SCHUTZHUND - Schutzhund Training

Kathy's qualities for selecting a working pup and some ideas/observations about imprinting

Things to look for and ideas about imprinting as told to Sharon by Kathy O'Brien

Mother must be friendly and calm
From day one, the pup that goes for and "claims" the mother's bottom breast.
From day one, the first one that crosses the room 10' or more to find the mother.
The first one to get out of the box
The most curious pup
The pup that doesn't give up
The one with the pack drive willing to follow the handler
Best food drive
Best ball drive
Willing to pick up anything
Has a full, hard bite and is calm on the bite
Will hold onto bite object even when it is not moving(will bite a stationary object)
Hardest hitting
Smartest in the maze
Calmness and friendliness to ALL in ALL ENVIORMENTS.
Happy and confident with others as well as when alone

At seven weeks, the puppy is placed alone in an unknown environment. An unknown person/tester throws down a noisy object such as a milk jug with stones or coins. The "candidates" desired reactions would be to pounce on the object, carry it, especially towards the tester, bite it and shake it. It is interesting to note that the tests used to select a pup are similar to techniques that can help imprint and socialize the pups from birth. Also, there are some major similarities in socialization techniques for assisstance dogs as compared to working dogs. The major point being that puppies, like people will be more open and intelligent and have a greater success of living in the world if they are gradually and continually exposed to new experiences, environments and other living beings in a positive manner.
As soon as the pups are born, the process starts. The mother is monitored and she and the pups are very gently inspected with sight and smell. This first experience with humans should be brief and with a person that the mother fully trusts. On the subsequent days, other people are introduced to pups, again being people that the mother knows and trusts. Later when the mother is ok with being outside away from the pups, strangers can be introduced. With the Dina/Patrasj litter, the pups where born in the house in a whelping box made from a plastic swimming pool with a rail made from tubing. For that litter the first person was Kathy, Dina's owner, and the next day, Dina's friends, Mike and his wife Sharon. Sharon has helped care for Dina as well as being one of her decoys, so they are acceptable to Dina. Human hands are washed and shoes are left outside if they have been to dog parks or high disease areas. A pup is picked up and it is petted and inspected. Special attention is paid to its eyes, ears, mouth, nose, belly button and genital areas. Each paw is inspected and touched and the nails are caressed and the toes are gently stretched apart at the webbing. The puppy is offered the smells of the human by being held next to the person's ears, mouth, cuddled against the chest/armpit area, as well as being held on the human's lap. The puppy is allowed to suckle on the finger when the mouth is explored. The puppy is picked up then turned on it's back and is massaged and gently "jiggled" if it has trouble settling on it's back. This and other reactions are noted as well as if there are any physical marking or other characteristics. A "system" to insure that each person interacts with every pup can be useful at this point.

If possible, it is a very good thing to move the puppies to different parts of the house, and for short periods to the outdoors if the weather is acceptable. Even before the pups can see and hear, they CAN smell and feel vibrations and some sensations from temperature and light. At one week of age, the Dina pups were introduced to a subspecies of humans known as children. Children smell, look, move, and generally seems very different to dogs, so it is important that they are exposed to them as early as possible. It is equally important the children used have an understanding of dog's and dog behavior and are capable of being quiet, calm and willing to follow instruction. The first two children for the Dina pups were six-year-old twins. They had a good amount of experience with dog's including being the Jr socializers for a 12-week-old rottie when they were only two years old as well as socializing pups from the "Y" litter starting at 5 weeks of age. (At five weeks, the "Y"pups were of course already biting, so it was explained how to get the puppy to move to the toy or rag when it wants to bite so as to not inhibit the working bite) For the Dina litter, the children followed the same process as the adults. In addition the children were asked to make "reports" that had comments and pictures to show markings to help identification. If the pups look a lot alike, without markings, it can be useful to shave the pup on the side of it's head or back or leg.
New environments and experiences are gradually added. They are started out for short periods of time and intensity and both time periods and intensities are slowly and gradually increased. Tactile surfaces such as fabrics, carpets, linoleum, marble, grass, concrete, pebbles, bricks, dirt etc are introduced, and at a later date, less stable surfaces. When the mother is outside on her "break" time, objects can be introduced --anything that the pups can explore, smell and bite such as toys, balls, leather, even smelly baby diapers! Music is played for the pups as well as "de-conditioning" tapes that have sounds such as gunshot, fireworks, barking, and babies. The tapes are started on very very low volume and the pups are observed to make sure that there is not stress and to evaluate "candidate" status. When the pups are comfortable, the volume can be gradually increased. Again if possible, the pups should moved around in the house to get used to motion, sounds, smells etc. and even better if the mother is ok with living with other people. Examples being when Dina and the pups stayed with Felix, her decoy and Jennifer, her friend, at one and a half weeks and then at three weeks with Sharon and Mike. As soon as possible, the pups should go to different places where it is safe from disease. This means carrying pups one at a time into malls, having them ride in carts in places like Home Depot (great noise factors) and being held outside of stores where many people come and go. Any positive comment about the pup can be met with an invitation to "say hello" and "help" socialize the pups. This can also be an excellent opportunity to do positive pr for the malinois breed. Though never been officially kicked out of any mall or store, it doesn't hurt to wear a police competition or special identification tags and let the people infer what they will. It can be useful to include visits to see ALL kinds of people, including those who appear very different, especially homeless people, which dogs react to strongly and are one common reason for pups being dropped from service dog programs. At least one or more visits to a conventional or better yet unconventional agility field/course is great fun and can be used to build the dog's confidence as well.
As the pups grow, their visits should include going to places where there are unusual sounds, sights, smells and creatures - construction sites, parks (kid's playgrounds are great places to teach agility), play farms with different animals, loading areas of stores, music events, etc.
During pregnancy the mother is fed the best quality food possible, puppy chow and "extras". After birth, the fat greedy ones are pulled off the tit to make room if there are much smaller pups that need food. As early as two weeks the pups are offered "mush" well soaked kibble, some times with wet food. Again the pups behavior and drives are observed. The mother is allowed to let nature show when it is time to spend less time with the pups. If she will accept it, massage for antibody points and to increase her vigor and general health is appropriate. Also, her secretions, genital areas and breasts are monitored for any signs of infection or irregularities. Malinois can be totally weaned as early as 3-4 weeks as compared to 6-8 weeks with smaller breeds like yorkies. At this point if there are several "strong" candidates and there are good conditions available, it is desirable to separate the pups so they are more focused on the people and the bite as oppossed to the pack which can inhibit their bite and work ethics as well.
As soon as the pups are interested they are allowed and encouraged to bite. They are worked gently and care is always taken to make the time spent a fun, playful experience that leaves the dog with more confidence and more drive than they had at the beginning of the session. If this is not happening then perhaps the program needs to be re-evaluated or the pup needs to be re-assigned to a less stressful career, but that is another story.

Addedum by Kathy O'Brien and Martha Hoffman

For puppies of various ages:

These ideas need to be done appropriately for the age, temperament, and future career of the puppy; accidentally overstressing puppies can be damaging!!!! Note- some working-bred Malinois pups do not show any signs of fear except for remaining still or hackling; their genetics do not allow them to back up or run away from a threat, yet they are still imprinting a negative experience which will be seen later. This behavior is very different from puppies which express every fear by escaping or fearfully barking.

Stick mobile out of reach- hanging bamboo rattle sticks

Hanging banners/flags out of reach

Windsocks out of reach

String with small tape flages attached- out of reach!

Hanging toys or material IN REACH for tugging, that is safe and can't tangle puppies

PVC, wood, metal objects

Small dark tunnels so pups are comfortable playing and sleeping in a confined space

Crates of small sizes that they can play in

Bouncy board- thin plywood or plastic sheet firmly attached to 2x4s so they can play on an unsteady surface a few
inches from the ground

Dog beds that are a frame with a canvas sling bed- teach them to like unsteady surfaces

"Wicket walk" PVC ladder on wood base- can be raised several inches or flat on base.

Sprinkler turned low, gradually increase the spray as pups enjoy playing with the water

Wet muddy ground to play in; we've noticed some dogs don't like to walk, lie down, or track in mud.

Soak a small tree with hose, then let pups play under dripping "rain"- good for pups raised in a dry season!

Safe swimming pool for wading-a half of a large plastic dog crate will hold an inch or two of water and toys

A dark maze and lots of fun encouragement

THE FOLLOWING SMELLS CAN BE CAPTURED ON T-SHIRTS OR OTHER MATERIAL, BAGGED AND STORED IN THE FREEZER AHEAD OF TIME UNTIL PUPS ARE READY:

SMELL IMPRINT PERIOD (Before ten days of age) Usually the scents are exposed to pups when mom is out pottying, then removed before she comes back, (be careful that mom is used to these smells and will not be upset when she returns).

Plan ahead of time- what will be be the pup's possible future environments and careers? What scents will be present that the pup needs to be unafraid of? CAUTION- Detection work presents different challenges, and detection-related smells will need a program designed by an expert trainer; we would not experiment with detection-related smells without instruction from a trainer.

Helicopter smell (t-shirts worn in helicopter) and other military equipment

Worn, sweaty military t-shirts- plus other military smells (socialize to soldier-sailor/ship-pilot-mechanic-etc.-scent)

Ocean/beach smells

T-shirts worn by men, women and children of all races and ages

Dirty baby clothes and diapers- scented with milk, formula, baby powder, baby vomit, urine and feces, to accustom to baby scents.

Find baby or tiny doll sweaters and gently put them on the pups for a short time; we noted that pups from a Xosa x Bomber litter raised by Frank Bliatout's little daughter Britt, were so easy to accustom later to any kind of harnesses or equipment; Britt had often dressed them in doll clothes while cuddling them (under adult supervision only)!

Plastic empty water bottles with a few stones inside

Here in CA we need to socialize pups to thunder (shaking a sheet of metal), since we rarely have thunder and pups often are sent to live in other states- we call pups to meals with this sound.

ALWAYS call pups to food with gradually louder and louder crashing, happy yelling, etc., sounds, until they respond with excitement.

Put milk on your finger and have baby pups nurse it and follow it, crawling at a few days old after the finger, up cushions, over surfaces; use the bitch's milk if possible to imprint pups on human scent as food source and nurturing

Putting a towel in the nest with drops of vet office smells -ear & eye drops anesthetics etc.

Get in the habit of practicing the "90 Second Intensity Drill" to increase the dogs working drive and to help them deal with extreme temperature. On a road trip, when you get gas, in the morning when it's cold or any time throughout your day, work on getting your dogs attention with the tug or their favorite toy.

Sharon's add on notes from July 2002 puppy adventures

Everything we do is gradual with care to watch the dog for signs of stress. Bomber's last natural breeding. Obre-on's "TNT" litter was started socializing from day one and accessories introduced at one week. They were on kibble (eucanuba small breed ) soaked in water and milk at ~ 2 1/2 / 3 weeks in addition to still nursing on Xosa. When they go away from mom, they are on soaked food as well as dry kibble. I got the two best females at just under five weeks to work with the last week before they went out to their new homes. All work was play and the pups ALWAYS SUCCEEDED and were encouraged with a happy excited voice at each task At first, like up the steps, hide and seek or on the agility walk ( a fence board on bricks played at various heights and angles), I would help them, and before long they did it happily with confidence on their own. I also started with small amounts of time alone for them in separate crates, playing with them when they got out and increasing their time alone slowly. They slept together and woke us 3-4 times each night when they had to potty. Each day I worked with them about five or six times a day for about 15-25 min "play" sessions as well as hanging out, watching violent sounding movies on surround sound and extra socialization with visitors of all ages. At this age, you can take them in a small crate and put it in the kiddee seat on shopping carts and go to the pet stores and other places - home depot is great for noise factors. Also, you can make a pouch carrier out an old t-shirt with holes cut at the side at about the waist level, folding it up and putting your arms through the holes. You can bring one pup at a time to playground for motion experiences and into malls and stores for environmental experiences as well as socialization if you are willing to explain to people about not inhibiting their bite and redirecting their bite to the towel. We try to avoid the public ground and parks, but sometimes let them watch training through a crate or an x pen with a bamboo carpet (which is always folded to the INSIDE )that covers the ground where they play. My observation of Kathy's breeding's is that the pups that went to live for 1 wk to 1 month with 2-3 different socializers of Kathy's are that the one's that do best. The pups are broken up early so that they don't inhibit each other's bite and also so that the stronger one's don't "push down" the others. We still socialize them with other dogs under close supervision. There is a nice video on Kathy's Malinois Site www.freedo.com/obreons of my pup at 9months hanging with Dina's first litter when they and mom stayed with us. There may be some social skills price to be paid for breaking up the pups early and not interacting with other dogs, but those who practice this segregation process believe that the pay off is worth the price. Pack behavior dictates that someone must be at the top and someone(s) below so the playing together of older dogs can also "push down". Some people accept this because they "like to watch" or they have a dog with dog aggression qualities that they want straightened out" Kathy's dog Eureka was "straightened out" about aggression by Kathy and now Kathy uses Eureka to straighten out her pups as well as Guide Dog Pups with aggression problems. When Michel Valladon owned Eureka, she was a kennel dog and it wasn't important to Michel that she was not nice to other dogs. Most of these socialization/imprinting techniques are great for ALL dogs and I know Kathy is working very hard at Guide Dogs for the Blind to get them to try some of these ideas/techniques, so some day you may be seeing Mondio accessories at work:)) Each person must decide what is important to them and make their choices accordingly. We are judged by our behavior and the behavior of our dogs by the public who can influence the freedom we have in where we can bring our dogs and what we can do with them. In more stable, social and under control is appreciated and to be commended. Good luck with the 'lil ones. I am sure you will get great results if you continue with your program. If you get more ideas, please let me know so I can put them up on the puppy socialization site. Kathy and I feel it is really important to get the information out there. WAY too many times have we seen the puppies go to homes confident and biting like crazy only to be returned shy and inhibited. I believe it is often from lack of socialization and very bad decoy/tug work. A case in point was Glenn's pick from one of Kathy's breeding. The puppy was returned because he was fearful of women and wouldn't bite. It turns out that the owner had the dog for six months and he only met about 20 people (if that) Sometimes when we take the pups to a special training or trial they meet over 20 people in one day. The dog interacted well with me and Kathy and another women as well. When we saw how the guy worked the dog it was shameful. And to boot, the first day we looked at the dog, he had just fed the dog knowing he was going to be worked. The next day the dog worked better with Glenn and Felix, and Kathy took him back. Unfortunately, he was too broken and defeated in his bite work to be brought back by anyone but a super expert with tons of time and anyone that good would of course want a better dog. He had too much bite work to be a pet and besides, he was not stable or socialized. Eventually, after we all put a good amount of energy trying to fix stuff, he had to be euthanized. This is the saddest part of being involved with the pups and if you get involved with breeding, you will have to make this call sometimes if you care about your kennel name and your breed.
Nonetheless, we who believe in this socialization/imprinting process are convinced that these Mondio Play Camp techniques are worthwhile. My latest proof is that the second Bomber pup, a female, I had for "camp" was selected for purchase over a male that was working better than the female before I took her and her sister. I am so confident of these ideas that I would take the lesser (not last, say middle ranking) pick by Kathy, of one of her next breedings and work with it and take it home for a few weeks after weaning and we could see the results over the next few years. This kind of "work" is great fun and fascinating to me. I hope to some day start a non-profit doing this kind of work with at risk youths and donating some of the dogs to DOD, SAR and Police Departments. They never seem to have enough good dogs and I know the benefits to the kids would be of great value as well.

July 29, 2002
Kathy's asking all her "fosters" for reports on what they have observed, which I am posting here on california mondioring site as well. The Xosa/Bomber pups are starting on their new lives, and Mike and I have been fostering and working with the Dyna/Jekyll pups. First we had Kathy's pick female, Obre-on's US 0-6 who we called "Ultima" or Tima for short. If I wanted to get a female for a breeding program with the highest priority being bite, this would be THE ONE!!! Ultima loves and lives for the bite and wants to fill her mouth and hold on and on all the time, even at three in the morning after her potty break. Kathy gave me this mile long list of stuff that were desirable qualities for the Department of Defense puppies where half the litter will go to. Anyway, we started to add some of that stuff into the mix for Tima. She was "examined" on a table. Sometimes one that was a little rickety. We played with/in the mini pool and did the "obstacle" course and played retrieve. In all these games, we encouraged her and let her do biting when she wanted, which with this dog, was a lot. We also did "field trips" to the Senior Center, the Office Depot, Petco, a Restaurant, a Yuppie Grocery store, (whose identities are being protected :), a paper supply store where she was served a little water and allowed to go for a ride on a big rolly cart (where she wanted to bite of course) We were forbidden to go inside Costco, but socialized with some kids in the parking lot. We like to bring food to let people feed her and also to distract if the pups get a little stress. If the stress is too much, we of course leave. As Martha often reminds us, when we are imprinting, if there is stress, THAT is what we imprint. At stress times as well as whenever times, I like to do a little accupressure for stress release and work some confidence points as well. We also went next door to visit the neighbors and their cat and play in their yard and climbed up and down the wood steps on their deck. As always, when we foster pups, friends are invited to visit and the "twins" who at 8 years old, have been part of the Obre-on's team for over 2 years and have been with dogs since they were pups themselves.

After a week with Ultima, we had a Five Puppy Mondioring Boot Camp Training/Play Day with Kathy and Martha and two of Tima's brother's and two of the Xosa/Bomber pups. We had all kinds of stuff to set up like a mini obstacle course and Kathy also brought a camouflage tunnel, which we got the puppies to go in by tossing in little pieces of food. We place food pieces on a wooden palate and in the pool and they figured it out…. While there is in my mind a slight training conflict with the food for the Mondioring field, where eating is of course forbidden, I have seen great results with Kathy's breedings and to my knowledge, no O'bre-on's dog has eaten food while trialing. Also, while at the moment, I use the tug (prey drive) my Ysha was taught her "out" with food because Kathy believes that if you "change the drive" from food to prey, there is no conflict in the dog. All the things the dogs did for and around the food, seemed to be without stress although at one point, the food residue in Kathy's pocket distracted one of the dogs from everything else. It was very hot when they came over, and the puppies were a little lazy at first, but sparked up when it cooled off a bit. Overall, I noticed that the Xosa/Bomber puppies seemed a little more energetic in the heat and I wonder if the fact that they were born before the Dina/Jekyll pups and had just a little "more" attention and were moved around more, and spent a good amount of time outside in HOT weather with water misters on. I also could be biased in my observations, as I spent more focus at first with the Xosa litter and may have been more bonded with those pups, which could explain why they recalled TO me into the heat in the backyard. And I must admit that after a week of working with the female Ultima, she was much more interested in coming to me…. None the less, both litters are FANTASTIC and I wish energy, patience, and humor on their future handlers and a love of pain for their decoys. I look forward to tracking their results. The Dina litter at first seemed to be a litter softer and sensitive at five & six weeks than the Xosa litter did, but the more experience they get, the stronger and confident they seem and may even exceed their aunt/uncles who are also half cousins ??? After the play date, we took the Xosa/Bomber pups with us to get a hamburger (they waited in the car ) and after we socialized outside the restaurant and passed on pup on to Glenn and Rose who met us there.

We traded Ultima in for a male, US 0-1 aka O'Bre-on's US Ukimo Uno. "Uki" gets stronger every day and his recovery time for noise is shorter and shorter. In addition he is confident to investigate the source of the noise, and more often than not will pick up and carry if the distraction is something that was thrown. The thing I HATE about him is he is a YOWLER in the crate and does not stop. When I mentioned this to Kathy, she said that is was GOOD and it meant he had a huge drive. She said Bomber (grandaddy) was the WORST yowler and she was happy to hear this news. I can't wait to work with the next guy who is supposedly worse (better:) …. Kathy asked about his retrieve, which is terrific by the way and said he should be able to pick up light metal, like keys or such. Just after that conversation, we were playing chase on the side of the house and he found a pencil thin ten inch aluminum pipe and carried it all over the yard while chasing me. No problems there. So far, Ukimo's field trips have included next door, Senior Center, Starbuck's, Big C Sports, Sport Mart, and the BART (train) station during morning commute where we had cars sounds and buses with air brakes, trains, machines, entry/exit gates and tons of people. This last expedition could have been a little bit much and the puppy seemed a little stressed after ten minutes, so we left right away, he of course got food, a massage and to play. Now, we must go back to that same place when there is less activity with a sloooow approach and make sure there are no problems and if so, fix them by going backwards. If the tails drop even a tiny bit or ears go back they are stressed, and you need to back off, and unload with toy play or food and make your introduction/approach. This is REALLY, REALLY, IMPORTANT and at fear periods, the sensitivity or lack of can make a "Super Champion" or break a dog ESPECIALLY the malinois. We can do all the imprinting and socialization humanly possible, but if the handlers who follow us inhibit the bites or see that these pups are great and put on pressure too soon, they could be ruined especially considering the DOD won't accept the puppy canidatesuntil 8 ½ weeks which is the beginning of a crucial fear period.

this page created January 2002, last updated July 31, 2002