If you are starting with a young puppy it is suggested to let him mature before getting into formal obedience classes. There are two reasons for this: one is that you don’t want your puppy to receive so much information at to young of an age. This can cause boredom which many times looks like rebellion. Focus on behavioral training until he reaches six months. The second is that a young puppy is much more susceptible to contagious illnesses. His immune system is not completely in place there for you are counting highly on everyone else to have been diligent in their care for their puppy. Let your puppy be a puppy, you wouldn’t want to put a two year old boy into the first grade.

Various parts of training are done once a dog reaches an appropriate age. For example; Obedience Training is done at a minimum age of 6
months old. Prior to that age the focus should be behavioral training such as housebreaking, excessive barking, chewing, etc. Territorial Training (car & home) is done at a minimum age of 8-9 months. Lastly, we do not do the full protection training on a dog until he/she is a minimum of 12 to 14 months old. It is important not to rush aggression training, so you have a dog that makes good decisions. A trained protection dog has to make mature decisions and if he learns the work at to young of an age he won’t have a good foundation to rely on.

By: Wendy Aston
Training Supervisor

What’s up with cats? They don’t have to listen, or follow the rules. They have permission to get on the furniture, and when they ask me to play I get in trouble. If I run room to room, it means I need dog training. When the cat does it my people are looking for a camera. They never have to wear a leash.  They get spoiled and they don’t even have protection training.

If my people want me to bark when someone comes to the door, how come they won’t let me show off my protection dog training?

How come the sprinklers don’t stop when I bite them? People always do. Why can’t I chase the lawn mower? Why do people think I don’t want to play in the rain?

Just because I am looking at them while they are eating doesn’t mean I’m a beggar. Maybe I just love to watch them eat.

Translated by: Wendy Aston Training Supervisor, Global K9 Group

When weather is nice I enjoy taking my dog hiking in pet friendly places. This gives me some extra exercise as well as my pet. Keeping him on a long leash allows for him to have a little fun time and stretch him legs. Once in an environment he can be off lead I always have a tennis ball handy to throw for that extra run and exercise.

Look to your local state parks or recreation area’s to find out where you can go with your dog. Of course always follow the rules for leash laws in these facilities. Come prepared with a copy of your dogs vaccine history and plenty of water to hydrate your pet when outside. You can even get “doggie back packs” for your large breed pets to help you tote around the shot records, water and toys. Enjoy your time outside with your pet and you will find, in return your pet will enjoy time inside with you.

By: Sharon Burch, Senior Trainer Global K9 Group, LLC

k9 playroom

Many people believe that a personal protection dog shouldn’t be played with. On the contrary, a protection dog should use play to build and sustain the drives that are necessary to their job.
We encourage all of our clients as well as our staff to make work fun. If it is all work and no play your dog may become bored. When a dog becomes bored it can look like rebellion. They just go on strike; this is seen most in obedience training.

At our facility in Florida, we keep a plethora of toys for our dogs and puppies. One of the most used toys is polypropylene rope, buy it at the home improvement store. It works like dental floss and makes a nice crunch sound when being chewed. It is also cheaper than regular rope toys so when it is nasty dirty just throw it away.

Tug of war is a great game for building a winning spirit, just remember to always let your dog or puppy win. The win is very important if you are planning on your dog or puppy becoming a family protection dog.

By: Wendy Aston, Training Supervisor, Global K9 Group

Once they have sniffed each other and you are satisfied with the behavior towards each other you can feel free to remove the leashes. I still wouldn’t leave them unattended; an older dog can intimidate a puppy very easily. Puppies on the other hand can totally annoy an older dog. It may take a while before they can be together unsupervised. Be patient, most of the time they will come to common ground.

I like to have the two dogs together while having quiet time. This lets them get comfortable with each other while trying to head off any jealousy. If they see that the love and affection is evenly disbursed they can relax about competing for all of your attention.

When raising a protection dog we try to get them exposed to as many other animals as possible. Including our cats and the horses down the road, we have even had the chance to get around some alpaca’s.

A good personal protection dog can work with the distraction of other animals.

When you first get your new dog you need to establish some ground rules. These can be a simple as not getting on the furniture or as complex as in which rooms play is allowed. 

First, the dog should never receive correction or disciplines from children under age sixteen. Any corrections should be done with an authoritative voice, and IT MUST BE CONSISTENT. Lack of consistency is the number one reason why people have trouble with discipline.

Be sure when deciding what will be allowed that everyone in the household is on the same page. If one person allows a certain behavior the dog will think that it is allowed all the time. This is unfair to your dog and is setting him up for failure.

With consistency this method will save you a lot of frustration. I like to use quiet time to teach my new dog what I expect in the house. Rough play can be done outside. Your dog will instinctively adjust to each member of the house hold at his own pace. But, once he has he will treat each individual in the manner they want.

In the long run you will have a trained dog that can be a part of the family without driving the family crazy.

By: Wendy Aston Training Supervisor, Global K9 Group, LLC

We at Global K9 Group, insist that the dog be told what is expected of him. If your dog knows what you want there is a much higher percentage that you will get it. Commands don’t always have to be verbal; your dog has a very high associative nature. Using their strong association we can achieve a communication without saying anything.

With all of our protection dogs, we use this very often in teaching the dog how to read any given situation. Your dog reads your body language as well as your verbal ques.

In the early stages of training we work with very deliberate and consistent movements to get the dog understanding what is expected. Then we work to a more natural motion, then anything that is inconsistent the dog pays more attention to.

Once you think about how associative your dog is it will surprise you. Note that your dog knows when you pick up your keys that you are leaving. The dog doesn’t know that the keys go to the car and house; he just knows that you pick them up every time that you leave.

A well trained dog uses this association in all of its exercises and real life.

By: Wendy Aston, Training Supervisor, Global K9 Group

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Family guard dogs, need to be more social and less energetic then the average working dog. If a dog has to high of a drive in the home, he will appear hyper.  A Family security dog will be more relaxed in the home and social situations.

If you decide to go with a titled dog from Germany, the dog will need further training to instill real life training. Most titled dogs have the ability to do protection, yet they need some training in the real world. They spend a great portion of time teaching the dog to do things for points in a set situation. The dog needs to become confident in the real world with many situations.

Make sure the supplier is willing to take the time to address all of your questions and concerns prior to your purchase. If they don’t have time for you before the sale, what do you think will happen after you buy?

You need to receive personal training and a face to face introduction to your new dog. This will help to insure your families’ safety when receiving your new dog or puppy.

By: Wendy Aston, Global K9 Group, LLC

I am working on getting him to come when called. Not to chew everything that is in sight. And, quiet time…which is a big one during football season.

His name is Mo, so I am using German commands in his behavioral training. I don’t want him to become confused with:  ‘No’ and ‘Mo’. He is 11 weeks old and confusion is the last thing we need in any aspect of dog training. I am sure some people think his name is ‘nein’ the German word for ‘No’.

We are consistently taking things away from him correcting with a stern voice, then giving him something he is allowed to have and praising him. He is starting to figure out what is his and what isn’t. Everything needs to be positive, that way he will be confident when he is big.

Every time he comes to us when called we get very happy with him so he will want to do it again.

Quiet time on the other hand is taking some peanut butter in his Kong. That will keep him busy for quite some time. I also have given him some polypropylene rope to chew; it makes a good crunch and is good for his gums.

I will keep you posted on our next step.

By: Wendy Aston, Global K9 Group, LLC

This is why every dog at our facility is socialized with children on a regular schedule. We also have the children do things that the dog might not expect, while we are supervising and noting all of the reactions. We even gauge our dogs as to whether they like to participate in play or just want to be a spectator. If for any reason we feel that there was even the slightest negative reaction that dog is no longer a candidate for placement in a home with children.

When we are raising the dogs form our Slowdancer breeding line, they are socialized with children from the age of 4 weeks until they leave us. All of our puppies go into family protection dog training. With our 47 litter history we can guaranty the puppies to excel in the training and interaction with the family.

With our puppies a client can choose to take the pup as young as 8 weeks or opt to have us keep it until it completes his/her obedience training. Then the dog will come back to us to complete the protection training portion when it is of the proper age.

By: Wendy Aston, Global K9 Group, LLC