Hans - Hidden Sleeve Bite
In this video we work on Hans alerting on a hidden threat.
Josh McDuff decoys and takes the bite through a Dog Armour Pro sleeve. Hans hadn't had a bite in a little while at the time of filming, and his out was not forthcoming. We did some more work and cleaned it up later on. Hans may be small, but he packs a very powerful bite.
We enjoy the work we do, and like to have a laugh whilst training for extremely serious work these dogs are required to do.
Hans - Pressuring the flanks
Pressuring the flanks with Hans in South Africa
This was the first track done exposing Hans to flanking movement from back up rangers. I had previously laid the foundations for this in Australia (see videos with a blue gun back in 2023 - which drew some idiot trolls at the time).
The goal here was to educate the rangers on reading the proximity alert, and building Hans' tolerance to handle rangers in his peripheral vision whilst working.
There are lots of pieces involved in making this a smooth team action. As I share more videos you'll see where the rangers and dogs got to by the time I left South Africa.
Rhinos on the track
Think rabbits and kangaroos are bad distractions on a track? Try rhinos 🦏
This is a short snippet of anti-poaching K9 Akela tracking last night. Two rhinos can be seen under NVG in this clip as they run away parralel to our position.
For added context for anyone who is seeing posts about my time in South Africa and has questions.
Safeguarding Australia's Military Secrets correspondence:
"Foreign Work Authorisation Not Required
Activity: deliver tracking training to the Manyoni Reserve Anti-Poaching Unit,
which operates under 'Kilo 9 Academy' (a NPO)”
Want to see a well trained proximity alert?
Gaston alerts on the track layer from 200m away in this double blind track we did yesterday. Whilst I had some doubts, Gaston's behaviour left zero room for mistaking what he had.
We have been working on strengthening his change of behaviour when he hits the direct odour pool of the track layer. If anyone says proximity alerts are bogus, they just don't know how to develop them properly.
I always train with a human at the end of a track; the odour pool is always present in reality and only experience teaches a dog to solve it well.
Shotguns and dogs, match made in heaven 🤙
Gaston - Mantrailing - 28 Nov 24
Tracking in the heat 🔥
Just before the rains have poured in recent days, I took Gaston out for a suburban track on a particularly hot day to see how he would perform. I have been working on his fitness in general to ensure his resilience is high for such conditions, and he didn't disappoint.
Cosmo off leash tracking 🐕🦺
This is a short snippet of Cosmo working a recent track. Full video is on my YT page, with voiceover remarks, for those interested. It is pretty cool so definitely worth watching.
What is really cool to see is how dogs can naturally find odour and work it successfully without the use of articles etc on hard surfaces. The goal here wasn't surface transitions, this was more of a Bob Ross happy accident (in terms of track design) that was great to see at this level of training.
Gaston Grip Development
I am a massive proponent of training dogs to bite, who were bred to do so 🐕🦺
These dogs when trained well can become incredibly stable, clear headed, and safer to be around as they learn to contextualise when they can and should exhibit a behaviour, and when they should not.
These dogs also find complete genetic fulfilment through this training, which to deprive them of is cruel in my opinion. Depriving a retriever breed of a regular fetch game is equally unkind to the animal.
Gaston is a great example of what I am talking about. Extremely social and stable, he goes everywhere with me, and often off leash (his obedience is exemplary). He does possess the inherent genetic traits to bite when it is time to do so, but having developed this from a young age he clearly understands when it is appropriate to do so. He also plays beautifully with my 2 year old (she loves playing house with him).
I have worked at Domestic Animal Services specifically dealing with dangerous dogs, and never encountered a dog in my time there who had bitten a human that was even remotely comparable to a well-trained dog like Gaston. Those dogs were typically backyard bred, neglected, often abused, who bit out of fear and uncertainty.
Finally, this work relies on skilled decoys. Luca, seen here being bitten by Gaton, is a phenomenal decoy and I am always so grateful for his time and energy he gives freely to others.
Hans - Fire Trail
K9 Hans in South Africa
Hans has been working in South Africa for over a year now, and has had some great successes on operational tracks. He has adapted very well to the conditions, and I am incredibly jealous of the things he sees as part of his duties (I am lucky to get many updates which cannot be shared publicly due to operational security reasons).
This video shows Hans doing a simple maintenance fire trail of several hundred metres. You can see the terrain he operates in is hot and difficult.
I have said it before, but to everyone who donated money to get Hans to SA, your money has been well spent and Hans is contributing well to conservation efforts on his reserve.
Gaston - Mantrailing - 01 Oct 24
Introducing Gaston to evasion tracking 🏃♀️➡️
Whilst I have trained others dogs in this type of work, I have had minimal time to develop these skills in my own dog. However, I am now turning my attention to this area and look forward to having Gaston be able to solve extremely complex problems on a track.
Errol - Playschool
Always time for some play 🛝
Errol is happily living and working in Victoria and has been for a couple of years now. When I was raising him though, I had a lot of fun getting him ready for a working role.
GAK9 Licensee -
