This is a handler training video, not a dog training video. It's a video that explains how we raise and socialize our puppies. If you are looking for a video on how to train a working puppy - this is not the video for you.

There is a difference between how we raise a working puppy vs. how pet owners raise their dogs. Working puppies are expected to look at their world through different eyes than a family pet. This DVD on puppy training shows owners how to raise a working puppy.

If you are raising a Schutzhund puppy, a police service dog puppy, a S&R puppy, a personal protection dog puppy, a puppy for competition obedience or agility - they will all benefit by making some simple changes in how they are brought up and handled.

This is not a bite training video, in fact it’s not even a puppy training tape. Rather it's a DVD in which Cindy Rhodes and I pass along our combined 60 years of experience with working dogs.

This is a DVD that shows people how we raise working dogs here at Leerburg kennels. I have bred more working puppies than anyone I know, since 1978 over 350 litters.

Cindy and I have put our heads together to come up with a program that will benefit anyone interested in raising working puppies. This DVD allows you to benefit from our experience.

The key to raising a successful working puppy is to have a plan and make the best use of the time you spend with your dog.

1. Should the working pup be a house dog or a kennel dog?
2. It explains how to manage and neutralize a working pup to training collars.
3. There is a detailed section on how we teach a working puppy that a vehicle is going to be a big part of its working career.
4. A working puppy has to learn to be neutral to other dogs. We explain the protocol in how we approach this process.
5. There is a detailed section on how we socialize, or as we say, "neutralize" our pups to strange environments.
6. One of the differences between a pet and a working puppy is that we are not as concerned with the manners of a working puppy. With that said, there are certain manners that we do consider important and we start work on them at a very early age.
7. It is very common for new trainers to over exercise their puppy. We cannot tell anyone exactly how much to exercise their pup, but we do talk about some of the guidelines that we take into consideration.
8. We have a section in the DVD on medical issues and a working puppy. It's a given that a working puppy is going to be exposed to more examinations by a stranger ( a Vet) than the average dog. We believe that a little forethought at an early age goes a long way towards eliminating a dog getting stressed over this as an adult.
9. We have a section on games and toys.
10. If you are raising a working puppy you are probably going to have a dog with a degree of drive. While this video does not show how to bring out that drive (my video Building Drive and Focus does that) - we do caution people that "JUST BECAUSE YOUR PUP CAN DO SOMETHING DOES NOT MEAN IT SHOULD DO SOMETHING" We talk about this in the DVD.

This video is going to help a lot of people learn from the mistakes that Cindy and I have made over the years.

July 10, 2008
This DVD was given to me by my breeder. Earlier this year I adopted a Black Russian Terrier puppy who I later hope to do Schutzhund, weight pulling, and drafting/carting with. Your DVD helped me a great deal in the earlier months and I wanted to say THANK YOU!

July 2, 2008
I know that I am writing you a lot of e-mails lately and probably driving you crazy. I understand if you don't have time to answer them all, but I just had to let you know how much I am enjoying learning from your site and videos.

I just received and watched your video "How to Raise a Working Puppy," and it was brilliant! I am overjoyed in a number of ways, and slightly ashamed in others. One thing that really excited me was to see that you raise pups mostly the same way that I do. Some of this is stuff that I had been taught, and some of it is stuff that just came very naturally. I had never heard anyone articulate the difference between a pup being brought just to walk around a park for socialization and a pup being challenged to overcome stress, yet that is exactly what I have always done. It just seemed so obvious that it was helping them to grow, that they were enjoying the process of testing themselves and overcoming fears, and that they were always plum tuckered-out afterwards!

There were other things in the video that really took knowledge I already had and enhanced it a bit. For instance, I have always kind of subconsciously thought that dogs should not need to be petted by strangers, and have always not allowed pups to interact with other dogs (except "neutral" ones, as you said), but I had never really had the confidence in this feeling and the backbone to tell people not to touch my pup. I guess I just knew that this was seen as very unusual in our culture and wasn't sure enough in my theory to offend people. Now, I am not only sure, I am fired up!

Finally, there were things that really opened my eyes. First of all, I had a vague understanding of not over-exercising a pup (not jogging them or exercising to exhaustion, etc.), but I didn't realize the importance of certain aspects of it. My young ACD, for instance, tore his ACL about a year ago. Looking back, I have too often let him do things just because he could, not always considering that maybe he should not. He is absolutely toy crazy, and frequently turns incredibly sharply, skids across the ground, flips in mid-air, etc. to snatch a moving toy. I didn't realize this is something I needed to prevent him from doing as a young dog. I guess I thought as long as I wasn't forcing something upon him, that he would know his own limits. Well, the notch he put in his tongue, the ACL tare, amongst other small injuries are proof that that is not the case.

The last thing I wanted to say is that, watching the video, I feel ashamed of the way I have often spoken badly of pinch, choke, and shock collars. The trainer I studied under didn't use these tools, and often we would see dogs who had been SEVERELY traumatized by their improper use. My teacher did say to me, though, that he didn't think that these training tools were bad, just that they were often used badly.

Watching you and Cindy work with the dogs and pups in this video, it is blatantly obvious to me that you are good trainers and that your dogs are happy and willing workers. Cindy was really fun to watch. I can see why you say she is the best trainer you know. Her timing and emotions were great. She was so in-tune with the dogs, and they were clearly loving their time with her (Ed, you were great too, of course). I have always told my clients that the relationship that I want to have with my dog is one in which the dog sees me as his best friend and the most exciting playmate, and at the same time knows that he MUST listen to me and there will be clear and consistent consequences if he doesn't. This is the relationship I have with my current dog (the ACD), and it is the best one I have ever had with a dog. It is obvious to me that this is the relationship that you have with your dogs as well. I have, thus far, been happy with the training tools that I have been taught, but I am eager and willing to see how using new tools may make the training easier and faster. Training remotely without an E-collar, for instance, is something that I have achieved with great success, but I often find it hard to transfer this ability to clients. It requires so much timing, physical coordination, and emotional communication with the dog (not to mention sometimes complicated set-up). It seems like the proper use of the e-collar may make this much easier and faster. I am eagerly awaiting the e-collar video I ordered from you.

So, I just wanted to thank you. You are great trainers, you are knowledgeable breeders, you feed a healthy diet and don't vaccinate. What a rare and happy combination of qualities!

If I wasn't moving to Hawaii soon, I would try to arrange a trip to come see you and the kennel. The thought is making me want to stay here a bit longer:)

With much appreciation and respect,
Carmelite

P.S. - It was also really nice to see the consistently solid temperaments of your pups and dogs. I often work with other people's pups, and it is amazing the difference in how a well-tempered and a poorly tempered dog respond to the same situations. I do my best either way, but it sure was nice to see your pups bumping along, willing and happy and un-fazed by challenges.