# A brag about my dogs



## Brett Bowen (May 2, 2011)

Had a short training / testing session today. My club director happened to be in the area so he came over and we did a home invasion scenario with them. Had to do them individually since my female is in heat. Though next time, will need to find someone that wouldn't mind having two dogs hanging off him at once. ha! I pretended to leave so it was just my wife and kids at home. Both did great, my male did great, after the out he went into guard and pushed him right back out the door. My female was pissed, I think she would have fought him all the way down the block. 

I bet everytime that door bell rings now they are going to think it's rumble time.....](*,)

Wish I would have thought about it, I should have done video. Oh well, next time.


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## kerry engels (Nov 7, 2010)

Giter done momo!


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## Brett Bowen (May 2, 2011)

kerry engels said:


> Giter done momo!


They both did great. Nina was maaaaaaaaad. She was not happy I was holding her back as he was running away. Kind hard to hold on to that bitch when she doesn't have a collar on and is hell bent on getting another bite.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

did you mix it up with both "good guys" and "bad guys" ?
i think these scenarios are great if they are done with as many call offs as bites...otherwise you might just be conditioning a trigger happy dog 

wish i could see vids of this type of home defense training...i would imagine lots more safety factors to take into account when planning the drills


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## Brett Bowen (May 2, 2011)

rick smith said:


> did you mix it up with both "good guys" and "bad guys" ?
> i think these scenarios are great if they are done with as many call offs as bites...otherwise you might just be conditioning a trigger happy dog
> 
> wish i could see vids of this type of home defense training...i would imagine lots more safety factors to take into account when planning the drills


That's the first time we've done it at least with my dogs. But they get people coming to the door with no bite all the time. If you go to http://vimeo.com/31343192 and http://vimeo.com/28161265 you can see. That's me doing the decoy work with my trainer's dog on two separate days. The second video is what we did yesterday with my dogs. 

You are right though I definitely don't want them thinking it's rumble time every time that door bell rings. Being ready for something to happen and thinking they get a bite every time the bell rings are two different things.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

nice vids ...
- won't try and nit pick it, but in the second video it did not seem clear who the dog was working for
- if the attack is towards the wife i would suggest the wife stay in control of the dog to call it off rather than another person coming in and grabbing the dog while she watches at the door since this is not how it will ever come down in a real situation ..... she could than resume a B/H or set it up with the intruder being run off, etc.....i assume the dog knew all parties involved in these drills

in the other video she did call off the dog and i thot that was a better scenario (thot i heard FUS rather than AUS ... no biggy i guess)

- the way i have done this is to have the owner bring the dog with them when they open the door and the dog must remain under owner(handler) control and i would not have them platz their dog 
- the owner can than have the options depending on the situation and threat level
- altho it's not as fun as letting the dog get their bite, in most cases a B/H will deter an attack and i would train that first until it is rock solid and not dirty AT ALL. VERY few idiots will escalate a problem when a working dog is barking in their face
** btw, i require the owner to initiate the B/H, not allow the dog to do whatever they want...this keeps the dog under control and avoids conditioning it to be a door barker ......and it is the hardest for me to teach :-(

- if you take it further to the next level ... an intruder who lays hands or comes thru the dog would of course get a green light without even needing a command, BUT i feel the command should be given anyway, and this should maybe not be drilled until the dog is at an advanced level
- i feel the dog should immediately out on command and resume a B/H or guard
......but that's just me ....lots of ways to work this up and i'm sure you already have your plan in motion
**again....not trying to tear it apart; just "adding comments" from another perspective ....in case it may/may not help

i do not train full on home defense but i do train different ways of bringing a dog to the door when unknown people knock or when noises are heard outside, and i definitely train a good B/H without going on to engaging....this basic level is hard enuff for people i work with

anyway, nice work ... this is not easy to do


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## Brett Bowen (May 2, 2011)

The female in that video is not that dog's handler and is far from a working dog person ha!. So she knows some basic commands / handling to get by when Khoi is not around. With the first video the goal was for me to sneak in so that the dog was not in drive at all and didn't get any time to pump himself up. The security system was bypassed so the back door didn't "ding" when I opened it, so he had no clue I was coming. In fact he was hanging out getting loved on from the family when I looked around the corner. The plan was I was going to bring the heat in that hallway once he was on the bite, but she called him back before I had a chance. I'm kind of fortunate that my wife handled the female we have for a while so she understands what to do from a handling perspective. Although in a real scenario, my wife is grabbing the kids and the dogs are on their own. ha! 

Like you said a good bark should keep most away. The girls selling magazines knocked on the door one day, by the time I got to the door they were 3 houses down running.....Yesterday was simply on a basic level to expose them to it. Ideally I'd like to be able to teach them to do an area search of the exterior of the house for my wife when she hears a funny noise. I have no problems grabbing a gun and a dog and checking it out, but she is a wuss and I know my dog would do just about whatever I told him to. But it's hard to get a good decoy to consistently come over to teach that. Not to mention Im surprised that none of my nieghbors called the police yesterday, probably would have went something like....... "There's this guy dressed in dark clothing wearing a hood, he's yelling, and he has a dog hanging off him."

and the credit goes to Khoi (his dog in the video), I wouldn't be nearly this far without him.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

i have one paranoid lady who is very short and has a huge Rot that almost comes up to her shoulders when he's sitting next to her.....he's just a big goofball w/ no potential for any "home defense" and very quiet, but i got her to where he will come to the door with her and sit....when the door opens people always take two quick steps back and sometimes they almost fall over in the process when they see that huge head and those pearly whites grinning at them  .... visual deterrence can go a long way in making an owner feel secure, sometimes with no "words" ever needed 
...hardest part was getting the lazy lug off his lounging pad to go to the door with her


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