Sports Dog Vs Guard Dog

Posted by admin | Posted in Articles | Posted on 22-01-2010

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This topic is about how we evaluate a final product of training rather than a dog that requires training or currently  undergoing training. I get so many requests for Guard Dogs. It’s a fair request by customers as it is the sole purpose of getting a dog in their home. The first thing that I always tell these customers is regardless of the breed, a dog is not born as a guard dog but rather made as one. And another equation not to be missed is that not all dogs born eventually become a Guard Dog. Apart from guarding, Guard Dogs require to provide personal protection. Check our page on Services about what constitutes Home Protection and the trainings provided for this discipline. The training that these dogs go through though initially is the  same in the beginnining as the one gone through by Sports Dogs, it will begin to branch out to another specialized area known as Home Protection. Not many trainers offer this in Malaysia if at all any. That is why we assess the dogs thoroughly during Level 1 Home Obedience training to determine if it is a protection material.

As opposed, Sports Dog are a totally different cup of tea. Like I mentioned earlier, the training starts out the same way, but the specialization for Sports Dog is very competition oriented. As such high level of structured approach is applied to the training as per the rules and regulations of the respective competition. Some famous competitive sports for dogs are such as Schutzhund, IPO, Ring Sport and KNPV. I do not want to dwell further in the sports area as it is a discipline by itself and application is limited to the area of work that we require the dogs to be for the purpose of Home Protection.

The problem arises when someone is trying to sell you a Sports Dog as a Guard Dog. For a lay man it looks the same i.e the dog barks and bites. But the protection work of a Sports Dog is to promote the aesthetics of the area of work. Nothing totally wrong about it cause it is like a martial arts athelit trying to impress the judge with his skillfull movement to score a higher point. You quite well understand that it is totally different compared to a body guard trained on special movements to guard and protect the person whom has hired him to do that job. In Malaysia most home owners do not require a Sports Dog. And believe me Sports Dogs are not cheap. I had imported a 3 years old Sports Dog for the price of EURO 8000. Normally no handler in Europe will sell a dog of that age. So if he decides to sell it will fetch that kind of price. That is why most Sports Dog in Malaysia are relatively old, not less than 8 years at the time when it is imported. That’s the time when the price will be around EURO 4000. The best price that I could get a Sports Dog for a customer in Malaysia was EURO 3000 and the dog was 5 years old, which I feel is fair enough.

The next question that might come up in your mind is, “Can I buy a Sports Dog and get it trained for Guarding?”.  My answers is “Yes, but why?”. The price of a young Sports Dog is very expensive. Nothing wrong about this as well, because the trainer would have put thousands of hours of training to prepare for competitions. Thus they will always want to recover the cost and make some profit at the same time. After buying it, you will have to send it for training which will cost you money as well. Believe me, retraining is more complicated that training. That is why our approach is to import a young dog trained for Home Protection work which is rather reasonable in price ranging from EURO 3000 to 4000 for customers who require Guard Dogs. In addition to that we also provide on-site training with simulation scenarios at customer’s home to fully accustom the dog to carry out the protection and guarding work. This service is part of the package.

Climate impact on imported dogs

Posted by admin | Posted in Climate impact on imported dogs | Posted on 17-01-2010

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We have imported several dogs from Germany within the past to years from our principal partner. The breed of the dogs are all German Sheperds ranging from puppy to adult. As customer requirements come up anytime of the year, these dogs will fly from Germany regardless of the season there then. On two occassions when it was winter in Germany, the temperature there was -5 degress celcius. When the dog reached KLIA it was +32 degree celcius. Think about the change in temperature. I walked the dog for a while in the pet hotel area before sending it to the quarantine area. I was concerned about the dog’s condition. He was perfectly fine and just as lively as he was in Germany based on the video(s) that I had seen. I visited quarantine facility once every 2 days to ensure that the dog was coping well. He was infact a lot better than a locally bred german sheperd which was in my kennel then for training.

So what do we learn from here? Climate change does have impact but it is not the level where you require to change everything around the dog to suit it. I will explain later on the issues that you need to be watchful which even the locally bred dogs are equally vulnarable of. I have heard people who keep on trumpeting that these dogs need to be kept in an air conditioned room with temperature control. Otherwise they will suffer heat stroke. So to give a sense assurance to my customers who buy these dogs from me, I tell them only three things. Make sure you keep your dog in a shady kennel off leash. It should be allowed to move freely in side the kennel or cage. Your dogs should get water all day long and walk your dogs at least 2 to 3 times a day for the first 2 weeks. I request the workers in the quarantine station to do this as well for the dogs imported by me. They are very nice people who agree to help with this task. Drinking water helps the dog to regulate its body temperature and walking gives the dog the oppurtunity to discharge excess heat in the body through urine. Having the dog untied inside the cage allows it to change location frequently to lie down on a cooler spot. End of story. Your new dog from Germany is a Malaysian then onwards. If you notice these are things that we even do for locally bred dogs. So you are rest assured that dogs have innate ability to climatize very quickly.

Of course the dogs stamina might take a bit longer to build up due to its slightly expanded lungs that would have been physiologically useful in colder climates. In addition to that if it carries winter coat, abit of it might shed depending on the genetic of the dog if it is a long-haired or short-haired type. But believe me  if you had plans to renovate your house to fix cooling equipments just save that money. You might us well pay us that money to source for you an imported puppy.

Anticipated Problems

Usually I see dry skin problems with the imported dogs. Apart from that I also see reddish patches on the belly. The formet is due to lack of good bacteria and the latter is due to fungus, though the cause could vary. I am not a qualified veterinarian. Both can be treated with medicated bath, antibiotic cream and oral antibiotics. It may recur, but you just have to be consistent in giving the dog the medicated bath. But you know what? Local dogs have the same problem!!!!

How to pick a dog

Posted by admin | Posted in How to pick a dog | Posted on 17-01-2010

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This is the older question all my customers ask me. I have sold both locally bred and imported puppies, young adults and adult dogs. When it comes to selling the young adults and adult dogs, I don’t see that the customer has much of a choice because I usualy present him with minimum 1 and maximum 2 trained dogs. So the choice is simple as the options given. In such cases I have noticed its whether the customer has the chemistry towards the dog the first time he sees it. He decides on the spot and it ends there.

As for puppies, its totally opposite. It’s the puppy that makes the choise, not you. Puppies have a child’s instinct. They can sense “their” right owner based on the body smell that the person carries in addition to his body language. Whether you like it or not, you keep on sending these two signals to everyone including humans and animals alike at all times. This is the way nature has created us and no amount of perfume or clothing can mask it. So when you see a puppy or group of puppies, whichever that runs to you first or follows you or even comes to you when listening to your voice regardless of whether you called it or not, is the puppy for you. If you have more than one that runs to you look for the fittest one. Usually this can be observed with the way the pups muscle out each other in the process of wanting reach you first Take it and walk away and have fun with him. It ends there. Of course don’t forget to pay for it!!!

Curbing the stray dog menace

Posted by admin | Posted in Community Work | Posted on 13-01-2010

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This has been my concern from a long period of time. I just find that no one is acting systematically in solving the problems faced by the public. Being an animal lover I do not have anything against any living animal. But being a trainer I cannot stand unorderliness. Most importantly as this is about Community Work, being a citizen, I cannot tolerate the menace to public. Stray dogs in our country is called with all kinds of breed reference such as Mongrel, Strays, Street Dog, Mixed Breed, Wild Dogs and many more derogarory terms which I do not want to mention here. Regardless of the name given, the public menace created by these particular group of dogs has gone beyond tolerance. But being animals they are not able to think for themselves apart from the factor of food, shelter and mate. They do not know that attending nature’s call on the tyre of a car, at entrance of a home, at the gate, tearing rubbish to pick for food is just not right. The lists goes on. But I feel the cause of this menace is humans. If we study carefully study the cases, most stray dogs originate from packs of dogs that belong to irresponsible owners. Once they go beyond control in terms of behaviour or health conditions, the so-called owners disown them. No one cares for these dogs and they keep on living on scraps and given the right chance even procreate giving rise more strays. For the benefit of humans and dogs something needs to be done. Your opinion is most welcomed.

Preparation for training

Posted by admin | Posted in Preparation for training | Posted on 12-01-2010

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Preparing a dog for training is not only for the dog but also the owner. Both have to be mentally prepared for the training. This will prevent the training shock syndrome. But believe me most dogs come unprepared. It takes us sometimes even upto a week to stabilize the dog before it becomes receptive for training. Same goes to the owners who constanly call me asking how is their dogs are  doing. All these stress can be avoided. If you plan to send your for training sometime in the future get in touch with us and enroll for the Free Puppy Care Program. This gives you and your dog to make a lot of preparation for the oncoming training and to maximise from it. Also read my article on Let’s Walk The Talk. You will realize that walking with your dog helps to build a better relationship. It’s good to get advice from us as to how you can do the right thing the first time for your dog. Don’t wait until the last minute. After all you are the center of the universe for your dog. So take some iniative for his sake.