6 month old pup ADVICE NEEDED - Page 2

HM, they may be really happy to help you here too, thats the problem.....

HD, lol.

im located in the west midlands i do no a few trainers but they dont really do tracking and off leash work i just dont wont a dog just to bite and come off on command if you get what i mean... and as for uk police dog handlers haahaa they look down there noses at dog handlers in the uk as they think there over weight gsd that cant jump up to get back in the car is the best thing since sliced bread LOL

So, we come back full circle it seems here...interesting!

I dispute that handlers, especially in the WestMids force dog section,

are all like that !  Things must have changed an awful lot over the past

few years if that is true. 

 

It is certainly the case that there was almost always at least one Police officer

member at any of the GSD training classes I have come into contact with, in 

the southern half of England, after over 40+ years in the breed.  Whether those

are Pet Obediance, Competitive Obediance, Tracking, Ringcraft (there are a few 

officers involved on the Show side as well), Schutzhund, Agility, whatever.

 

Possibly the piss take is because you have a Malinois rather than a GSD, and

those have not yet found the same favour as GSDs in the UK as they are regarded

by US cops ?

 

Although .. do you even have a dog yet ?  Having just seen your more recent OP

I am now wondering how serious your enquiry is.

HM, i am not in the UK, but, i wonder, why would working police K9 handlers look down on any breed that has proven itself as the top working dog the world over?

The reality of this situation is that is the general attitude of most police K9 trainers...they think they know when in reality, less then 10% of them do.
This may suck to hear, but the expertise in training comes from the sport world because these guys compete and are always looking for better methods to get more points. Now, when you combine that expertise with a K9 TRAINER, not handler, you get amazing results, but, sadly most of those trainers think they know everything and there is no talking to them.

Its just about what you are used to, HD.  Most of our Police

Dog Sections are still using a majority of GSDs, they are often

willing to try out other breeds and there are therefore some

operational Maligators,  but the policing is somewhat different

to the US, and to much of Europe, come to that, and so they

still find the GSD 'does it' for them.  Plus several have an 'interest'

from the breeding point of view !

 

I think too we must distinguish between Handlers and Trainers;  there

are not that many Handlers in the Police that (I, personally, anyway)

have found particularly knowledgeable in techniques, but they make

up for that in enthusiasm - thus the interest of many in joining civilian

training clubs.  However, many of the Police Trainers, are really good

and knowledgeable - equating with those better Dog Trainers (LEO or

not) in the US, and far above some of the con-artists we hear about on

PDB.

 

So 'Daniel' ought really to be able to find someone to train with.  And he

is not restricted to Police Officers if he really finds them all a no-go.  Plenty

of other people interested in Dog Sports in the UK.

Daniel,

I've sent you a PM re a Schutzhund Club near to you that also has a lot of experience with street dogs, as our own B Grade Helper is a very open minded Police Handler  that gets all his coaching from Bernard Flinks, an experienced Police Handler and schutzhund trainer in Germany, we're fortunate we can go out to Germany and stay at Bernard's home to train our dogs and mostly improve ourselves. When we train the last part of the day can sometimes involve Police Dogs & Bite Suits, or just property searches, we have our tracking fields and just 5 members so there's no much standing around we are able to get plenty done in a session. We're also running a 2 seminar in July with Mr Flinks, he has a lot of experience with Police/Sport DH & Mals which might be useful...

Regards

Mark