K-9 Kyra, Salt Lake City, Utah, featured on Animal Planet's K-9 to 5 in a segment on Wendell Nope's SWAT school. I have been respecting you, so you really need to do likewise. Or are you threatened that 2 women are challenging your authority?

Great Kelly..that makes 3..
I love women..It has nothing to do w/ it. I don't feel threatened, and perhaps you are missing some of my all be it scarcastic humor. Get over yourself. You have yet to state anything of value of your own experience. Go back to searching the web and watching animal planet. feeling threatened has to do w/ someone who can cause you harm. You dear are VERY far from that..

I think Catherine asked a question that I would also like to hear answered. How is it in your experience that females are not as tough? In what aspects do they come up short when compared to a male in the work?

Yes, I too would like to hear the answer to this question.

I see no difference in the work. However, males are bigger and give more of a visual threat then females. The only other difference I see is the heat cycle. To be honest, I don't know how this effects their workability. It's actually a question that I would like an answer from who has worked and trained a female.

OK...lets keep this simple. How many World Team or Budensieger(sp?) were female? How many KNPV PH1 or PH2 National dogs are female? How many Selectif or Cup of France dogs are female? How many Belgian Ring 1 Champion dogs are female? Not many huh...female normally lack the hardness of males. The independence of males. The courage of males. The strength of males. I'm not making this up. In MOST species in nature the male is the domininant, fighting, hunting, killing stronger of the sexes. YES!!!! before someone points out, there are exceptions! I have nothing against a female dog that can do the work. There just are very few that have it.

I think you have a pretty good sampling of PSD trainers here who all say the same thing. I won't personally speak for them, but if you count Lou, Ed, Kevin, me and a few others I'm sure we put together have seen more police dogs than we could count. I have YET to hear ANY one of them state when looking for a PSD they don't ask for a male. Or, know that many females that do the work. I think with probably over 100 years experience combined, and hundreds if not thousands of PSDs combined we can pretty much say w/ some authority that females GENERALLY do not have what it takes for PSD work

 Quote:

Originally posted by New England K-9 - Josh Lewis:
OK...lets keep this simple. How many World Team or Budensieger(sp?) were female? How many KNPV PH1 or PH2 National dogs are female? How many Selectif or Cup of France dogs are female? How many Belgian Ring 1 Champion dogs are female? Not many huh...

Hi Josh,
I'm not going to get into the PSD end of this, because I have very limited experience with PSD's. However, I think that in the sport world the issue is just as much the attitude of the handlers as it is the ability of the bitches. Every French judge and decoy who has come over here has worked my girls and liked them. Almost all of them have made a comment about "he" and I correct them with "she's a she". They don't even look, they just assume if it's being worked it must be male. The first thing out of their mouth is "a female, why would you work a female". And I simply tell them "why not". It's not that they don't like the girls, but they see no reason to work the girls, if they are quality they "belong in the whelping box". I can understand if your goal is upper level competition why you wouldn't want to deal with the heat cycles twice a year, or time off for a pregnancy. And if your bitch is capable of going to the Coupe you wouldn't want to spay her to avoid the heat cycles. Most of the competitors I've talked to (European and here in the US) won't even consider a female, even when it's the best pup in the litter by far. So when you talk about why there are fewer females at the Championships in various sports, I feel the heat cycle is just as much a factor as the females ability to do the work.

Every French judge and decoy who has come over here has worked my girls and liked them"

Hmmm, that should read Every French judge and/or decoy who has come over here and has worked my girls liked them Didn't mean to say every French judge/decoy who has ever set foot in the US has worked my girls. :-)

Here is my two cents.
I worked worked narc. dogs in Customs, Prison, and Police situations. I have worked patrol dogs in Prison, Police, and Security details. I state this just to let you know where I am coming from. I have also competed a little in Schutzhund. I believe my experience at least warrents considiration. As far as narc. dogs go that is a whole other subject, but in terms of protection, there are not many police K-9's that should be working here, male or female in America. THere are not many females around the world that are top Police dogs or sport bitches. WHy?? Ability of trainers? A male is more scary then a bitch because of size?? Maybe?? But the true answer is a bitch cannot withstand the stress that it might have to go through when working the streets. Very few can. Samething with schutzhund at the top levels although this would be an easier task. TO prove this take a bitch and whip her legs during bite work. One of two things will happen. Either she will fold, or panik and go into fight or flight. It is a fact. All but a few will not. As for the french guy, well my hat is off to you, as you have the best bitches around. YOu are very lucky, or maybe it is you are talking bullshit and don't know a thing about what you are talking about? I will give you though that even,when one finds a suitable bitch for work, people do not go with it because of the heat cycle. Bitches cannot as general rule withstand the stress of Police Patrol work. THere is always a question too of reliabilty with most bitches in there work. Again this is not to say that they are not out there, but there are few, and there is a big diffrence.