The September 2019 initial police dog course pups
Their litter brother PD Eyke pictured here with his handler Tom Bond and his puppy walking family has already graduated as a Police dog in April this year.
All of the E litter have lovely temperaments and are good looking well-constructed dogs. They all have extremely high energy levels with strong working drives and in some circumstances can be quite excitable.
They will thrive when allocated to their handlers but have been a real challenge for their puppy walkers.
TPD Errol
Errol pictured here with puppy walkers Sue and Andy is probably the most improved pup in our program. In the early months he wasn’t the boldest pup in the litter and not the most determined but now that he has matured he has developed a confidence and determination that wasn’t there before.
You can see that determination here in his criminal work.
Errol is now very accomplished in all of his work which includes his tracking, searching, criminal work and control exercises.
Here is Errol in the early stages of being introduced to person searching.
We start this by getting the dog to bark at a helper who then rewards the dog with a toy. We progress this to the dog then finding the helper round the corner and barking for the toy held by the helper.
This is then extended to the helper hiding in various hiding places and the dog having to search and find the person. Upon finding the person the dog then barks to let his/her handler know that they have found the person.
You can now see a real intensity in Errol’s work and it always gives me great satisfaction to see a puppy develop and improve in confidence as Errol has done. It once again shows the tremendous value of a development program and the importance of our puppy walkers.
TPD Echo
Everyone knows when TPD Echo pictured here with puppy walkers Paul and Michelle arrives for training because her excitement borders on manic. However once she switches into her work her determination, drive and enthusiasm are completely focused onto the task in hand.
Her tracking drive is exceptional and provided we consolidate and are not tempted to push on too quickly I am excited at just what an exceptional tracking dog she could become.
I have had my doubts about her suitability to be an operational Police dog purely because of her small size but her feisty determined character, her tracking ability, her boldness, her stamina and her tenacity have convinced me that she has the potential to be one of the most productive dogs in the Alliance.
PC Andi Darbey from Exeter dog section whose Police dog Sally recently retired has been taking TPD Echo out on a regular basis to get to know her and to start preparing her for the September Police dog course.
Here she is training with Andi on the early stages of person searching. As you can see she is extremely intimidating and assertive.
TPD Ernie
I have always felt that there was something very special about Ernie pictured here with puppy walker Dave. He has always had a quiet confidence about him and has a real presence.
I remember when we had the E litter seeing the way that Ernie would always try to climb on top of the many visitors we had.
He is still the same now once he takes ownership of something it is his. Here he is taking possession of my garden fork when he came to stay with me for a few days. Obviously I needed urgently to get it off him but he had other ideas.
He was completely unfazed on the boldness tests when the man in the mask suddenly appeared from behind a tree. He was also completely bomb proof when I banged hard on some metal lockers to assess his sensitivity to sound.
Like all of his littermates he is extremely bright and a quick learner. This is him doing only his second session of person searching.
All of the dogs on the September 2019 course enjoy the criminal work exercises and Ernie is no exception pictured here with puppy walker Dave.
I shouldn’t have favourites but I have always had a soft spot for Ernie because for no fault of his own he had 3 puppy walkers in his first 2 months.
His current puppy walkers Dave and Viv have given him the stability he needed and no one comes between him and his pal Jack their grandson who lives with them.
All of the E litter have natural tracking ability but Ernie’s over enthusiastic drive has meant that he was a little erratic once we tried to switch him from following a track for food to tracking for his toy.
He has now got the idea and is tracking with drive, accuracy and focus.
The Kazzardsway gang
The Kazzardsway gang from left to right are Nero, Nico and Nicki. They were bred by Bernard Horton of Kazzardsway German shepherds in Manchester and were born on the 10th June 2018.
Again all of these pups have excellent temperaments with strong working drives. They do not have the extreme drive that the E litter pups have but they have a steadiness that I like and given time to mature and develop I think they will become very reliable good Police dogs.
TPD NERO
TPD Nero pictured here with puppy walker Chris and his son Henry has progressed very nicely since recovering from Juvenile Cellulitis ( A pustular skin disorder) as a young pup which certainly held him back in the early months.
Other than some mild scarring on his muzzle he now seems fine.
He is very steady and determined in all of his work and particularly enjoys his criminal work just like all the Kazzardsway dogs seem to do.
We have been preparing all of our pups for the upcoming Devon county show. Here is Nero getting used to walking steadily over the walkway and up and down the A frame
All of our pups are trained to track using food drops which are initially placed in every footstep. Once the pup gets the idea the food drops are placed at ever increasing distances.
Before they start their Initial course we stop using the food and substitute it with their favourite toy at the end of the track which builds more drive and intensity.
Nero is now tracking with a nice level of concentration and intensity which will stand him in good stead once he starts his Initial Police dog course.
We recently assessed Nero, Nico and Nicki on their boldness, reaction to gunfire and reaction to shiny floor surfaces and sensitivity to sound. They were all extremely good on all.
Here is Nero on one of the boldness assessments reacting to a stranger wearing a mask jumping out and taking him by surprise on a normal walk.
This test is not to see if we can terrify a dog but to assess his/her recovery after coming across an unpleasant or unusual experience. Some dogs are so badly affected that they cannot recover and therefore do not have the level of resilience required of a Police dog.
We also have to take into account that Nero at 10 months is still very much a puppy and will not mature until he is around 2.
Congratulations to Chris and his partner Lyndsay who had a baby boy William on the 3rd of April. Here is Nero after our last training day taking a well-earned nap alongside William.
TPD Nico
TPD Nico pictured here with puppy walkers Karen and Rod at 42 kilo’s is a big powerful dog just like his brother Nero. He is a little more laid back than his brother but he is progressing nice and steadily in all of his work exercises.
At 10 months these boys have undergone an awful lot of growth in a short time and probably will not muscle up and grow into their frames until they are 18 months when you will see the best of them.
Here is Nico having just realised we are going to play the criminal work game and Rod is going to have to hang on tight to the training line. Just in case you were wondering Rod didn’t turn up for training looking like this.
TPD Nico certainly enjoys his tracking work and Karen has certainly got her work cut out holding onto him.
Because TPD Nico is so strong and gets so excited on his criminal work it is becoming too difficult for Rod and Karen to hold him and so we need to use a helper.
Tina Green a Traffic Sgt in Cornwall who is hoping to become a dog Sgt handler helped us on this training day.
Tina has been trying to join the dog section for some time now and has attended a number of our puppy training classes. We are always glad of the help and wish her luck on her forthcoming assessment centre.
TPD Nicki
TPD Nicki pictured here with puppy walker Margaret has been progressing really well in all of her exercises from day 1.
Here is Nicki with her brothers Nico and Nero working on their stay exercises on a recent training day. Although they are now at an age where we can do all types of exciting training it is still important to maintain control work because it underpins all of our exercises.
Several months ago Margaret had a nasty fall from a ladder whilst clearing the gutter on her garage which resulted in her dislocating her shoulder quite badly. Margaret was unable to look after Nicki and it looked like she would not be able to puppy walk for a very long time.
Fortunately we found a great family in Exeter to continue with Nicki’s care and development.
Pictured here are Mum Sara, Dad Simon, Issi and Marc.
They did a great job with Nicki getting her out and about and Sara continued with her developmental training sessions.
Margaret’s rehabilitation has gone better than expected and so Nicki is now back with Margaret.
I am really grateful to Sara and her family and although I know Issi and Marc were upset about Nicki leaving them they have made a big contribution to her success and development.
I am hoping that Sara and her family will continue helping with our program and maybe start with one of our 8 week old pups in the near future.
Margaret is managing really well with Nicki but we are being careful not to expect her to handle
Nicki on the exercises where she can get over excited.
I can certainly vouch for the fact that Nicki hasn’t lost any of her tenacity or attitude.
On our last training day Sgt Tina Green helped several of our puppy walkers by handling their dogs on some of the more physical demanding exercises. Here she is handling Nicki on a very difficult track which went very close to the agility section where I know there were cross tracks making it doubly difficult.
Thanks to all of the hard work and commitment of our puppy walkers all of the September 2019 pups are already at an advanced level. This means less stress on the Instructor, handlers and the dogs on what is an intense, hard but enjoyable course ahead of them.
Well done all.
Fingers crossed that we will be having Ella and PD Drake pups in late June
Now that Ella is now 27 months old we decided to breed from her and so when she came into season over Easter it made sense to use PD Drake as the stud dog for a number of reasons.
Firstly they both grew up together at our house before PD Drake ( Previously Larry) left us to become a Police dog with his handler Mark in January this year.
Secondly they both have exceptional working qualities, both have lovely temperaments and both have excellent hip and elbow scores from the BVA system.
As luck would have it Mark was on leave during the Easter period and so PD Drake came to stay with us for the week. Here they are being re-united at our house.
They had several successful mating’s and so now we must wait until late May to see if the mating was successful when Ella will have a scan. Here they are enjoying their bones together when she had finished her season at the end of the week.
In my next blog I will be giving an update on how our January 2020 pups are getting on with their development training.
From Ella and me bye for now.
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