DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Posted by: David Harris

We have the most amazing young Malinois in our program.  His name is Striker and he is a very well bred working line Malinois that has been home raised and professionally trained from weaning.  What is most impressive about this young dog is the level of training he has achieved at such an early age.  Under the age of one you will see video of this impressive young male that shows him heeling and be totally obedient under very heavy distraction and pressure.  He is a fun, loving, calm in the home dog that is also excellent with children, other dogs and cats.  He has an amazingly kind nature, is ball loving and playful, but serios and powerful in his protection work.

You can find video and more information on our website: www.protectiondogsales.com  and this is a direct link to his bio page: http://www.protectiondogsales.com/DogsForSaleDetail.ign?param=63-malinois-personal-protection-off-leash-obedience

Striker will sell fast so don’t delay if this is the type of dog you are looking for to protection your home and family.

Give me a call to discuss your protection dog needs.

David Harris 502-542-9747

Posted by: David Harris

We have an excellent selection of trained puppies and young adult dogs that have the ability to mature into strong protection dogs.  We have raised and socialized them to very exacting standards to ensure that they have every advantage necessary to grow up confident in their ability.  These puppies were bred for this work out of the best working lines available and started early with positive reinforcement training and development of their natural prey drive and defensive guarding abilities.

Here is a short video clip of the type of training we do with them.  Chaos Puppy Demo

Here is a short video clip of some of the puppies showing their prey drive.  Puppy Protection Video

At Protection Dog Sales we work hard to hand select, develop and train the best of the best and the results show in the end product of what we produce.

Give us a call and see if your next best friend, companion and guardian is here and waiting to meet you.

David Harris

502-542-9747

Posted by: David Harris

Video by: David Harris

Cee Lo is an 18 month old personal protection trained Rottweiler that has excellent temperment and training.

Social Senario Video

At Protection Dog Sales we work hard to develop dogs that are not just protective, but safe and fun family dogs.

Contact us at 502-542-9747 to discuss your protection dog needs.  We have many young dogs in development at all times.

David Harris

Master Dog Trainer

Interesting report on how intense the bond can be between a dog and his master.

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/dog-stands-guard-over-deceased-owners-grave-for-six-years/

David

www.protectiondogsales.com

Amazing young dog that totally has all that you would want in a personal protection dog.  Cool looks, excellent bloodlines, great breeding and parents, super training and all wrapped up in a body type that would totally fool anyone that this dog is protection trained.

Additional Information at www.protectiondogsales.com

He is a very reasonably priced dog that would fit well into almost all situations.

Give us a call at 502-542-9747 and we’ll discuss your needs and see if we have the right dog to fit your situation.

David Harris

Master Trainer

Protection Dog Sales

By: David Harris

I am often asked which is more powerful.  Positive reinforcement or Negative Reinforcement?  The simple answer is that they are both powerful and effective when used properly.  Unfortunately, most dog owners do not understand the principals, the laws, that underlie the proper use of either.  The most common mistake novice owners make is late timing.  The dog has already done the wanted behavior and is now getting rewarded or the dog has already done the unwanted behavior and is now getting the correction some time later.  Bad timing = Bad communication.

But, back to the the which is better question.  In my mind I see positive reinforcement as a more effective, long term solution to behavior modification.  The simple reason is that when you use positive reinforcement methods the dog is working with you to earn the rewards for the wanted behavior.  They look forward to doing the wanted behavior and use all the brain power to help you and themselves learn the new behavior and if done properly they new behavior becomes part of their normal, expected behavior.   I also understand that sometimes positive reinforcement methods are time consuming and require a level of skill higher than is required to effectively use negative reinforcement methods.  So, for short term solutions to behavioral problems that are dangerous to the dog, to other animals or to your property it is often advantageous to use negative reinforcement methods to effect a short term cessation of the behavior.  But, once the behavior is stopped I like to follow up with positive reinforcement methods to strengthen the behavior and ensure that the behavior stays gone and isn’t just temporarily masked by the use of negative reinforcement.  It is important to understand that something drives all behavior.  If the dogs prey drive is responsible for it’s desire to chase cars it is unlikely that you will have a permanent effect on stopping this behavior without someone getting the dogs cooperation.  So, using negative reinforcement you can quickly create avoidance of the behavior, but for long term maintenance it is important to follow up with positive reinforcement to maintain the behavior by using one or all of the following positive reinforcement methods to get the dog motivated to do other behaviors besides chasing cars when it is stimulated by their movement.

1) Reinforce the absence of the behavior.  Ignore the barking, then when it stops click and reward.

2) Teach a behavior incompatible to the bad behavior.  The dog cannot sit and jump at the same time.  So, teach them that when they are excited to sit in front of you, not jump, to lay on their bed, not beg for food, to nuzzle your hand, not bite it and on and on.  So, reinforce (make stronger) a better behavior to replace the unwanted behavior.  Once again to be used on behaviors that are not dangerous to the dog or your livestock or you or your property.

3) Put the behavior on cue.  Teach a command on bark, teach a command for jumping, teach a command to herd the horse and then don’t give the command.  It is really helpful to a dog to know when it is ok to do a behavior and when it is not.  All my dogs bark on command, tug on command, pull on the leash on command, jump up on command and on and on.  Having these behaviors on cue give me control over them.

4) Change the motivation.  When you are having a behavioral issue with a dog I would suggest that the first thing you do to address the behavioral problem is to determine the cause or motivation behind the behavior.  So, what drives your dog to  (fill in unwanted behavior here). Typically, the dogs behavior is a response to your reaction.  For example dogs typically jump up in an attempt to get your attention.  Stop giving them ANY attention for jumping and they will typically quit.  You would.  If you used a soda machine and every time you put your money in you got no soda in return you would quickly learn not to bother with that behavior.  On the other hand if that machine almost always give you a reward for your behavior, but sometimes doesn’t work you will try again and again to get the reward.  Dogs are like that.  If you sometimes (when you’re in a good mood for example) pet them for jumping and then other times yell at them for jumping they will continue to jump and jump on you in an attempt to find the time that you are in a good enough mood to pet them.  This is called a variable schedule of reinforcement and drives both good and bad behavior.  It is the same psychology that drive gambling an addiction in people.  Random rewards are powerful even if you do not mean for them to be random rewards.  

So, just watch your dogs behavior and decide what drives or motivates the dogs behavior.  Leave out human emotions that do not apply.  Keep it simple.  Just look at the behavior and decide what is the pay off.  Typically it is your reaction, but not always.  Some behaviors are self rewarding.  These self rewarding behaviors will have to be dealt with in another manner.  They will not simply go away if you ignore them. 

An example of self rewarding behavior is chewing.  If the dog is chewing your furniture if is most likely because it feels good to do so.  So, they will not just quit if you ignore them.  Some other form of motivation will have to come into play to create avoidance of that behavior even though the dog enjoys doing the behavior.  I personally would enjoy not having to pay taxes.  But, I do pay taxes to avoid having to pay the penalties associate with not keeping the IRS happy.

Ok, that is a brief sum up of the four methods of using positive reinforcement to get rid of bad behaviors.  Over a long period of time positive reinforcement is more effective and will maintain a behavior much more effectively than negative reinforcement will.  We use negative reinforcement to stop a behavior quickly, such as pulling on the leash, or barking at horses, but in the long run it is better to change the dogs attitude and get them looking to you for direction.

Master Trainer David Harris is available for consultation, private one on one lessons, and offers a wide range of services at his two commercial pet care facilities in Kentucky.

502-542-9746 

By David Harris

 The development of a personal protection dog and a sport dog differ in many ways, but one of the most significant is the manner in which a personal protection dog needs to be prepared for a variety of environments.  In the sport of Schutzhund nothing much changes until you get to the national level.  Most club trials will have only a handful of participants and even those few people never get anywhere near the dogs competing.  So, Schutzhund dogs rarely encounter the level of distraction faced by even lower level AKC obedience dogs.  I often hear Schuthzund enthusiast talk down about AKC obedience, but I have known many SchH 3 titled dogs that could not compete successfully in AKC.

At Animal Resorts and Protection Dog Sales we start our dogs very early and develop the level of confidence and focus necessary to cope with heavy levels of stimulus and distraction.

 Below are a couple video examples of the work we do with our puppies to prepare them for whatever might come there way in the future.  You would be shocked to know how many Schutzhund titled dogs would fold and run away from a agitator that came at the dog in a manner totally unseen in Schutzhund competition.

Hammer von Prufenpuden at 4 1/2 months.  Protection Video

Doberman Puppies. Stimulus Work Video

Additionally, we start very early with puppy obedience training.  Check out the ten week old puppy.

Chaney von Prufenpuden video.

 Give us a call and let us help you find your next great dog.  We have many wonderful dogs posted on our Protection Dog Sales Website and many, many more up and coming young dogs that are not on the site yet, but being developed and soon will be ready to enter a home and offer companionship and protection.

David Harris  Master Trainer  502-542-9747

By: David Harris

We often have to deal with the misconception that retired or flunked out x-Schutzhund Sport dogs make wonderful personal protection dogs just because they can go onto a field and grip a sleeve.  It is true that the genetic material of these dogs is often very good.  As puppies they had amazing drive and wonderful potential to be a personal protection or police dog.  But, from there the life of a personal protection dog and a sport dog diverge dramatically.  A sport dog lives a very limited life.  He often lives in a kennel and only comes out to go to the training club for his training class.  Since he is going to compete on a Schutzhund field that is where his socialization and training occur and often no where else.  I my early days I was often fooled by these dogs as well.  They look so happy and so wonderfully at ease on the field.  But, after I purchased them and took them off to the park to play with my dogs I often found that they were scared and terribly confused.  Many could not even go up and down simple steps and most could not handle slippery floors, would not go into the water to play or even be trust worthy off leash.  It was simply to much for them to go from a lifetime of very limited exposure to being thrown into a real life situation.

In this video of a personal protection dog being developed by Protection Dog Sales, you will see that type of exposure we bring into the life of our dogs that are being directed towards the life of a personal dog that will be required to handle all types of environments and perform their protective duties regardless of the pressure brought to bear by the agitator.  Sport dogs never see this type of stimulus and will typically fold under it.

If you are looking into purchasing a personal protection dogs I would suggest you visit our website and start your education by reading our articles on cost verses hype and other educational articles on purchasing a personal protection dog and how they differ from retired/failed/injured x-sport dogs that have been purchased from a broker and are now for sale to the uneducated public for grossly inflated prices.

Call us today.

David Harris   Master Trainer  Protection Dog Sales  502-542-9747

www.protectiondogsales.com

As luck would have it we have five very nice young Malinois for sale.  Very stable, well raised, happy dogs with strong protection drives and good development as you can see in this short video.

 You can see a lot more videos of personal protection dogs and dogs developed for sale at www.protectiondogsales.com and on your youtube account www.youtube.com/harrisd1dog

 Give us a call and we’ll send you additional video and pictures of this nice young dogs and others that might suit your needs.

 David Harris, Master Trainer, CEO Protection Dog Sales

www.protectiondogsales.com 502-542-9747

By: David Harris

I am often asked when protection dog training begins.  The honest answer to this question is before conception.  Without the proper pedigree and breeding plan, it is unlikely that many of the puppies from a given litter will have the necessary temperment and drive to make a quality protection dog.  So, protection training starts with quality breeding stock.  Prufenpuden Bloodlines have been proofed and have stood the test of time.  When we produce a litter of puppies we have a very good idea what the puppies will be like.  How they will mature and when we should expect them to balance out in their drives.  Most if not all of them will have exceptional prey drive and prey drive is the foundation used in protection training to develop the necessary confidence and skills require to be a safe, effect protection dog.  Defense drive will start to show its self as the puppy matures depending on many factors including socialization, genetics, training and development of the individual puppy.

In this video we’ll see a typical Prufenpudin puppy at four and half months.  This puppy is one of twenty five puppies produced by Kobe and Shakira.  Without exception all twenty five dogs are balanced and driven to work. 

Click here to see puppy protection video.

For more information on puppy development and training call us and tell us about your dog.  We offer free evaluations and would be happy to meet you and your puppy.

For more information on young and adult dogs for sale check out our website or give us a call.

David Harris  Protection Dog Sales  www.protectiondogsales.com  502-542-9747