changes, if at all, when biting in the front.[4] The bite suit itself adds a lot of defensive stress to a prey encounter by virtue of the fact that the dog must come into the helper’s body much more than an outside forearm bite on a sleeve. This will tell you a lot about the dog’s nerves in general, and if he will look later to avoid more stressful encounters. Remember that we are not asking to see perfect targeting in the front inside shoulder, just a willingness to take the grip there, and be in the grip confidently. We will add more pressure to these inside bites later in training, but the dog should at a minimum be willing to take the grip there with at least a ¾ grip.

Courage Test

Once the evaluation is concluded in prey and defense, and you have tested his desire to bite the sleeve, the hidden sleeve, and the bite suit, you can do some tests of his desire to come in for a grip under environmental distractions. You can go back to sleeve bites here if you wish, or if the dog is strong take him in a prey position on the bite suit. This would be the outside of the forearm or the triceps area in the back of the suit. Good environmental distractions can include: a clatter stick barrage, a jug with rocks in it, or a hula-hoop with caution tape streamers. These are all good choices due to their unfamiliarity. Further, be sure to test the dog on slick surfaces, preferably in a large building. Large buildings that are open, like warehouses, are a much different test than seeing if the dog will work on a slick floor in a small house or clubhouse. The openness of the warehouse can be disorienting, and the echoes can unnerve weaker dogs. Test him also in a tight space or a dark room if you can. Test the dog going up open stairs. Remember you are buying the dog. It is better to test thoroughly, than to have to come back and plead your case after you tested and bought the dog. The key question is this: will the dog’s drive carry him through any unfamiliarity.

Test the dog to his limits of his age and training, without throwing the dog into any kind of avoidance. If you see him avoid something, immediately help him. This goes for any portion of the test. But remember, if you push him into avoidance, you are not going to buy him, and you should help the vendor give the dog a positive training session at a minimum. Otherwise you may not be welcome back for another buying opportunity.

Once all these phases of the test are complete, you can make your determination as to whether the dog is suitable for your training program. In every dog there will be strengths and weaknesses. What you want to determine is that the weaknesses are minor and the strengths abundant. Accept only weaknesses you know that you can work through. Keep in mind most nerve issues are genetic in nature, unless the dog is simply young and inexperienced. For example, suppose the dog is biting nicely, did a nice defensive test, and you raise the jug of rocks over his head, and he pops off then comes right back on. You try again, applying a de-conditioning technique and the dog shows only moderate concern over the jug the second time, stressing a little but not coming off the grip. The third time, he pretty much works through it. That is a dog you can work with. He bounced back.

Newsletter archive link (work in progress):

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs027/1102018903310/archive/1102648615808.html

Here is a basic test for suitability of a detection dog (specifically a lab)

1. Test the dogs sociability, he should come out and be happy, excited, and eager to see people. If he is aloof and ready to work more than socialize that is fine. Some labs prefer to greet people than to work, so make sure he is not just a social butterfly. Reject dogs that exhibit fear of people or are unsure about approaching.
2. Buy from a police dog vendor. If you go to a bird dog trainer, just remember they have a very different mission. Dogs from bird dog trainers have usually been force fetched and will not perform on drive usually, and are taught to use their eyes a lot for marking where birds fall. That is not what we want. We want dogs with little obedience and a lot of natural drive to hunt and retrieve.
3. Test in an unfamiliar place if possible. If at the vendor’s site you can test there first, but make sure at some point you take the dog to a place the dog has not been to and see if the dog will still hunt and retrieve there.
4. Choose the toy you will use for training. I start with PVC pipe, because if the dog will hunt and retrieve that, he will be easy to train. Some labs prefer a ball or kong.  Just make sure you test at a minimum on the toy your dog will use in training.
5. Once the toy comes out, he should be focused on the toy, not socializing with people anymore.
6. Do 4 or 5 retrieves out in the open where the dog can see the toy. You are looking for how fast the dog goes out, and looking for a fast pick-up. Dogs that run out and smell the object and pick it up gingerly are not preferred. You want a retrieving beast that hits the object like a linebacker, and kicks up some grass and dust!
7. Do 4-5 throws into tall grass with the wind direction coming towards you if possible. Let the object land, and then spin the dog in a circle. Many labs are trained to use their eyes to mark location, so make sure he doesn’t see it land. While he is hunting, make note of if he is using his nose or eyes. You want a dog sniffing for the object not looking for it.
8. You should see him quarter in his searching, and make a hard head turn when he gets close to the object, and pick it up fast.
9. Take the dog inside, and do some retrieves on slick floors, into bathrooms, into dark rooms, and make sure he will go up stairs and down them.
10. Take the toy and tease the dog with it, and pretend to hide it in a bunch of places in a room with furniture (not a giant room, but an office or a section of warehouse or classroom), then place it where it is not visible but where he can get to it, and see if the dog will search it out. Some dogs don’t know this game, and you will have to teach him. Most vendors teach the dogs to do this prior to sale. But some dogs will not hunt
11. Do some throws into a car (not your patrol car) and see if he will hunt for the toy in the car. Don’t make it difficult. Make sure he will not get distracted while inside the vehicle and stays focused on the task of finding the toy.
12. If the dog balks at any of the environmental challenges, if he is unsure, see if he will do it for the toy. You need to know if he will overcome environmental problems for his toy. There will always be something that will be new to him. If the toy doesn’t get him over the issue, select a different dog. If the dog shows fear, do not try to reassure him, use the toy to excite him to overcome the problem. Reassurance is praise, and you do not want to praise him for fear.
13. Make sure the dog will go into your vehicle cage for his toy or some water.
14. Drive him to a location like a strip mall, and walk him around and make sure he is comfortable going in and out of the car and going past crowds.

Why is compulsion necessary with all the wonderful results you can get from motivational methods? Where do you see compulsion fitting in to your training program and where does motivation fit in?

Dog training isn’t something to “believe in.” it isn’t religion, it is an eclectic set of methods learned from both canine learning theory and experience applied to living creatures that are at their core all very similar, but in their earthly manifestations, are all somewhat different. To believe that one approach, one technology, is the answer is in my opinion self-delusional. But people like to be “right” and “morally superior” and all that, so we have built quasi-religious sects in dog training, You have the e-collar religion, and the purely positive religion, and then you have people who take a more eclectic approach. I love motivational training.

On some dogs it is amazing what a skilled positive trainer can achieve. I’d rather train with motivation. In most of what we do, where the competing motivations to the task are relatively low because we have selected dogs that are extreme in their retrieve and hunting drives, we can rely on motivational training to carry us all the way to the end of the training task for the most part – such as in detection training and tracking But I also know, with any organism with a free will – and a dog has free will to make decisions in his interest based on his temperament and the drives he needs to satisfy – limits have to be set and enforced. Wild animals learn from both motivation and compulsion. When the young Bear cub messes with the porcupine, he does it only once. Unpleasant consequences teach important lessons.

Having had Malinois all my life, I am so used to dealing with strong willed dogs that often defy the motivational plan because they see some prey or something in their environment that calls up a defensive reaction, I see the utility in thoughtful compulsion to achieve an understanding of boundaries. I see the need for both. Dog training is not the place to get your religion, although so many are true believers. I don’t participate in these doctrinal disputes. I look at results.

In economics ( I spent 13 years as an economics undergrad, master's student, and Ph.D. student to make this one reference) there is a theorem which says that resources flow to their most highly valued use. So, if we look at why most of the top competitors in almost every canine endeavor, such as field trials or Schutzhund or PSA, they all use highly driven dogs to take advantage of the motivational aspect of learning, but they almost to a person also use e-collars. If purely motivational methods alone could earn top scores over an eclectic approach, any competitor who wants to win would be doing that exclusively, because people who want to win do not get married to one method, they do what wins. So, if pure motivation would produce a better overall performance, all else equal, all top competitors would do it, because all that is important to a competitor is to place 1st. That resource (technology) would be adopted immediately. It hasn’t happened. Eclectic approaches win. I’ll stay open minded, but eclectic.

Source: http://signaturek-9.blogspot.com/

I have recently had the experience of interacting on one level or another with people who have a desire to be dog trainers, professionally. It never ceases to amaze me how they seek out instruction, and with no backgound to speak of, have already formulated strongly held opinions about training methods. They have never had to meet a payroll or so much as pay a single bill as a business person in the dog business, and they have a visceral, emotional reaction to somethig like a pinch collar or e-collar, as a tool for training. It's like taking a car to a mechanic because you have no skill in that area, and then proceeding to tell them which tools they are allowed to use!

The FACT is, that pinch collars are safer than chokes or nylon chokes, or head halters. Here are the results from the study done in Germany comparing choke collars and Prong Collars. Reference: http://cobankopegi.com/prong.html

100 dogs were in the study. 50 used choke and 50 used prong.

• The dogs were studied for their entire lives. As dogs died, autopsies were performed.
• Of the 50 which had chokes, 48 had injuries to the neck, trachea, or back. 2 of those were determined to be genetic. The other 46 were caused by trauma.
• Of the 50 which had prongs, 2 had injuries in the neck area, 1 was determined to be genetic. 1 was caused by trauma.

There are 2 other famous articles by acclaimed trainer Suzanne Clothier, debunking the myths that prong collars are dangerous, and as well that the ever popular head halters for dogs are "gentle" training tools (they do nothing for training and are not gentle). She explaines the differences in head and neck structure between dogs and horses, to explsin why in the case of a horse it is a safe tool, but in the case of dogs they are generally the WORST tool to use, and the most dangerous! But people will believe what they think and not what they know. Ms. Clothier's articles can be accessed with a free registration at: http://flyingdogpress.com/content/view/18/94/ 

Registration is quick and free, and she has a lot of good, thoughtful resources on there in addition to the ones I mentioned.

I suppose the bottom line is that people believe bullshit because they are so scared of reality, it is an easy way to hide from it. We have been training both police dogs and pet dogs using prong collars, literally thousands of dogs since Tarheel Canine opened in October of 1994, and not one, I repeat not one traumatic injury was caused by a prong collar being used. However, we have had countless dogs come to the facility, choking and weasing because their tracheas are literally collapsed or partically collapsed because of the trauma inflicted by choke chains, and yet because of the way a prong collar looks, we that use these devices are the ones on the defensive.

In Part 2 of this rant you will see my response to an interview questions from the Signature K9 Blog www.signatureK-9.com our preferred equipment manufacturer. This is reprinted with forgiveness begged, not permission....

Usually about this time, every newspaper and magazine runs the typical "July 4th and Your Pet" column about fireworks freaking out pet dogs. If you have a pet dog, take heed, but for most of the readers of this blog, your working dog is not immune.

If you have a police dog, don't forget  to protect him from the July 4th celebration too. Many police dogs are gunfire aggressive, rather than neutral, and as such the constant boom of fireworks can agitate him to the point where he rips apart the chain link of the kennel run, and decides to run TO the action giving your neighbors a big surprise when "Draco" comes haulig ass around the gas grill looking for the perpetrator. Or if you decided to keep him inside, he finally learns how to to bust out of a vari-kennel while you aren't home, and the result wil be the ever loving destruction of the new couch your wife just bought for the downstairs rumpus room.

Suggestions:

1. Do Keep your dog inside....make sure you crate him in the quietest area of the house, where it is nice and cool. Downstairs in the laundry room, or basement.

2. Turn on the TV or Radio to something he will like (all dogs hate Slipknot, so somethig a bit more soothing) and loud enough to block out the noise from neighborhood celebrations.

3. Give him a cow femur to chew on, so if he does get a bit agitated he will have something on which to take his frustration out.

4. Enjoy your 4th of July. but if you are like most of my friends, your partner will be right behind you barking in your ear, because you are not getting July 4th off from work!

On a serious note:

Here is some Text from the Declaration of Independence that we would do well to recall this weekend. Many of our ancestors died for the principle that government serves the people, and that government is only a referee ensuring individual rights to live our lives as we so choose, without interference from the same. That it is not the role of government to "fix" all social ills, as if they ever have or ever could "fix" anything. It is the drive, inginuity, and intelligence of the American people acting in their self-interest who have driven all the innovation and wealth creation of this country.  Beware of the charlatans promising you something for nothing. Whether it is an internet scam promising you something for nothing, or your government promising you "free" this and "free" that, it is all a scam nonetheless.......believe it at the peril of your wallet, and worse yet at the peril of your personal and individual rights & liberty ....

As Thomas Jefferson wrote:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...."

When your government tells you, they will "allow" you to do this or that, the government is overreaching its authority, and be not afraid to say it is so.....Happy Independence Day!

Normally we don't post our dogs for sale on the blog, but we have a few special cases I want to make prople aware of to see if there is any interest.

(1) Malinois, Patrol Dog. This dog is all about the bitework. He is 3.5 years old very sharp, about 60 pounds, pedigreed (AKC) very strong biting, has a release but no call off yet. Lots of basic obedience includinng heeling, motion exercises, recall etc. He needs a strong handler, not a green handler, but someone with experience to deal with him when he gets frustated he will sometimes come up and grab the leash. Dog goes in the front shoulder, and can take lots of pressure. Great environmentals. VERY GOOD PRICE to the right handler. Email me for Price and more info.

(2) German Shepherd, 4.5 year old dual purpose dog. Another dominant dog, very powerful in the bitework, completely trained for Patrol, tracking and narcotics. His dominance and age are what make him less expesive, but he is a great street dog. Again, this dog needs a strong handler who knows how to do more than try to dominate through force. He has punked a few people. We got him back because the handler left K9 and the agency had no one else willig to handle him that had experience. Call for price and more info.

(3) Malinois, 3.5 year old, 55 pounds, pedigreed Schutzhund Trained up to SchH 1 in OB and Protection, with some tracking imprinting completed. He has a very handler soft temperament, until he gets stimulated, and then he can come up the leash some. He isn't coming out of malice, but frustration. Trained on e-collar, is reactive to pinch, but has a lot of great behavior developed. I have been playing with him for a personal dog but I just don't have time to show in Schutzhund. Over the top retrieve drive, good hunting, beautiful obedience, fast and clean. Out is super clean. I have had him on the suit in the front. Extremely fast in the long attack!

Please, serious inquiries only, I can provide pics and video, but not to the just curious.

Jerry Bradshaw