Level of Training
The term ‘trained protection dog’ is often misused by those in dozens of companies around the world claiming to sell protection in the form of a dog. What is often being sold instead are sport dogs trained in the various disciplines of Schutzhund, IPO, French Ring, Belgian Ring, and KNPV. While there is no doubt that these dogs are well trained, and look great on video or on the training field, can they really be called protection dogs if they have only been trained to learn a routine and never trained for real life obedience and protection?
The difference between a sport dog and a protection dog can be compared to someone who has taken classes in karate versus someone that has been trained in tactical protection maneuvers. Both individuals could theoretically protect you and your family but who would you rather trust? The ‘Karate Kid’ or the member of the SWAT team? The majority of Protege K9s come from a sport background (or the Karate Kid background) but their training doesn’t end there. Through our rigorous ‘conversion’ training process we take their ‘karate’ skills and turn them into tactical protectors. Who would you rather trust to protect your family? A sport trained dog or a tactically trained Protege K9? Our training programs build on the sport foundation received overseas to teach the dogs ‘real life’ obedience and protection skills.
Our training program is superior and stands apart in the following areas:
Obedience Training
The sport and competition dogs that populate the kennels of our competitors learn great obedience. But is it useful to you, the new dog owner? The answer is no. While it is impressive to watch a dog on the competition field this is far from useful. The average dog owner doesn’t spend any time on a training field and has no use for a dog to perform the ‘dance’ that is competition obedience. Those dogs are used to their owner’s handling, just like a hand to a glove, and while that obedience looks pretty it doesn’t transfer very well to a new owner.
Dog owners do, however, have a need for their dog to have the highest level of on and off leash obedience training for their everyday life. The average dog owner needs the dog to be able to hang out with the family in the front yard. The average dog owner needs the dog to listen promptly and reliably while someone knocks on the door or while the masters of the house are entertaining guests. The average dog owner needs to be able to take their dog to the park, soccer game, and street fair and know that their dog will listen to their every command. These are the skills that the sport dog does not possess without our intense conversion training.
The sport dog will look amazing on competition day but is likely to fall apart when called upon for simple on and off leash commands with normal distractions.Our proprietary ‘Remote Method’ is what allows you, the new dog owner, to be able to rely on your dog to be obedient regardless of the circumstances with or without a leash. Need to take your dog to the office? No problem. Want to have your dog accompany you on a shopping trip? We can make that happen. Whether your dog will be in a relaxed atmosphere or in hectic surroundings you can count on your Protege K9 to obey your commands.
Developed by owner, author, and renowned trainer, Ty Brown, our ‘Remote Method’ sets us head and shoulders above the competition. The ‘Remote Method’ uses the latest in technology and canine psychology to develop a protection dog that is happily obedient. Traditional dog training methods employ either an excess of force or an excess of treat training. Our ‘Remote Method’ uses the best of the old school and the new school training methods to create a dog that realizes that obedience to the owner is both fun and mandatory.
A common complaint of sport dog owners is that the competition obedience fades over time. Our ‘Remote Method’ ensures that as time goes by that you have the same control over your dog as you did when you first worked with the Protege K9 trainers.
Protection Training
While we enjoy finding dogs from a sport background they are very one dimensional in their protection skills. Provided the ‘bad guy’ is wearing bulky training equipment and acting overtly threatening the dog has no problem ‘protecting’. This isn’t real protection, however, as you will never find a threat to your safety wearing bulky dog training equipment and waiving a stick in the air.
Your Protege K9 has received extensive conversion training to take his protection skills from simply biting a bad guy in protective gear to a protection canine that is ready to fight a real bad guy when called upon. Our training system calls for hidden sleeves, muzzles, extensive civil work, and other necessary exercises to make sure that your dog will protect you when the scenario is real. These are tools that take the focus off the bulky equipment and onto the job of protection.
Our protection training programs also call for much more intense and skilled behaviors than can be found in other protection kennels. Traditional protection training calls for the dog to show aggression on command while pulling fiercely on the leash. This is important and useful. The downfall is that this is a very limiting behavior. Many protection dog owners aren’t capable of restraining a large dog that is intent on his job. A dog pulling on the leash and showing aggression also doesn’t allow for escape from the dangerous situation because you are rooted to that spot. Our skilled behaviors teach the dog to show aggression on command but also escort you safely from any dangerous situation.
Along with the skilled behaviors taught to our canines we teach our dogs to handle car jackings, muggings, home invasions, surprise attacks, and other real scenarios that happen every day in our society.
The ‘Hand Off’
At Protege K9 we will never finish the training of a dog and simply ship him off to his new owners with a list of commands taped to his travel kennel. Many of our competitors do this and the result is disastrous. Not only is this not a reasonable task to place on the new owners but it is unethical. Trained dogs are not robots and while their level of training is high it is imperative that every new owner learns the proper way to handle the new member of the family.
If you weren’t familiar with high performance automobiles do you think that you could take a NASCAR vehicle and enter a race? Of course not. You may be able to get the car started and take it out for a spin but you would never come close to accessing the inherent performance that the car is capable of.
The same is true of our trained protection dogs for sale. Were we to simply ship the dog to you with a list of commands you would be able to get a nice level of performance from your dog. We wouldn’t be satisfied with that, however. The goal of Protege K9 is that each new dog owner can access the full performance of their new trained protection dog. This is only accomplished by our trainers working with you one on one to show you the best way to transition the dog into your home and get the respect and obedience from your dog from day one.
The price of every dog includes a trainer coming to your home for a two day or more period (excluding travel costs) to make the transition smooth and successful.