Training and Seminar in Germany – Latest!!!!

Posted by admin | Posted in Articles | Posted on 14-11-2012

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At last we have landed in Germany and started our training activities. We apologize that we are unable to update the activities on time due to limited access to internet and telephone lines as most of our locations are in the country side. Neither were we able to take photos or videos of daily activities.

8 November 2012

We have touched down in Germany. Breathing in the winter air and getting ready for action.

Germany 8 Nov 2012

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Training had begun the very same day. It was fun and interesting to test out the dogs that we will be importing to Malaysia.

 

9 November 2012

Continuing training the following day. We are lucky that this year’s winter brings has good sun light. It makes our training more fun.

Germany 9 Nov 2012

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After the training, its time to unwind and relax. Now time to learn social behaviour with dogs.

This is a good way to establish pack ranking in any pack behaviour among dogs.

10 and 11 November 2012

Weekend event was Sichtungs and Korung in Saar Pfalz. It was a fantastic experience to learn from the trials. In addition we learned a lot from the Protection work training with Thomas Mueller.

10 & 11 November 2012

With friends in the morning
With friends in the morning
Listening to the speech of RSV2000 President
Listening to the speech of RSV2000 President
Listening to the speech of RSV2000 President
Listening to the speech of RSV2000 President
Dr Helmut Raiser doing Korung
Dr Helmut Raiser doing Korung
Dr Helmut Raiser doing Korung
Dr Helmut Raiser doing Korung
Dr Helmut Raiser judging
Dr Helmut Raiser judging
Unforgettable portrait with Dr Helmut Raiser
Unforgettable portrait with Dr Helmut Raiser
Learning Process
Learning Process
Sightings for GSD Standards
Sightings for GSD Standards
Group Photo at Contwig RSV2000 LCC
Group Photo at Contwig RSV2000 LCC
Nice photo with our Police friend
Nice photo with our Police friend
Our Contwig Club house
Our Contwig Club house

The gallery above shows the pictures of various trials such as Korung, Sichtungen and Talentsichtung. We also had the pleasure of interacting with the Great Master of Dog Training, Dr Helmut Raiser. In the days to come we will be training with the Guru himself.

Below is a video of Finch, Helmut Raiser’s dog performing in Korung Level 3.

More information on the event can be found at this link. However the page is in German.

Human and Dog Conflict – New!!!

Posted by admin | Posted in Articles | Posted on 14-05-2012

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I really sympathize for the victim and his family involved in the recent dog attack incident. Though there are few sincere and honest people out there trying to help. I must admit most are either trying to seek cheap publicity or make money out of this situation. We hear all kinds of comments about the breed, training undergone, etc about the dog related on this incident. But many fail to realize or perhaps are ignorant that a dog is an animal. Dogs do not have a reasoning faculty. They are intelligent because they are able to learn commands taught by human and remember it. And the willingness to learn and abide by the human master is what makes them apart in the animal kingdom. Like any other animal they either act by instinct or conditioning. Both of this is determined by the character of that animal which varies from one to another. A human can go through all the training in the world, but when faced with the situation it depends on the stability of character as to whether he is going to apply whatever he learnt. A dog is not different in many ways. Training works well only when a human is by the side to command the dog. Pedigree dogs for generation are bred for their best ability to listen and act on human commands and only when the dog is by the side of the human. No dog is sent to work without the company of a human. So all dogs left by itself will call its shot on how to act. This is what happened in this situation. Pointing at a breed is like pinpointing to a particular human race and concluding the behaviour of that race.

This could easily happen to a mongrel or even a stray. The problem with stray is that we do not have an owner to blame plus it’s not one of the sensational banned or restricted breed for all medias to give coverage. Many attacks from toy breeds in homes and strays in the street go unreported due to the damage being insignificant or absence of accountable party. We really do not know what had caused this dog to act this way. Is it the dog?, the senior citizen?, the environment? or all put together? Even the victim is not here anymore to give his side of the story. We do not have much information about the history to solve this mystery. If you ask me the dog has not done something wrong. It did the right thing but in the wrong place. If the dog bit the person inside the house, would the situation be as bad as it is now. I take it one step further, if the dog had killed a robber inside the house, would that be bad? The answer is with the reader of this article. Looking ahead, we should take a scientific approach by monitoring the behaviour pattern of this dog under different situations and documenting the outcome. A task meant for serious and professional trainers and animal behaviorist. This would provide valuable information to work backwards to understand the real reasons for this vicious attack. For time being the owners have to be held responsible as it was an animal in their care that was allowed to run loose and cause all these mess. At least that is the best we can do because their conduct is clear evidence violating the clauses in the Municipal By-Law.

But I can’t deny that the municipals are not doing enough to curb the problem from the start. Even today when I was driving in Petaling Jaya, I found dogs running around the jogger’s track and dogs standing in front of few houses. This could be strays or even pets. It is not safe at all for people or other dogs to be walked in that area as it poses a situation due to territorial instinct for dog fights where the dogs can turn around and attack humans as well. We can register the dogs, regulate breeders, register trainers, but is it going to prevent another human from being attacked? Municipal council must be pro-active by doing rounds to reprimand irresponsible owners. But if the owners remain adamant, laws must be in place to impose an extremely heavy penalty. Only then you can get people to comply. Then the problem is arrested at the root itself. That is the solution.

Guidelines to Protect Your Family – New!!!

Posted by admin | Posted in Articles | Posted on 30-04-2012

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The purpose of this article is to create awareness for everyone on possible steps to be taken before, during and after any incident related to protecting your family. It may not be directly linked with dogs but it concerns about public safety. Having dogs to protect your family is only part of the solution. There are other factors that needs to be considered to make our home to be a real heaven.

Safety Measures (Proactive)

  1. Please make sure your gates both outside and inside are always locked. There are many school of thoughts about the selection of locks. But many people forget about the location of lock. Make sure it is convenient to lock from the inside rather than just from outside. This is a real life saver when it comes to emergency.
  2. If you have the budget, you can install CCTV as a form of automated surveillance. But remember unless and until you go through the recorded footage, you have no clue of preparing yourself against any danger. You have to do your homework which means you have to view the recorded footage regularly to detect any unwanted movements around your home. This is proactive measure
  3. Get the contact number of the nearest Police Station. Get feedback from on any reported cases in your vicinity. If possible make friends with the officers to keep their personal contact numbers with you. You never know when you need it.
  4. Form a neighbourhood alliance among residents of your housing area. Meet each other once in a while to keep everyone informed of any happening in your area. Malaysians are really weak on this, to the extent I feel they put their egos ahead of them  to the fullest extreme of being foolish. The pathetic mentality is “your problem is exclusively yours until it hits me”.
  5. Make surprise rounds around your home during your working hours to check if anything funny is going on unnoticed.
  6. Always make sure your kids are never left unattended. They must be under your watchful eyes. We are horrified by the kidnapping cases going on now. Make sure that there is an adult (by this I mean realiable adults) around them. Always tell your child not to take anything or follow or talk to any strangers.
  7. Never ever speak about important matters that involves money, property etc in front of your maid, driver or even neighbours/friends/relatives whom you know will discuss it with others even if the discussion is not intended to be for bad reasons. Most cases that we hear of are from news that travels from insiders to outsides.
  8. Keep dogs regardless of breed and size. I know of many people who’s life and property has been saved by even toy dogs which alerted everyone in their home of the oncoming danger. I have also come across situation when the perpetrators have decided the to drop their plan due to the presence of dogs in a home. You must understand that dogs do not altogether rule out the possibility of a robbery. But they are a deterrent factor. The perpetrator has to give a serious thought before attempting. The dogs are there to protect you when you at home. So when you’re away you can lock them up safely in their kennel. Sometime it helps to have a dog inside your house when your sleeping at night provided you have no health issues with this kind of arrangement. It will be a good idea for your child to grow up with a good and reliable protection dog that will be his or her personal security guard wherever he goes.
  9. If you have no choice and have to hire a personal security guard, please check the background of the company if they have all relevant documentation in place to offer the service. Also please check if the personnel put to work is one with a suitable character to carry out this duty. I wish not to elaborate further on this, as you are a better judge.
  10. Whenever you go out and come into your house, take a minute or two to look around if your movements are being watched by unknown people around your housing area. Sometimes we are too busy to note this. If you have time, take a brisk walk around your housing area to spot suspicious activity.

Re-Active Measures

All the above is well and good until something goes wrong. Let’s pray that we do need to come to that point. But what if we do?
  1. I know it is difficult, but stay calm, and don’t panic or breakdown. You are the supporting morale pillars for your family. So they need you during these times. Therefore take a few steps back and relax to begin strategize.
  2. Make a Police report and speak to the officers you know about how to go about this case. Please get definitive deadline on each activity that will be carried out by the Police. If results are not produced within the planned timeline, you can begin tagging the case as serious or critical for further actions.
  3. For third party witnesses, please just don’t shut up and lock yourselves in your homes. Please have some humanitarian values by stepping up to provides eye-witness account of any evidence that you may have. Your statement can potentially be a life saver. Don’t be a self-centered creature with the selfish mentality that if it does not affect you, it’s none of your problem.
  4. Try to gather evidence and support from your neighbours. Reassure them that their identities will be not be revealed in this process, that everything will remain confidential.
  5. Re-play your CCTV footage and start going through everything frame by frame. This will be quite exhaustive but will be very helpful.
  6. Engage private investigators if you have access to such expertise. This could be costly as well.
  7. Try not to move things around your home as it could hold the key evidence for Police investigation
We all have to work together to ensure the safety of our family and property. Times have changed. The criminals have updated themselves with latest techniques to carry out their activities. As such concerned citizens as well need to get themselves aware of the situation and update themselves with the latest and best crime prevention and fighting techniques and also learn to work together with the relevant authorities.

How to choose a breeder?

Posted by admin | Posted in Articles | Posted on 04-10-2010

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Dog breeding is a full time commitment. It does not start from the time the puppies are born. In fact it starts right from the time you look for a mating stud or bitch in heat. Everything has to be right. The selection of the dogs from the aspect of health and character needs to be carefully observed. Apart from that, the owner of the dog also has to be evaluated. This would give an indication on the health of the dog as to whether it has been taken care well.

 Now on the topic of choosing the right breeder, always have one thing in mind. Just by one look you will know whether a person or organization does it for the best interest of the breed or one’s own greed. So by one look at the premise you know whether it’s a breeder premise or puppy mill. Take note of the following factors when you look for puppies.

  • If you see too many puppies and dogs running around or present in the premises, you know you’re in a puppy mill. Ask the person in charge and he will tell you all the dogs are for sale. He will not have love for any of the dog in his place. Everything is for sale. This is not a good indication. A good breeder will evaluate a buyer before even entertaining him. He will be concern about the future of the puppy that he is about to sell. Too many dogs in the same area will also expose the puppies to many kind of infections during the initial stage of life.
  • If you see that the entire setup is managed by a maid/servant or even at times by foreigners, you can be sure that the owner is only concern about making money. The owner will not be interested in the wellbeing of the dogs since he had left everything in the hands of his worker. He will be living luxuriously away from the kennels not getting his hands dirty while gambling the future of the puppies at the mercy of the worker. He can be contacted by phone and will be present at the kennels upon request. When such is the case, you can be very sure that there was no quality assurance or proper measures taken right from the time of selecting the dogs to breeding and finally to the whelping of the puppies.
  • If the so-called breeder claims that he has the best dogs and yet is willing to give a very good discount and other free gifts to lure you to buy his puppies, just be aware. He would rather sell the puppies even before they are completely weaned, just to make profit. You buy the puppy because you have confidence on the breed and feel it will serve you the purpose for the rest of its life, not because you get perks out of the purchase.
  • Look for discipline and system in the way the breeder or trainer operates or runs his operations. The only way yo ensure that all factors pertaining to the dogs are taken care of is through a consistent approach in caring and handling the dogs. The trainer or breeder has to have such qualities in order to be a responsible breeder.
  • The breeder needs to have proper facilities and equipments for the purpose of caring and handling the puppies and dogs. If you don’t see any of it, you can be sure the owner is doing this for the purpose of making some pocket money and not willing to make proper investment. On the other hand note owners who say they have other branches. It would be homes belonging to their family members where they “park” the puppies temporarily before clearing the puppies from the “main” center. If the puppies are thrown about in such a distributed fashion, you can judge by yourself whether the owner can actually spend sufficient time for all of them. This also indicates the less importance of each puppy to the owner. If the puppies are of world class standards, I’m sure you won’t trust the puppies even in your own spouse’s care unless if he or she is as good as you.
  • The way the mating is done is very important. We believe in the spirit of healthy breeding where the bitch in heat should be given time and space to be introduced to the stud. Only then when she reaches the interestrous period, she will willingly stand to mate with the stud. This is the way our principal and us carry out breeding. I have personnaly seen very disturbing mating methods, where the bitch in heat is muzzled and the head tied down to a person while another person securing her tight on both her hind legs. The unknown stud is released to mount on her to begin copulation. The poor bitch goes through horror not knowing what is happening and in most instances not wanting to stand down. This act is not breeding, in fact it is nothing short of animal cruelty and a “rape” performed by the breeders. Scientifically sperms and ovums of such breeding does not carry true quality. The mental state of  both dogs during the mating should be given high importance.
  • A good breeder also does not compel you to buy the puppies of his breeding. He leaves it upto you. If it is a dog that you will be caring for the rest of its life, the decision has to come from your own conscience.
  • Animal midwifery is like playing the role of a grandparent. Just as how you must do what is right for your daughter and your grandchild, you must do the same for your dam and her puppies. It’s all about love and devotion. Tell me how many people in our country think and acts this way. We are so far away from the aptitude and atitude of the Europeans who have perfected this over generations. Talk is very cheap. A good breeder has little time to negotiate with you. He rather spend his time caring for his dam and puppies while waiting for a deserving buyer than sitting on a table negotiating with you for hours.

We agree that at the end of the day it is about making some profit. We can’t deny that. However the means to this should be given sufficient consideration. I fully believe that the relationship of the trainer or breeder does not end the moment the money changes hand, infact it only begins then.

Concerns of a dog owner

Posted by admin | Posted in Articles | Posted on 27-09-2010

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Dog ownership is a life long process. When I say life long it does not mean your life long. It’s your dog’s life long. Our lives may well end before the live of our dog. But that does not mean that our roles are over. You will have to ensure that your dog gets a good owner to look after him after you are gone. A dog is not in a position to look for a good owner. So please atleast do that bit for your loving pet who had considered you as the center of his universe. That is the true and unconditional love that you can give your dog.

I was fortuante enough to come across some owners who were very concern about the background of the potential new owners when they asked our help to sell their dog. These customers due to unforseen circumstances were not able to continue owning their dogs. But they wanted to ensure that their dogs find a good home. You will be surprised to know that they even ask me to take them to the new owners home to visit their dog many months after the transfer of ownership. This is purely due to the fact that they missed their dog so much. I have encountered customers quite the opposite but I feel it is really not worth our time discussing about it here.

Dog owners are not dealing with a possession like their car or house. They are dealing with life animal with feelings. Feelings that go through ups and downs very much like that of ours. So that is why Westerwald Kennel is most privileged in helping the dog owners to ensure that the human-dog relationship is always in harmony. Everything that we do in our daily work is targeted in achieveing that. At first when I was writing this article I wanted to complete in one posting. But as I was organizing my thoughts, I was flooded with many concerns of a dog owner from various angles. Most being salient and sensitive. So I decided that I should break this article into few parts, wherein the first one will address on the general concerns of most owners, which is the financial perspective. Most owners need to be aware of the financial commitment of owning a dog. This mentally prepares the owner nearly a decade in advance and I hope the owner can set aside a budget accordingly.

The most common expenses will be from food and medical treatment. Food usually is a monthly commitment provided you don’t spoil your dog with too many treats. But medical expenses apart from the routine vaccination deworming, you are prone to come across unexpected incidents that would demand you to spend quite a bit. Based on my experience the size of the breed is not directly proportional to how much you will be spending. Let me give you a breakdown of the expenses involved in terms of months and finally years. Assuming you take good care of your and it leaves a healthy 12 years, then prepare to set aside the following figures in dollars and cents. The figures are based on averaged cost based on prevailing current rates.

The financial commitment will be of two types. The first being a one-time and second is recurring. Add this together for span of your dog’s life, will give you a clear picture of your total financial commitment.

(a) One Time Commitment

    1. Price of a puppy                             1 x 5,000 = 5,000.00 (Our breeding)

    2. Puppy vaccination                           3 x 300  = 900.00

     3. Dog kennel/cage                         1 x 2,000  = 2,000.00 (Our design)

     Total for One-Time Commitment                       = 7,900.00

(b) Recurring Commitment  (Yearly)

    1. Dog Food                                          12 x 200 = 2,400.00

    2. Yearly vaccination                               1 x 300 = 300.00

    3. Medical expenses                            1 x 1,000 = 1,000.00

    4. Miscellaneous (Treats/Toys)              1 x 500 = 500.00      

    Total Recurring Commitment                              = 4,200.00

    Total Recurring Commitment for Life of the dog = 12 x 4,200

                                                                              =  50,400.00

 (c) Total Financial Commitment = (One Time Commitment)

                                                                            +

                                                          (Total Recurring Commitment for Life of the dog)

                                                       = 7,900.00 + 50,400

                                                       = 58,300.00

Well that’s alot of money!!!! So are you sure you are prepared to spend that much of money for a lifetime of a dog. You could buy insurance, car, put a downpayment for your dreamhouse, fund your child’s education and many more things with that amount of money. However if you are wise enough to spend it on a dog, make sure you get the one that is really worth this much. And you would know by now, where to get it from!!!

Selective Breeding

Posted by admin | Posted in Selective Breeding | Posted on 03-05-2010

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Version 1.1

I feel that everyone who wishes to breed their dogs should understand what this is about even before wanting to call themselves as a “Breeder”. I do not want to sound overly scientific by using terms from genetic studies. I want layman to understand the idea, so I have tried my level best to make it easy to understand and added my illustration to get the ideas across. Like all my other articles the fact I present here is from my experience and not a copy paste thing from some article in the internet. I will make it short and clear so that it does not bore the reader as well. There are many types of known breeding methods. The ones of our interest in this article is Inbreeding, Linebreeding and Outcrossing. Selective Breeding as I call is it is actualy Outcrossing. Malaysia have never been good at breeding dogs and I think even in the next 100 years we will still be the same unless the dog owner community changes its mindset.

We must understand why animal breeding is done in the first place. It was a practice in Europe ever since man started walking out of the caves and settled in farms owning livestocks. The purpose of livestock was to serve as food source. In order to care and guard the livestock early Europeans started domesticating dogs (not Wolves as I think I need to write a another article about this topic). Once they started noticing good working qualities in these dogs, they started breeding them among the good ones to produce progenies that could serve their masters well.  Some good traits in these dogs were physical health, sound temperament, easy to train, capable of handling all kinds of stress with less or no human intervention and ceaseless energy for wanting to work. Their main intention was to preserve these qualities, as such they selectively bred their dogs. They also did the same thing amongst the livestock to create cows that produce more milk, contain more muscle mass and less body fat, sheep with thicker wool and also carries higher body mass. Selectively breeding dogs was for the purpose of getting best working partners through whom you can get your work done and ultimately save your cost on overheads. Ever since then, they introduced new breeds and standards for these breeds and most importantly compliance to working standards.

Alright now lets fast forward to 21st century. By the next few hundreds early Europeans and Asians had bred many different breeds for different purposes. Coming down from ancestors who know well about breeding animals, the breeders of modern dog breeds applied the same technique. By now they had 100 of dogs in every breed. So they outcross meaning choose excellent mates from the furthest bloodline for mating. With latest documentation and technology facilities available now factors such as competition titles, hip and elbow conditions, bloodline infomation were further made use to selectively breed these dogs to produce excellent progenies. This is in practice in Europe, though I can’t help but admitting that unethical conducts could still prevail. In Malaysia this does not happen. Instead of inbreeding, breeders legitimize their actions by saying that their dogs are linebred not inbred. Linebreeding is exactly the same as you get married to your first generation cousins. Inbreeding is like marrying between siblings. Medical science has proven that these two methods results in irreparable repurcussions. Refer to the diagrams below which illustrates how you can differentiate between puppies coming from inbreeding, linebreeding and outcrossing. If you want a normal or below normal dog, you can get dogs that are inbred or linebred. When I say below normal, it means you will be paying for unnecessary medical bills, risking safety of the dog and you in some conditions, live with unpredictable behaviour and the list goes on. So might as well pay an additional few thousands and get the best and enjoy the best.

 

Breeding

 

As you can see quite obviously, Selective Breeding or Outcrossing is not simple to achieve as you need the co-operation of not only the entire dog owner community but specifically the owners of particular breeds. That is why I say it has to be done in the best interest of the breed. But sadly in Malaysia it is usually in the best interest of the breeder’s greed. Many of you would have heard that Imported-In-Dam are then bred locally with other dogs. Imported-In-Dam means female dogs that have been mated before it arrives from the country of origin. Later once it has given birth to all the puppies, when she is in heat, she can be mated with a local male. You have to be careful with few things here.

  • Bear in mind, imported does not necessarily mean good.
  • Selection of local males should be based on certain criteria
  • To take advantage of nature, breeding requires variety. Of course it may sound ridiculous in human terms, but for an organism to strive it’s genetics needs to be tested with different bloodlines. In Europe they do this through selectively sourcing for males and females of excellent bloodline. They spend so much time and energy on this because they love doing it. In Malaysia many do it for profit. So what happens is, the same male and female are mated over and over again. If you are smart enough you may already get the idea of the damage due to this practice. More and more full-blooded brothers and sisters are introduced into the market. For examble January this year you may have a litter with 8 puppies from Male A and Female A. Later June this year you may have another litter of 10 puppies from same Male A and Female A. End of the year December this year. Female A is on heat and she is mated with Male A again for another litter of 6 puppies. On total we have 24 puppies though from different litters all being full-blooded brothers and sisters. If one breeder does this, it is still fine. But majority carry out such practice. This is one of the reason why inbreeding and linebreeding goes on in this country. This is an example of the breeding practice in Malaysia. You can name it puppy mill or reckless breeding or whatever, I do not care, it’s just destructive for the gene pool of the breed.

In Westerwald Kennel we rarely do breeeding as you can witness the complications of doing it right requires the co-operation of the entire dog owner community. Our expertise is training. But for customers interested in puppies, we get it from litters best bred in Germany from our principle. Though we have received request from kennels in Ukraine, Serbia, Czech, Slovenia, Slovekia and Croatia, we do not consider them as we know that there isn’t any ethical governing body regulating breeding on those countries. These countries in my opinion are the third world countries of Europe. Anything goes as far as money in concerned. Second in grade would be Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austia, Hungary and Switzerland. Why I say second is because, even in those countries, they might not have a pedigree for a dog that they would want to sell overseas.

Security Dogs (Special Consideration)

Posted by admin | Posted in Security Dogs (Special Consideration) | Posted on 19-03-2010

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Frequently customers, private and public security firms speak to me about the need of security dogs. Quite sadly the idea of Security dogs is very badly misunderstood. If a dog looks big and it can bark it does not qualify to be a security dog. In human terms it is like saying that if a person is big size and shouts a lot, he can be a security guard or a personal guard. Sometimes when I send trained dogs for security work I noticed that even selection of security personnel is done so poorly. Police and Security dogs are very much alike except for one thing. Police dogs work under very stressful conditions requiring high level of mobility whereas Sucurity dogs are confined to a fixed working area requiring less mobility between one area of work to another. So the mental mindframe of a Security dog should always be on high alert. So you require dogs that are less sociable with short nerve. It is the same type of dog that I refer to in my other article called Sports Dog Vs Guard Dog. Therefore Security Dogs are not breed specific rather dog specific. I have seen many unethical security companies sending young untrained dogs from breeds such as German Sheperd, Rottweiler and Belgian Malinois as Security Dogs. The dogs have not been tested nor trained before being sent to carry out the duty that they will never be able to perform, very much like the security personnel who have never been trained in spoken language nor security tactics.

Working Requirements

Dogs are living beings. They have feelings and consiousnessness. So we need to regularly motivate and train them to keep their spirits high for the area of work they will be deployed. Of course when I say this, I don’t mean any dog out there. Specifically to the type of Security Dog that I am refering to in this article. I find often that security firms claim that they have trained security dogs that they can offer for security services at customer premises. The customer pays a fee for this service to the security firm in addition to feeding and caring for the dog. This goes on as long as the customer wants the canine security service. There is no point with this kind of arrangement. All I see in this is 100% stupidity on the customer side. The customer might as well buy and own the dog  rather than being engaged in this kind of arrangements. I tell you why. First there is no cost saving. Secondly in relation to what I said earlier, dogs are living beings. They are not one-time preprogrammed machines. As such the dogs require constant training throughout its working life or it will just forget what it was trained on, very much like human. In addition to that, it has to be in the hands of professional care when it is off duty as this will be the majority of the time when training and preparation for work is done. So when the dog is deployed to the site, it immediately goes into “working” mode. And bear in mind, the same dog should not be sent to the same place every day for the same work. Dogs get too used to routines and will not function as intended. Therefore rotation of trained dogs is extremely important.

Import Dog Vs Local Dog

Posted by admin | Posted in Import Dog Vs Local Dog | Posted on 25-02-2010

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Importing dogs have been something that we have been doing for very long in Malaysia. There are many reasons for importing dogs. Among them some of it I have listed below

1. High quality dogs carrying titles from competition. This could be showline or working line competition.

2. Introducing new bloodline in local breeding. This is done by ethical breeders. Then again depending from where it comes.

3. Excellently bred dogs with good health status.

4. Lack of properly bred local dogs which means without consideration to breeding standards

5. Just for the sake of importing.

6. Special working requirements  by goverment authortities.

There maybe more, but let me limit to only these. Locally bred dogs are equally good. But not all, same applies to imported ones as well. Read my article about selective breeding to understand why some local breeds are suffering problems brought about by unethical breeders.

First Thing You Must Do

(a) When you buy a dog, please check if it has a pedigree regardless of whether it is local or imported. Again I must say pedigree only provides traceability as a form of assurance. It does not guarantee the future of the dog.

(b) Verify if the tatoo or microchip matches the one found in its body.

We provide this service for serious customers. Read more about it in our Services Section.

Things a Potential Owner Must Undertand

Once you buy a dog, the breeder will never want to buy the dog from you if you want to return it. So make sure you know what and with whom you are dealing with. Local import dogs genetic pool has become very saturated. With that the temperament and working ability of the dog becomes diluted in every generation. I think you would have heard from many owners saying that “I have a German Sheperd/Rottweiler/Doberman, but it is not guarding my house. It is infact causing problems in our home” or “My dog has bitten my wife and child many times when I was away. They are so scared of the dog. But when I am at home he is totally OK with everyone“. I hear more than these from customers. So you have to be lucky to get a good localy bred dog.

On the other hand you will be surprise with my next statement about import dogs.

Import dogs are no less better or worse. Just as much the same problem.

So what am I try to present here? You might be confused by now. Now let me clarify. If you want the finest cigar, you must get Havana Cigars from Cuba. You want the best Chinese Fried Kuey Teow, you must get it from a famous Chinese Stall in Penang. You want the finest carpet you must get Persian Carpet from Iran. Same goes for Cheese the best comes from Holland. So what happens if I walk into a food stall in Holland and ask for Fried Kuey Teow. I may still be able to get it. But is that what I want?

Same goes to dogs. Very often breeders say I have an imported dam with puppies. The dog is so and so. Just go one step and ask where is it imported from. Then you can deduce few matters from there. Imported dogs with valid and internationally recognized pedigree come only from few countries like Germany, Belgium, Holland and in rare cases France. The governing bodies are like SV, ADRK and FCI. There are other European countries that also do breeding but they are just as good or worse than Malaysia. I have seen dogs imported from Serbia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia and even Romania. There are no reliable governing bodies for registering pedigrees in these countries. These are European countries facing challenging economical situation and anything goes when it comes to making money. When these two factors are put together then inbreeding and linebreeding is rampant and that is the reality. They capitalize the fact that the importing breeders here look high on dogs from Europe. There is also a tendency for most Asians to trust an owner or breeder being caucasian European as creditable and nothing else matters. But the condition of the dog in terms of the mental and physical health condition comes with no assurance at all. Don’t gamble your money with these dogs or the puppies. You must be equally careful when you get the dogs from other countries as well like Germany, Holland or even America. You practically do not know the people and the dogs there. There are more SCAMs now from Germany than other countries as the younger generations tend to take advantage of the reputation set by the older more creditble generation.

That is why Westerwald Kennel plays an active role in importing dogs. We have an we established working relationship to an extent I even allow some customers to have booking fees for imported dogs. Our principle allows this method only because of the trust they have on my kennel. Westerwald Kennel together with our principal carry out all the quality assurance exercise before we identify the right dog for the owner. This is extremely important because once the dog is bought it is a lifelong relationship and commitment.

Let’s Walk the Talk

Posted by admin | Posted in Let’s walk the talk | Posted on 25-01-2010

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Many a time I get dogs for training that have never been walked by the owner before. They either remain in their cages, roam free around their homes or tied to a chain all day long. All of these are better than not letting the dog roam and terrorize the neighbourhood. But the timing is important. But the most important factor of it all is walking your dog. Three important things about this. First, your dog and yourself get a bit of exercise. In the process you build a good relationship with your dog. Lastly it helps abit to potty train your dog. You can tie your dog to a chain, but should be sparingly done on for a trained Guard Dog and Security Dog. Take note of that as chaining dogs to a spot comes with its host of other problems. Caging your dog is also good but should be done sparinly for a trained Guard Dog and Security Dog as well. Roaming around your home is a good thing, but should be done under your supervision for the normal breed. Anyway nothing beats the fact of walking your dog everyday or at least once in every few days. Dogs inheriting the traits from its canine ancesters enjoy walking long distance. It is also the way they establish pack order amongst the pack members. As a responsible owner you must start this when the dog is young. Quite too often I get dogs that have not been walked and as a result they just don’t know how to behave on the street. Imagine the effort of training and socializing these dogs.

Damage Is Done

Posted by admin | Posted in Damage Is Done | Posted on 24-01-2010

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It is a general perception that German Sheperds are prone to hip problems. The perception is so widespread that some owners rather own any other breed apart from GSD. As far as this country is concerned, this may be a fact. This is not due to the fact that this breed is prone to this problem. The true reason behind this is the human that breed this dog. I have personally seen Rottweilers and Great Dane having the same kind of problem, but then again it is not as rampant. If you want to find a solution to a problem and prevent it, you have to do a root cause analysis. We decided we should do a favour not only for dog owners, but most importantly for the dogs themselves. That is why I came out with this article.

Somehow the canine physiology does not seem to have gone through the same level of perfection that the felines have undergone through evolution. Pick a cat in your neighbourhood and compare it with a dog in the same neighbourhood. You will notice physical attributes of the cat are superior than the dog. I can’t but agree 100% to this fact. The cat’s physical attributes would seem as if evolution had selectively engineered this creature for superior requirements. This is evident from the streamlined and uniformed musculoskeletal structure of the feline species. All domesticated cats and its wild counterparts be it small or big have the same design within the same species. For instance among the species panthera tigris which is Tiger there are no variation in colour or strcuture. Well you don’t find tigers that come in different colours. Leave aside the the tigers you see in Tiger Shows in Night Clubs cause I regard them as a different species all together. But remember that, all dogs are of the same canine specifies regardless of their breed. And we so many variation among the dog species itself. 

Well felines are also equiped with almost the best hunting skills. This is due to the fact of the musculoskeletal design again. They are also highly resistant to environmental extremes. Continous extreme heat and cold does not affect their metabolical performance. Their guts are so efficient that consumption of any kind of food does not cause any bilogical impact. Very rare cats eating too much protein causes them skin problems. Their coats are almost always perfect. Somehow their digestion system knows what to retain and what to excrete from the body. No, I’m not a fan of cats! I’m explaining these facts so that by now you would realize that nature didn’t take anything granted with this animal. This explains why cats can fall from 6 floors high and still land of their four limbs safely just to walk away as if nothing has happened. Yes momentum from such heights have no impact on the feline musculoskeletal structure. Most of you would have noticed in National Geographic and Discovery documentaries how a Leopard can lift a prey twice its weight just by gripping it on it jaws while climbing a tree. Even the big cat experts say that cats are at the height of their evolution at this period of time.

Now try this with a dog. Push it from a two story building. Most likely you will find a dead dog or a dog with severely broken limbs. Jog 10KM with your dog during a mid afternoon session. At the end of the session you will a dead dog or a dog that most likely will die due to heatstroke. Try feeding nasi lemak to your dog straight for 2 weeks. You will see he will be carrying all kinds of skin problems in no time.

Don’t you think nature is so unfair by neglecting this species. So many physical defects and imperfections. Owners to need to care so much for a pet dog restricted within the home compound compared to a pet cat that roams the whole neighbourhood. For dogs, nature had another plan for this animal. It saw that this animal had potential for working applications and loyalty to his pack leader who it considers its master. So nature allowed this animal to develop its reasoning faculty more than any other creature in the animal kingdom. You may think that dolphins are smarter animals. Maybe but not anywhere close to dogs in loyalty. And loyalty is something you have to rely on when you want a working partner.

So you will be wondering what all these have to do with hips. The fact is dogs are built upon a poorly optimized musculoskeletal design. This itself exposes them to all kind of joint related problems including hip and elbow dysplasia. Our roles as human is to ensure that this problem is reduced or eliminated through Selective Breeding. This is why unlike any other animals nature had entrusted dogs to humans. It should be a win win situation. But humans are as always selfish, greedy and self-centered. For the sake of money the don’t mind breeding dogs with hip and elbow dysplasia. For the same of money they don’t mind Inbreeding or Linebreeding the dogs. This had futher worsen the condition. And GSD being one of the oldest and most favourite breed in Malaysia, more breeders have inbred the dog rampantly for profit. Always rememnber breeding should be in the best interest of the breed. Refer to my article on Selective Breeding.

Now that this unethical breeding had been continuing so long in Malaysia, it had given rise to so many dogs with hip and elbow dysplasia. I personally have trained some dogs with this problem and it moves to tears seeing the dogs suffering from so much pain. It only depresses me that the suffering will multiply as the dogs ages. I’m attaching below X-Ray results and the recommendation letter from the Vet after she was examined.

 

Hip Dysplasia

 The Vet’s recommendation is to perform a surgery which will cause around RM10,000 including the cost of post-surgery care. Yet the condition is not totally guaranted . Being genetically inclined, this problem can manifest itself to the elbow. Looking at the cost you might as well buy an imported dog. There is enough damage done to the dogs due to the reckless breeding practices. Next time before you buy a dog ask for the pedigree or do a background check to ensure that you know what you are getting yourself into.