The purpose of purchasing Rogue was to replace my seven year old german shepherd Baz, a working protection dog, in readiness for his forthcoming retirement. A protection dog is not like a guard dog, it has to be able to mix with people, also children and only show aggression when commanded towards an aggressor. I have done a variety of protection work with my dogs, in London, in field work and with T.V. and film companies (Harry Potter, Big Brother etc). The dogs have also been used at award ceremonies protecting a variety of celebrities.

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To get Rogue to this standard would take about three years. The first year would be socialising with all sorts of situations, i.e. heavy London traffic, railway stations, crowds etc. I started this procedure with Rogue at the age of four months, taking him to a local puppy class where each owner would swop dogs, teaching them basic commands, sit, recall etc. This got him used to mixing with other people and all sorts of dogs. He was quick to learn and by the time he was six months old he had passed 2 classes and received 2 certificates.

At seven months I started taking Rogue to my local Schutzhund club in Surrey, where one of my german shepherds had trained. One of the baiters gave Rogue a courage test - this breed does not lack in courage.

In 2003 the Schutzhund club hosted a seminar, with Dave Marcus Harris from Johannesburg, S Africa, which I attended with Rogue. Dave is a Specialized Professional Dog Trainer:
Delivers Protection Training for police patrol dogs and SCH H & IPO (German dog training standards for protection dogs).
Police Specific Training: Massachusetts State Police Dept. and Sanford Police Dept. USA; Peel Police Dept, Toronto, Canada; South African Police Services Pretoria West.
Gained 12 years exposure to German. Belgium and Dutch training styles.
Dave has also done Group and Individual Training Seminars:
Held over 200 seminars for decoy/helpers, police instructors, and SCH H & IPO. Training and instructing of decoy/helpers for high sport and police body-suit work.
Holds specialized protection-training seminars in Canada, USA and the United Kingdom for SCH H & IPO.
Dave Harris was pleased to see I had brought a different breed to the club instead of the usual g.s.d. and rottweilers. He worked Rogue on the sleeve for two weekends and was pleased with him. He told me to let the dog mature and only do tracking and obedience, as at this time Rogue was only nine months old. Rogue picked up the tracking very easily and can now do a 200 mtr track.

Dave Harris returned for another seminar in May '04 for two weekends.

Rogue is now 14 months old, weighs 50 kgs and of course is a lot stronger. Dave worked Rogue on 'hold and bark', which he picked up straight away. Hold and bark is where a baiter runs into a hide, wearing a sleeve on one arm and stands still. The dog chases into the hide and just barks at the baiter. When the baiter is ready he lifts the sleeved arm for the dog to bite and the dog wins the sleeve as a reward. The dog just wants the sleeve and sees it as a game. This is all done off lead. Rogue's first Schutzhund test will be a BH (an obedience temperament test). He cannot take this test until he is 18 months old. Up to date Dave is very pleased with Rogue's progress.

There is an article in the UK bullitin newsletter '04 about Schutzhund training and the different drives for training working dogs, written by Norman Epstein. In this article he refers to buying a puppy from a Dave Harris from Kansas, USA, this is not the same Dave Harris as above.

At the moment Rogue travels with my german shepherd, an explosives search dog and we are currently looking after a wealthy Russian family, who are at present living in the UK. I myself am very pleased with the way Rogue is progressing, although at times he appears to be rather laid back - until asked!

Mark Boreham