This is a behind the scenes look into the training of Cindy & Sting.
A good Protection Dog has many skills. They are socially good with children, obedient, sharp, well mannered and environmentally strong.
As one may know, the bad guy doesn’t always come into your home empty-handed. That is why it is extremely important that a protection dog has the training skill to target the weapon hand. All of CCK9′s Elite Family Estate Protection Dogs are trained to target the weapon hand.
Cindy is a Female Belgian Malinois which we bred in 2009. She was not only the only female but she was also the pick of the litter out of five pups. Cindy is the mirror image of her Father Ducko one of CCK9′s old Personal Protection Dogs. Cindy will be bred in 2013 to Hollands KNPV PH 1 Dutch National Champion Spanky.
Sting is a 19 Month KNPV line German Shepherd which we imported at 8 weeks from one of Holland’s top KNPV kennels. Sting is also the direct son of Gandhi, our very own KNPV PH2 German Shepherd.
Please note that NO FOOD, BALLS, TUGS, SLEEVES, or E COLLARS were used in training. Just a simple concept of communication and desire.
The burger bite, meaning “live bite” in Dutch, is a very serious bite to train and test in the canine world. We at Command Control K9 test all of our protection dogs before we deliver them. One would be very surprised by how many personal protection dogs there are in the world that will not take a burger bite. The majority of the dogs that we test are equipment orientated. This is fake security; even if one uses a new hidden sleeve, the dog can smell the jute. We all know that a criminal does not come into your home with a bite suite on. We at Command Control K9 have no interest in a dog that is fixated on the sleeve or bite suit. It may look good in the sporting world, but it has no purpose in the real world.
To test for a burger bite, one must be a very experienced decoy, also known as a helper. This is not something one would fool around with. I’ve seen too many people get seriously hurt with these exercises. To do the exercise properly, the decoy/helper will take an old, thin phone book and wrap it around the forearm with duct tape, then take an old sweater, or jacket, and slip it over. It is very important that you not only use a lead, but also have communication between the decoy and the handler.
The first thing most people notice about German Shepherds and other intimidating looking dogs are the canine teeth, the four large teeth in the front. You don’t have to be bitten to know that contact between those teeth and any part of your body would hurt. A lot. Take my word for it. Anyway, dogs use these teeth for several reasons including grabbing, puncturing and shredding their prey. They also naturally use them for defense. Your personal protection dog, if trained correctly, also uses them for YOUR defense
So here’s the problem: the majority of protection and guard dog trainers don’t train their dogs to use these teeth. Instead, their dogs are conditioned to make use of the back molars, with the full mouth, in an attempt to deliver “bone crushing” bites. Police dogs use their back molars when apprehending a suspect. Once the dog has taken a bite, he or she hangs on (there are countless police dog training videos on YouTube that show this). This is called “bite-and-hold”. It’s not safe for the handler and it’s not safe for the dog either. Instead, dogs should bite with their canine teeth, multiple times after targeting the weapon hand. Ideally, they should deliver 7 or 8 shredding, devastating bites in a matter of seconds to different areas of the body until commanded to stop. The scene is quite frenzied. In theory, full mouth bites result in fewer injuries to the suspect and, I guess, less lawsuits for the police. In practice, the severity of injuries is just localized to one area of the body. The drawback is that the life of the dog is endangered as is the life of the K9 handler.
After biting and hanging on, the suspect is given an extended opportunity to stab or strangle the dog. It seems unlikely that anyone would be able to muster the courage to do this but add in the use of pain numbing controlled substances and we have a recipe for disaster. Adrenaline and the strong desire to evade arrest are also strong motivators. Once the dog has been killed, the officer is left to deal with situation. Training a protection dog for personal use to utilize a full mouth bite when deployed can lead to disastrous results. There’s no question. So don’t be fooled when a trainer recommends a dog that is trained to bite with its back molars
Mother Nature dictates that dogs defend with their canines; there’s really no need for improvement.
The burger bite, meaning “live bite” in Dutch, is a very serious bite to train and test in the canine world. We at Command Control K9 test all of our 
To test for a burger bite, one must be a very experienced decoy, also known as a helper. This is not something one would fool around with. I’ve seen too many people get seriously hurt with these exercises. To do the exercise properly, the decoy/helper will take an old, thin phone book and wrap it around the forearm with duct tape, then take an old sweater, or jacket, and slip it over. It is very important that you not only use a lead, but also have communication between the decoy and the handler.
The first thing most people notice about German Shepherds and other intimidating looking dogs are the canine teeth, the four large teeth in the front. You don’t have to be bitten to know that contact between those teeth and any part of your body would hurt. A lot. Take my word for it. Anyway, dogs use these teeth for several reasons including grabbing, puncturing and shredding their prey. They also naturally use them for defense. Your