Baden K-9. Taking your K9 to Higher Grounds with Superior Training.

The following articles and comments are intended to be informational and inspire discussion

THE MAGIC OF K-9 COMMUNICATION
Remember when you were a child and how each flower brought wonder to you?
Remember how you could hardly wait to hand your mother a handful of "beautiful dandelions"?
Once upon a time the smell of the bright yellow colour amazed us all.
We, as adults, mostly just walk past them, or on them, rarely taking notice.
Remember that magic?
Think about a child with a pup. The child bends over to study a flower and the pup pushes in to investigate what the child is interested in.
The child pushes the pup back yet the pup continues to push his way in.
Now think about a handler trying to peak a dogs interest. To do this he lays down food or a toy.
What has happened to that magic?
What has changed?
Basically we have changed and in doing so we have changed our dogs.
�10/14/01 Mike McConnery/Baden K9 Incorporated

If a dog is not trained to work, it's destined to fail.

Theory is what most people understand yet it seldom works when applied.
Practical application is what works but few people understand.

Many and most people have a deep regard for dogs. This does not mean they could be a competent trainer.
Training a dog from start to finish takes many hours of hard field work. Most of the training and especially the agility work done at Baden can only be done by someone who is physically fit.
If all K-9 trainers, advertsing themselves as such, applied themselves more to the training, very little time would be had for discussion groups and chat rooms. In turn, better trained dogs would be turned out.

We often settle for average.

We do not believe in sparing discipline in a dog. We recently received an email from a woman in Germany whose dog had died after being hit by a car. Prior email to us was on seeking advice on a dog who would not listen, who darted off the minute he was let off the leash, linger when called, etc.
Our email suggestions were standard; you must learn to control your dog at all times. We advised her of the benefits of a prong collar. Her words were " I can not bear to have him on a prong and if I put him on a lead he refuses to walk."
This excepted behaviour was the death of this dog.
This was a beautiful male German Shepherd only eight months old.
The grief was of it's owner was immense.

It is our job as owners and handlers to train our dogs. When we except poor behaviour in a dog we do not change them.

One's beliefs are revealed and shown not so much in their words or writings, as in the assumptions on which these people habitually act and in their basic every day principles and morals by which their daily choices are made and tested.
Courage is living, really living, one's belief.

Training is one thing. Natural talent is another. A natural God given "gift" can be used in conjunction with "natural" talent.
Very few people have either.
You need the talent or a gift to be good.
Any one who tells you that after a course you are a trainer and will get rich quick is being less than truthful with you.

A portion of the transcript written by the father of a victim of the Columbine shootings.COLUMBINE DAD'S SPEECH BEFORE CONGRESS. 05/02/00

BEHAVIOUR OF A TRUE WORKING DOG-04/15/00

For a dog, an adult dog, to growl at his handler or family would mean there has been a problem in his raising and training program. Secondly, I would question his genetics. To put him on his back, I believe, is not of any value in this situation or any other. A growl is a preliminary to a bite. I have never had one of my dogs growl at me. In the same manner, I have never given them reason to. Also, I have never dominated my dogs. We have a working relationship that has built a bond. Genetics plays a major factor in a dog's capability as does the training and the mental attitude of the handler. The training that we do does not eliminate the natural bond between man and dog, in fact, it deepens it, thus working service training does not harden a dog. Dogs we breed and train are looking for a bond. There is no deeper bond than that between a working service dog and its handler.
From the Working Service Archives 6/25/'87

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TRUE WORKING DOGS
A true working dog is not a prey driven animal and working bloodlines are not sporting bloodlines. In fact a sporting dog is so far from what a working dog is that there is little, if any, comparison.

The description calm, stable, strong nerves, friendly, confident; that is a working dog description.

A sporting dog is often described this way and if and when real life stressful scenarios occur, it is at this time they crumble. I would never knowingly sell a pup that will be used for Schutzhund. It is my opinion this sport has done as much as the show ring, if not more, to destroy the true working breeds of the world today. This sport is also why 99% of all police service dogs are ineffective on the street.
Baden K-9 Inc. is a Working Dog facility and will remain that way.
From the Working Service Archives 6/25/'87

SEARCH AND RESCUE
To find a lost suspect a Search and Rescue dog find scent by ground searching and air scenting. This simply means the dog extracts the man scent from all other scents and then finds direction and finally locates the person.

Our dogs have tracked in desert areas, Israel, and jungle areas, in Cambodia. These are perhaps the most extreme of conditions we have been called to search in. A dog can over come any and all obstacles a human being can. In fact the dog is only limited by his handlers desire to attempt the exercise.

Unfortunately most Law Enforcement K-9's are not trained to deal with an armed subject. Many times the dog unfamiliar in this field becomes a problem rather than a solution or ally. A dog's sense of smell can be termed as the most unique and powerful devise on earth that can be used in multiple applications by man. A dog can track a man on any and all types of surface, roads, gravel, grass, dirt and so on. Although water affects the way scent acts a good handler can assist his dog in times of need.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to people is to learn the incredible way in which one can communicate with a dog. This natural bond is a super natural relationship between a human being and a dog.

AIREDALE TERRIER
The Airedale Terrier is perhaps one of the most forgotten of the dogs of service. Used for his keen sense of smell and his ability to carry out a given task, the Airedale has proven himself as a Combat S.A.R. and messenger, as well as a patrol dog. Almost extinct in his working form, this breed is making a fast comeback in the field. We hope it will not be long before this great dog is once again seen in Law Enforcement.