Fascinating article on guard dogs

From the independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...rd-971492.html


A man's best friend is his canine bodyguard

Friday, 24 October 2008

Lazily curled up at the feet of his owner, six-year-old Edo gives every appearance of being the perfect family pet.


A Slovakian-bred german shepherd with piercing hazelnut eyes and a luxurious dark coat, he rarely takes his eyes off his master and is more than happy to roll on his back for a tummy rub with anyone brave enough to play with him.

Except Edo is no ordinary pet. He is £15,000-worth of security equipment – a highly trained attack dog capable of tackling anyone who threatens those he loves.

In America, well-heeled celebrities and families have long been willing to spend a small fortune on canine bodyguards, or "personal protection dogs" as the multimillion-dollar industry likes to call them. But with burglars this side of the Atlantic resorting to increasingly violent tactics in order to circumnavigate alarm systems, a growing market has also emerged in Britain for powerful pets that double up as 24-hour security with fur.

One of the largest suppliers of such dogs in the UK is run by Edo's owners, Charles Wall and his partner Gaynor Probert. Based in the Welsh countryside, their "A1K9" school trains hundreds of dogs for up to a year at a time in order to create animals that are both loving pets and capable defence dogs.

"What we create is a happy dog that is level-headed in all situations but one that, at the drop of a hat, will deal with any threat to its owner in an appropriate way," says Mr Wall, 44, who claims to have sold more than 400 dogs in the past 10 years, including one recently to the former racing driver Nigel Mansell. "Demand is increasing all the time," he adds. "We started off with half a dozen kennels at the back of the house, now we have purpose-built unit on the hill that houses up to 40 dogs at a time."

Half an hour later, on that windswept hill above the family home near Pontardulais, Edo is called on to demonstrate his skills by protecting his master from one of the world's most ungainly and undignified threats – a terrified journalist awkwardly waddling towards them in a one-inch-thick padded "bite suit".

At Mr Wall's command, Edo takes up a defensive position and starts barking loudly. Undeterred, the foolish journalist steps within range, allowing Edo to pounce and deliver a frighteningly powerful bite to the right arm that would bring all but the strongest man to the ground. As soon as the bite-suit is off, he is soft as butter again, wagging his tail contentedly and pressing for another tummy rub.

It is this ability to confidently switch between being both an approachable family pet and a controlled defence dog, Mr Wall believes, that separates personal protection dogs from ordinary guard dogs.

"When someone thinks of a guard dog, the stereotypical image they have is of a dog in a scrapyard chained to a post," he says. "It's not the sort of thing you would put near a two-year-old child. My dogs are perfectly family friendly."

In order to ensure owners are able to control their dogs and bond with them safely they have to go through a three-day training course where they are taught various trigger commands to bring their pet under control. And unlike unscrupulous breeders who might sell a dog to anyone, customers can only purchase an A1K9 if they pass a test themselves.

"Most of the people who come to me have a perceived fear of crime or have been victims of crime themselves but I won't sell to everyone," says Mr Wall. "There are lots of people out there who would like to own a personal protection dog for the wrong reasons. My radar is usually pretty good at picking up those kinds of people on the telephone but there have been times when I've simply refused to sell a dog to someone because I don't trust them. They are the kind of characters that I train our dogs to protect people from and I'd rather lose 10 sales than sell a single dog to the wrong person."

The dogs themselves, primarily german shepherds and dobermanns, are certainly not cheap, ranging from £5,000 to £15,000 and more for some specialist requirements. The company has also just taken on a public relations company to help market the dogs to high-net worth individuals primarily based in Europe and the Middle East.

One of the most expensive dogs Mr Wall has sold was to a Scottish man who worked for a natural gas company in eastern Russia and needed protection from criminal gangs targeting Western businessmen. The german shepherd, named Taz, had to be trained to work under gunfire. In a letter to Mr Wall four months after Taz's arrival in Russia, the owner wrote: "Taz is doing great – nope, better than great. So far he has taken down four persons, one was armed with a metal bar – no damage to Taz."

According to Mr Wall's partner, Gaynor, who also trains the dogs alongside the company's five full-time staff, wives are often the customers keenest on buying a protection dog, particularly if their husbands spend a lot of time away from the house. "Having one of these dogs around is wonderfully reassuring, especially when Charles is gone," she says. "You are able to go to bed at night with a lovely safe feeling, knowing that somebody is always looking after you."

The law on dogs mauling intruders is a somewhat grey area but Mr Wall believes most of his customers are far more concerned with their safety.

The sales pitch? "Criminals are using increasingly violent tactics to rob houses where they will often take the wife or kids hostage in order to override an alarm or crack into a safe," says Mr Wall. "It's an increasing problem and it's not going to go away."

Very interesting. There is a weekly ad on the go in my local free ads paper which I noticed the other week, and was quite surprised. I'm sure this is the same people the A1K9's but I'll check it out tonight when o/h brings the rag home. I also noticed that dogs trained by them started at £2,500, which also surprised me, a lot!!!! I will ponder on this one!

I would LOVE to go and see the A1K9 dogs in action - their website is certainly fairly impressive. If I needed a personal protection dog for whatever reason, I would definitely go there and have a look.

I don't have any problem with people training personal protection dogs, as long as they are experienced and do it right ... otherwise it could be a timebomb just waiting to go off.

Huge respect to those who train their dogs to a high level in disciplines such as schutzhund. There are some stunning dogs shown on various videos, in competitions and police training.

http://aurach2000.rivido.de/video/le...x-UO-dm-06.wmv

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPXL3...eature=related

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmnFK2aewCw

I'd be very concerned about the dog's lifestyle once it is rehomed to the purchaser. Will these active dogs get the stimulation, excellent nutrition, conditioning, exercise and continued training they need, or will they be flavour of the month for a short while and then forgotten when the owner gets bored - a canine version of the Breville Sandwich Maker. We just had to have one but it soon got to be too much trouble so *shrug* dunno where it is now.

Personally I can't think of a single celebrity that I'd rehome a stuffed toy to, never mind a superb canine athlete.

I have been asked on several occasions to train dogs in attack work for others... I have never done it.. and dont see me doing it to be honest.. I often feel when you have the ability to handle a dog trained to attack.. you also have the ability to train that dog yourself..

I have never trained anyone else's dogs... only my own for bite work...

Having been to A1K9 and seen the dogs in action (and get the sales pitch for £25,000 pair of dobies) I can tell you its not just about the training the dogs. They spend considerable time training the new owner also, and this is where the majority of the money goes. The dogs, however, are indescribably talented!

I agree with you Shona.

I don't agree with other people training people's dogs for them. If you want a protection dog (which doesn't interest me at all) i think the owner should find out about training it and train it themselves, maybe with the help of such a company.

I think people should also train their own dogs whether they are pet dogs, obedience or agility. I understand that assitance dogs are trained by proffessionals but the people they are matched with are also trained and then trained with the dog.

having looked at the pictures again it seems that John Fishers book about training protection and police dogs without the need for choke chains and harsh methods was never written.

Ok - no proof that they use harsh methods, apart from choke chains littered throughout the pictures. I have never understood the need to use these, if these dogs are so well trained and they are such expert trainers, how come they haven't managed to train any of them with out choke chains?

I'm sure they can & do train without using check chains but like millions of others they use them as their prefered collar.
Personally I work & walk my bitch on a leather half check, but in the ring she wears a check chain so she will respond by walking calmly when it is on check or pulling into it when it is clipped back. THis is how her previous owner trained her, how virtually every dog in the ring is trained.
If you go to the Sieger most dogs will be shown on check chains yet the adults will also be expected to gait free.
Its not the type of chain its the person using it.
At first I thought the price was steep but then when I considered how much one pays for a puppy & for training classes in obedience & schutzhund, & keeping the dog its a fair price.

I just don't see the need to use them. If people are not going to use them to check/choke their dogs (which i completely disagree with) what is the point of having them on at all? Apart from to use them as a check/choke?