ButchCappel
14th July 2004, 21:52
When signing off on K9PS articles the phrase "The original" is put at the end. After 2 years of doing that someone in a post asked what it meant.
My initial reaction was " do you have a dog with you under that rock you’ve been living under for the past 10 years?" But then Denise reminded me that new people come to the dog world every day and, many get introduced to protections dogs. These people have a lot of questions so maybe a brief history of PP work would be helpful.
"Well, you know", I thought, "that might be a good thing, let me move some cobwebs from my brain and:
Schutzhund came to the US in the 70’s. First under the sanctions of the North American ScH Assoc. Then DVG was added and finally NASA went away and USA the present governing body took the reins for this German import in this country.
ScH was the first organized system, for any type of bite work in this country. It brought basic techniques for teaching and a verifiable system for judging bite work in trained dogs. For the next few decades ScH printed material and trainers were a fundamental source of basic info for most trainers that hoped to do protection training with their dogs.
ScH techniques and principles are still the basis for a majority of the training programs used to train PP dogs today.
In the early to mid eighties (don’t you researcher, and historian types start laughing cause I can’t remember the exact date. Remember, I lived through the sixties) a small group gathered in Colorado and formed the Rattlesnake Ring club, holding the first French Ring trial in the US. This second European import brought a number of new training techniques and systems to the growing US & Canadian "Personal Protection" trainers.
But! The 2 European disciplines did not quite fill the need for that elusive, slowly emerging group known as Personal Protection dogs.
It is now 1993 (I didn’t really remember the year, it is on one of the plaques on the wall) A wealthy customer of mine has come to me with a German imported ScH titled Rott and asked me to retrain him for street work and his families protection. Noticing the small crowds that would gather to watch when we trained on streets or parks. Abell decided we had the makings of some real entertainment and asked me to come up with a competition that would show off the street side of his dogs training and also inform and entertain the crowd he anticipated showing up for the first "Torneo Canina".
Well I had held a few little competitions for my customers to compete against each other and I had gone to several trials that local trainers had put together, but Abell wasn’t talking about a "little local trial" when he did things he wanted it all done on a scale that Hollywood would appreciate. Feeling it was all a little more than I could come up with I began calling around the country to some of the best police, security, military and one really great Ring trainer, asking for their input and advice. Six months later after countless phone calls, letters, diagrams, etc. to all parts of the country the first "Torneo Canina" was held in June at the Lienzo de Charro in Juarez, Mexico. With a substantial advertising budget that show played to a crowd of 4,790 paid spectators.
As news of the trial got back across the border an article in Dog Sports magazine started the calls coming from around the world. Once again a system with a written, realistic, verifiable, judging standard was brought to the U.S. only, this time it was what so many had been looking for PERSONAL PROTECTION. Designed to show off a dogs’ man stopping abilities, and the control work needed, to assure a partner that is capable of living 24-7, with the owner they would lay down their life to protect. What I thought was going to be a good competition with one hell of a party after, has led to a ten year party that now appears to be going international. And the elusive face of PP dogs have been drawn and defined, it is a K9PS certified PPD or Pro PPD.
Protection dog competitions have grown quite a bit since that day personal protection dogs took center stage in the desert sands of Juarez, Mexico. The new outlets for trainers and owners of protection trained dogs seem unlimited. The opportunities to test every facet of your training program seem endless. From decoy based competitions like the DOG SPORT OPEN, to the PP based GLADIATOR DOGS, and the latest challenge the "sequestered scenarios", there are more opportunities than ever before to work with your partner. But the standard for a certifiable PP dogs remains constant.
That standard was set ten years ago by "The Original" K9 PRO SPORTS
My initial reaction was " do you have a dog with you under that rock you’ve been living under for the past 10 years?" But then Denise reminded me that new people come to the dog world every day and, many get introduced to protections dogs. These people have a lot of questions so maybe a brief history of PP work would be helpful.
"Well, you know", I thought, "that might be a good thing, let me move some cobwebs from my brain and:
Schutzhund came to the US in the 70’s. First under the sanctions of the North American ScH Assoc. Then DVG was added and finally NASA went away and USA the present governing body took the reins for this German import in this country.
ScH was the first organized system, for any type of bite work in this country. It brought basic techniques for teaching and a verifiable system for judging bite work in trained dogs. For the next few decades ScH printed material and trainers were a fundamental source of basic info for most trainers that hoped to do protection training with their dogs.
ScH techniques and principles are still the basis for a majority of the training programs used to train PP dogs today.
In the early to mid eighties (don’t you researcher, and historian types start laughing cause I can’t remember the exact date. Remember, I lived through the sixties) a small group gathered in Colorado and formed the Rattlesnake Ring club, holding the first French Ring trial in the US. This second European import brought a number of new training techniques and systems to the growing US & Canadian "Personal Protection" trainers.
But! The 2 European disciplines did not quite fill the need for that elusive, slowly emerging group known as Personal Protection dogs.
It is now 1993 (I didn’t really remember the year, it is on one of the plaques on the wall) A wealthy customer of mine has come to me with a German imported ScH titled Rott and asked me to retrain him for street work and his families protection. Noticing the small crowds that would gather to watch when we trained on streets or parks. Abell decided we had the makings of some real entertainment and asked me to come up with a competition that would show off the street side of his dogs training and also inform and entertain the crowd he anticipated showing up for the first "Torneo Canina".
Well I had held a few little competitions for my customers to compete against each other and I had gone to several trials that local trainers had put together, but Abell wasn’t talking about a "little local trial" when he did things he wanted it all done on a scale that Hollywood would appreciate. Feeling it was all a little more than I could come up with I began calling around the country to some of the best police, security, military and one really great Ring trainer, asking for their input and advice. Six months later after countless phone calls, letters, diagrams, etc. to all parts of the country the first "Torneo Canina" was held in June at the Lienzo de Charro in Juarez, Mexico. With a substantial advertising budget that show played to a crowd of 4,790 paid spectators.
As news of the trial got back across the border an article in Dog Sports magazine started the calls coming from around the world. Once again a system with a written, realistic, verifiable, judging standard was brought to the U.S. only, this time it was what so many had been looking for PERSONAL PROTECTION. Designed to show off a dogs’ man stopping abilities, and the control work needed, to assure a partner that is capable of living 24-7, with the owner they would lay down their life to protect. What I thought was going to be a good competition with one hell of a party after, has led to a ten year party that now appears to be going international. And the elusive face of PP dogs have been drawn and defined, it is a K9PS certified PPD or Pro PPD.
Protection dog competitions have grown quite a bit since that day personal protection dogs took center stage in the desert sands of Juarez, Mexico. The new outlets for trainers and owners of protection trained dogs seem unlimited. The opportunities to test every facet of your training program seem endless. From decoy based competitions like the DOG SPORT OPEN, to the PP based GLADIATOR DOGS, and the latest challenge the "sequestered scenarios", there are more opportunities than ever before to work with your partner. But the standard for a certifiable PP dogs remains constant.
That standard was set ten years ago by "The Original" K9 PRO SPORTS