What are your thoughts and opinions on the book K9 bodyguards written by Mike Harlow? Ive read it several times and it seems to be a decent book.
thanks
Ken

I think it is a decent book for what it is , a book. There is no substitue for dog s##t on your boots and experience. Even the 10 yrs of hunting dog experience I have with various breeds didnt prepare me for all training and time required for sport, PP or police canine training. A whole new level.

I looked at this book years ago when I was considering selling it. After a look it was shallow and lacked substance. The photos used in the book indicated a lack of understanding of good training. End result is I would never consider selling it.

If peoiple want some adivse they should wait for the book Will Rambeau is writing. I have not seen it yet but I can tell you Will knows what he is talking about.

Nice pictures on the book, but to tell you the truth the book is so far fetch. As an AB owner I was happy to see my breed in the book, but yet think about all the yahoos who would start training their dogs half fast becuase of this book. On a side not Mike Harlow hasn't been heard from in years.

Will,

How much longer until your book is done? Have you gotten many first hand stories that you were looking for?

Curtis

Well, I'm past a hundred pages now, so I'm getting there. I've slowed down a little on my book due to concentrating on getting my website up, hopefully will be done with that this friday.
Work, work, work....

Hundred pages is enough! How much do you want for a copy????

Hehe, Jeff, a hundred pages isn't nearly enough. There are so many common misconceptions about what occurs during a real life event in which a dog actually protects their owner that it's taking a lot of space to explain the dynamics of a criminal occurrence to begin with.
Then I'm using heavily documented events to prove my point. Plus I'm offering my standards of what constitutes proper training for a ppd. Then shopping tips on how to evaluate ppd vendors and their products...

When this is finished and proofread, I'm sending it to Ed for his advice. If Leerburg begins to sell E-books, my preference would be to have it available there first for speed of distribution. I'm actually pretty proud of this work, it could potentially save a few people's lives if they follow the advice put forth in it's pages. There ain't no second place in self-defense. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Man I don't envy that writing job, with this subject it seems the deeper you delve the more there is to know. If you are successful truely explaining PPD's do you think you could explain women next? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've been closely reading most of the protection books on the market in the last couple of weeks while working on my book, and here's my impression of "K-9 Bodyguards":

First off, it's a small book. The book is 160 pages long, and that includes introductions, indexes, etc. Next, this book has a *lot* of pictures. I actually counted the pages taken up by photo's, and came out to 60 pages total just of pictures.
So between pictures and pages that don't contribute anything, we're down to 89 pages already, plus the book is of small dimensions to begin with. Not a good sign.

Next, this book is mostly about the American Bulldog, as a previous poster pointed out. The section on "Breed Suitability" is almost 20 pages by itself, and the author makes a lot of assumptions about breeds, prices, and dog temperament that don't seem to hold up in my view.
I've commented before about the concept of "wish fulfillment" regarding the owners of protection breeds who seemed convinced that their dog will protect them without concrete evidence of this conviction, and this is illustrated by the author here. The author concentrates on the intimidating appearance of his chosen breed to deter attackers, but is unable to show a single attack repealed by force with an American Bulldog ( most of the case studies feature...GSD's and Mal's )

I'm not even going to discuss the portions of the book that deal with actual training, E collars, and protection concepts because they aren't worth discussing ( not trying to be mean here, but much of the information is flat out wrong )