Dog & Handler Training Testimonial

"MY SECURITY DOG TRAINING EXPERIENCE!

When I wanted to become a security dog handler I did not realise how difficult it would be.

After making numerous phone calls and e-mails to many registered BIPDT - NIPDT who advertised training for General Purpose Security handling ending with the necessary certificate it was hard getting any response. Some trainers never replied at all, some never sent the promised paperwork they said I would need.

One 'trainer' wanted to take my dog from me for 3 months!
NO WAY.

Surfing the internet yet again I made contact with a trainer and arranged to take my German Shepherd dog to him for an assessment.

I arrived at the destination and introduced myself. We discussed what I wanted to achieve and how we would go about training myself and the dog to the necessary standard. He first asked me to bring in the dog to see if he had the ‘drive’ for the job (he did!) he spent approx‘ 1 hour with the dog.I left there that afternoon wondering if this was for me.

On my second visit I hoped it would be better. I arrived with my dog and was walking him up and down the training area when the trainer and his dog arrived in the training area. My dog started barking and continued to bark at the other dog, the trainer clipped a long lead to my dogs check chain and proceeded to give four good ‘tugs’. My dog was still barking. His next idea was to grab my dog by the neck and put him on his side with me holding his neck ‘as mother would’ until he calmed down. This worked a couple of times but after a while I put my dog back in the van and went home!.

I continued the putting him on his side with me holding him by the neck when he barked at other dogs but, after a lot of strange looks and comments I contacted the trainer and arranged another class to attend but, after quite a long journey, a note was on the door saying no-one would be there until later in the afternoon, I left very disappointed and returned home

After searching again I found another trainer and made an appointment.

The first one-to-one went very well (for approx' an hour) and I made another appointment. On my next visit the trainer picked up that my dog was not walking to heel as he should. To try to improve this he suggested holding a hot dog sausage in my left hand, lead in my right hand and walk a few paces forward. After a few weeks 'practice' to encourage the heel I phoned for another appointment to check on the dog's progress, five weeks on still no contact has been made.

Back to the internet!!

This time I found Alphaguard K9 and, after exchanging e-mails, met to have a chat and a look at my dog. This is where I met Niall and Liam.

One of the first things I was told was not to use a treat! This distracted my dog and he was concentrating too much on me.
The progress I made on the first day was exciting and I felt I had met the right people to help me achieve my goal.

I am now training my dog to the required standard and am enjoying doing it.

I would recommend Niall and Liam to anyone who would like to do what I'm doing, if you have had a few 'knock backs' (as I have) don't give up , the right person is out there to help, you may have to travel a bit but the extra miles will be worth it in the end."

Security Dog Handler, trained by AlphaGuardK9 (2009)