Steve K9Pro

K9: No Im just kidding.... Of course really lol... K9: the prey item IS the reward, the dumbell should not be. K9: could be, I have only worked with maybe one or two (thousand) dogs like this... Does he chew it when he first picks it up or when he gets back to you? K9: cant really do this over the net... too complicated to convey via text..

K9: Mouthing in the vacinity of the handler is most always stress related over a conflict with handing over the item... K9: This is still happening as the dog hasnt got enough value for the toy & he "knows" you dont have the toy in the ring. If you correct this handler issue it will go away... What I showed you was the first step to curing this, you need to learn about delivery of the toy, presenting & location of the toy... The exchange was just a test to see if it would make a difference... Adding a steel item will not sort the chewing, its involuntary driven by the conflict...

K9: keep smiling, because what your doing will produce a much better dog than force ever would...

K9: I am having major upgrades done to my website, its 70 framed now so bigger images video can be viewed faster. There are over a dozen new pages to be added, articles, case studies etc & the info on the packages. There are Training in drive, raising a working puppy, Reliable recall & a few others.. They span 4 months of program info. K9: I can say that, I have a lot of clients come to learn this after watching the videos.. K9: They are born with Prey drive lol. Get them imprinted early...

K9: Again its goal dependant... People I know can be around the dog, but only when Im there, they dont pay the dog any attention, this is what "I" do until 14 months old.. K9: the dog cant be scared of them, this wouldnt be neutral, but a negative value... The dog finds people as they are the "currency" in which they can buy the toy. In my retriever program, birds & bumpers are the currency in which the dog can buy a play with the toy... They dont love nor hate the bumper/bird/victim, they need them to gain the reward.. K9: could do, but it doesnt have to be lots... could be only a few.. Only takes one aggressive one to make a pup fearful.... K9: I cant spell out the program on the net, it's simple, just not that simple.. To much room for interpretation & things to go wrong. Also Im sure that a lot of this stuff is covered in the Socialisation & Neutralisation thread. I know your in NZ, but later this year I will have a distance learning package available on this very topic, I already have others.. K9: soon as eyes open

K9: yes, keep in mind though that the high end of reliability will be in drive....

K9: yes, but as this isnt always practical, I recommend anyine not wanting to train in prey drive be the master of the TOT.... K9": by the time they are that age, they can meet any other dog that isnt aggressive to them, neutralised or not...

K9: very little equipment, nearly none....

K9: lol dont be sorry, there really is no such thing as "just" a pet owner...

K9: I think you know someone who recently said "always leave your audience wanting more..."... :p K9: if, the dogs primary drive is prey, & only one of you ever gives the prey item, then the reward giver will be the most respected, interesting, rewarding... K9: remember they have seen & met other dogs, they just dont go nuts for them, what do they do? ignore them... K9: no, this is a handshaking (greeting) technique that isnt needed if your not looking to play... If for example the neutralised dog is not working, it will look at the other dog, just not go over to it, just not be distracted by it... When they are working they dont see the others... When have dog try & play with mine, mine just look at them (like they wierd)....

K9: Props..?

K9: I will be sending an email to the registered group this week...

K9: Big? I think we will take about 50 lucky people to attend, I also think it will sell out in one day...

K9: Neutralisation means setting the value to some thing as zero.. So the answer is yes. My dogs for example have zero value for everyone but me, they dont look for drive satisfaction anywhere except where I say it is... This happens normally though when you start training in drive, as you become the reward holder... K9: the dog can hold values to your other dogs & family, & this may be desireable to you, it just isnt desireable to me. Later on when I allow the dogs to run together they can bond but they dont have a value over maybe 2 for eachother where I would be 10 plus... I in prevous times would only fully neutralise a working dog but these days recommend it with ever dog, even a pet... **************************** K9: yes of course you can, these arent rules as much as tips... The term good is also only as good as one thinks the word good is... lol I would call a dog that is 100% reliable, excellent, good is just below that to me... & I dont think you will get my "good" without being more strict... You might get wha I would call not bad lol... You may remember watching Stamp, you can see how no one but Julie, Stamp & the ball were there, the 20 of us just disapeared... Thats excellent..... K9: perfect... K9: & they might be, if your goal of getting a pup is to make things better for the existing dog, then you cant expect that goal will help the pup.... K9: broken hearts are common with this program, as are 100% reliable dogs, you need to choose which is most important... :p The pup can assign a value to your family, thats no problem, but they could at some stage be a distraction.. I would prefer to get the pup all trained up & then allow un timed contact with other family members... Until then its always guided by you... K9: SARDOG may want to jump in here, but I would bet their dogs would find a stick of dynamite for their toy.... If the reward in search in rescue was finding the victim, then the dog would never go back to the handler to lead them in to actually find the person as the reward had already been gained... Dogs that are neutralised dont dislike people, nor do they like them, they dont care... Mine will let you pat them, then when I say so, they will bite you, then you an pat them again... You could be giving my dog a tummy scratch & if I give them eye contact the will run to me for one pat on the head... One from me = 10 plus, many from you = zero... ************ K9: No I dont do this, I take the dog to many places & neutralise it to new things, steer away from dogs.. When the first fear impact period hits I keepthe dog at home & dont do anything, when its over I introduce to more dogs that will ignore the pup.. No time before 14 months of age will my dog every play with another dog... Only me & my toy... People who have a pet dog that they are happy with a sit when they have a handful of food will not need to do this, but people who want more than that will benefit, the more you want from the dog the more important it becomes...

K9: anyone from Novice to Expert can attend...

K9: for sits & drops that have to be formal, I use a place board that is made to size for the dog, length ways for the drop, width for the sit... Works every time...

K9: ok your dog doesnt get the free command, you need to us eit in all your training. Something went astray in the beginning... Change the word to FREE & say it with a lot of enthusiasm... You must excite him ti break then when he does (on the free command) priase him & walk inside.. If he still doesnt add the second dog closer & when you say ok, & the otehr dog runs off to eat he will get it...

K9: cruelty? lol, I should mention then that it is a totally indoor event...

K9: usually two hours..

K9: you get bthe people & I will take care of the second part, keep in mind that only a small part of my training uses these tools...

K9: teasing is drive building.... thats just the pro term lol

K9: all yo need is somone with an obedient dog that will do a sit stay, surely you can find one.,.. *************************** K9: set it up Im there...

K9: One thing I always say Myszka, is that this isnt for everyone... Some think the work is too physical, others dont have a dog with enough drive, others dont want to invest the time or commitment, the possibilities are endless. Simply train your dog in another method. There are plenty of them, I have plenty of them... No body says you have to do all of this.... K9: remember that the level of training you trying to reach is your own end goal, everyone has different goals, so different levels are required... K9: this can happen with dogs left in back yards, it is a fall out from lack of stimulation.... This happens to high drive dogs that dont get enough drive stimulation... I see a lot of people with high drive dogs that destroy their homes, dig holes, bark etc etc as the people havent got the time to spend with a highly dependant dog.. Simply means they have the wrong breed... My drive training programs mimimize these problems, often eliminate them... ************** A: Firstly: this can only be done with a puppy, right? K9: no, a dog that hasnt already had an assigned value of things, so a dog that has been kenelled all its life or kept at home could be neutralised, but pups are best... K9: yes thats correct, it will take aversives to reverse this... K9: to have a dog that is not over stimulated by everything but the handler, to minimise the risks associated with generic socialisation programs... So that you dont teach your dog to want to play with other dogs & then have to correct him for doing just that. K9: yes this is correct.. K9: it takes some experience but, when the pup pays no attention to the neutralised item.. K9: once the pup gets to approx 14 months plus, temperament changes occur, then its a life time thing... *************************** K9: dogs need certain things, they need to have their primary & secondary drives full filled, & they dont look for other things... They dont get bored, or stressed... People who have attended my workshops both here & Victoria, or those who know my dogs will have seen dogs that have been neutralised. The SARDOGS & Lablovers dogs & mine have zero interest in other dogs, a couple of examples.. EG1: K9 Force & SARDA workshop in NSW, Julie deployed River in the vacant paddock next door to mine, she & her River went about doing their thing whilst I & workshop attendees watched from my paddock with a panoramic view, The paddock on the other side had barking dogs, 3 of them running up & down the fence barking at River, less than 3 metres away... Neither Julie or River deviated from their job... I mentioned to Julie when she came back about the dogs barking, she had the same view as River, she said "what dogs".... See the pic, there are dogs barking just behind them, though they cant be seen.... EG2: Lablover was kind enough to do a Retrieving demo or two for me at my last Victorian workshops, Stamp came out of the vehicle & I think I can say that his focus in drive was amazing, there were other dogs around, barking, his kennel mates barking in the car, never once did he even notice... As Gillian said, she went to pat him & he didnt give a rats... When its game on, its game on for him, I have sat in Julies house & had Stamp on my lap, a very affectionate boy he is, but when its game on, there is nothing else for him but Julie & her ball.. & if your reading Julie, I want a photo for my comp!

K9: no, its totally unfair lol, its called drive building! Here is some more.. This day that Im working on will run from 9am - 9pm..... I look forward to this more than any workshop I have done for a while... There will something for everyone... It has never been done before..... I cant say more than that now... K9: of course you do... K9: As soon as I have the details set, could be a month or so before that happens... K9: sure, I can make that work well... K9: I cant see why not?

K9: these questions are all theory? Your right you need a demo... lol [email protected] for bookings...