Category: Dogs

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Barbarian Working Dogs

Dogs have played a key role in human life for longer than they haven’t and for some of you, your dog very well may be the most loyal and devoted being in your life. Though just like with people you need to repay that in kind. Don’t be a user whether its with people or with animals. The dog handler relationship is symbiotic. Though you need to approach it as a partnership you do need to maintain a pack leader position as well. The best way I have come to describe it is, the good team leader. The one in charge, but cares about the team and is still in the action with them.

 

I always liked watching military dogs, especially the special operations dogs Work because they were very versatile. They are considered multipurpose working dogs. A working dog is trained in a single discipline and a multi purpose working dog is trained in multiple disciplines. Up until the time that I noticed these dogs I had only know dogs that’s did one thing. Hunting dogs found birds, police dogs bite bad guys, herding dogs move sheep etc. So when I found dogs that were of such a caliber that they could do 2 or more jobs I was hooked that’s when I got my first Malinois.

I had already had a German Shepherd but he had no aptitude for any discipline let alone multiple though he was a great companion. This first mal how ever was and with him I started developing how I would train my dogs from then on. I have given the plan multiple titles over the years for ease of conversation so I will do so again here and it will from no on be known as….

The Barbarian Working Dog Program

All of these disciplines can be started almost on day one, and should be started early, they just need to be tailored to a young dog like you would teaching a child.

Prey-drive and protection work

I knew I wanted the dog to be protection trained because despite what most dog owners think, no your dog will not likely protect you unless its trained to. Just like a person if you don’t teach them how to fight, if they do step into the ring and not run away, they are not likely to be successful.

Though I do not subscribe to the drive theory per say anymore, the characteristics for protection work, (there are many but many trainers focus solely on prey drive) is something you need to screen for from the time they are puppies. You also want to look for confidence, defensive behaviors, and more.

I do not recommend that you try and train your dog in any protection sport/discipline without the help of someone who knows what they are doing. There are consequences and liability involved if done wrong or poorly and not only you but your dog will suffer the consequences if something goes wrong.

Obstacles

 

If you are a hiker, it is important not necessarily to train them but expose them to obstacles to help them build confidence. This will not only help them hiking but it will build trust between you, and the confidence will also translate into all the other disciplines. I then take this to another level as they grow up and expose them to rappelling and hoisting.

I grew up in the Rockies and always like having my dog go where I do so If I need to rappel out of a situation I want my dog to be able to do it as well. This does require rated equipment in order to do it safely and only a few companies make rappel rated dog equipment so you have to do your research.

Scent work

I had no use for, my dogs to be trained for drugs or bombs. I also had no desire to deal with the licensing required to get the materials needed to train them. Though the same discipline and techniques can be used for many other things such as search and rescue and hunting and that’s the direction I went.

I took the methods used for tracking suspects and lost people and simply changed the scents used. There is a host of animal scents that you can purchase for this. Check the legality in your area for what animals that you can hunt with dog. In some states you can only use dogs to track already downed game and some places its only for small game so do your research.

I then also used the methods for bomb and drug detection dogs and used them to train shed antler retrieval.

Mushing/load hauling

Now last but not least and the most recent addition to their training is mushing/sled pulling.

Now whether they are working together on the same line or they have their own small sled(polk) this offers great fitness benefits for the dogs as well as makes carrying their own gear when adventuring much easier on their back and hips.

The only energy I am going to expend talking about PETA and the propaganda they spew against mushing and all dog sports in general. Is this they have never worked a dog or ridden in a sled to understand anything about what they talk about. There are bad people in any industry or sport that cause problems but that do not represent the whole. A fact they love to use in their own defense but forget when they are attacking others. Many of the dogs love mushing and running the trails in the winter more than their other disciplines. You couldn’t force these dogs to do this if they didn’t want to.

The techniques and methods used for training are always evolving but these are the disciplines that most of the training we do revolves around.

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Barbarian K9s: Raising Dogs

This is the first article for a new series/section of articles I am going to be doing around dogs and specifically working K9s of all kinds. You will occasionally see articles covering dogs, their training, health, as well as philosophy surrounding them and how they integrate into our Modern Barbarian lives. I used to run an other account specifically for this topic but I learned one thing before I shut it down. The dog and dog training community is second only to the horse show community in the levels of its toxicity so I will post this regularly but not as frequently as other topics.

The foundation of how I raise dogs is the same general idea that I use for health and nutrition decisions. What is the most natural and most inline with genetics, or natural behavior. Did humans evolve drinking sugar ladened sodas or chemically laced and manufactured food like products? No, they ate whole foods they found in nature.

From that foundation this is a rough philosophy around raising dogs.

Nutrition

I am a big fan of raw feeding. The healthiest dogs I have ever had I have fed raw. They have far less health problems than any of the kibble fed dogs we have owned. The same problems we have in healthcare with food companies funding and sponsoring medical schools and health organizations you see in veterinary medicine. Dog food companies fund vet schools and give kick backs to vet clinics that sell their food.

Feeding raw is much more than just throwing burger in a bowl for your dog so make sure you do your research

Forever Dog – A great book that covers dog health and nutrition as well as the dog food industry. Forever Dog Book

Barf diet – Raw feeding primer. Barf Diet Book

Now I do feed raw and I have some dogs that I feed kibble by following the check list in her book to make it the best kibble that I can but I would feed all my dogs raw if I could.

Breeding

Breeding has gotten a bad name in recent years with all of the animals in shelters and I do get it and if you are only looking for a pet/companion dog you 100% should go to a shelter. Plenty of dogs there will bond harder and and longer than any dog you have ever seen and would make great companions.

But when you need a working dog, your only real option is breeding or buying from a breeder. You have a much higher chance of getting the kind of dog you need than if you roll the dice at shelter. With that you have to vet your breeders and make sure that you are supporting good responsible breeders. Any responsible breeder will let you meet or see the parents, will tell you how many litters a year they breed as well as their general breeding philosophy. If they don’t want to tell you anything, you should look for a new breeder. Just because they are AKC registered does not mean that they are healthy dogs or that the breeders are responsible.

Closed book pure bread only breeding is horrible for dogs health. It limits the gene pool and long term will degrade the over all health and quality of breeds as no new genetic material is ever introduced into the gene pool. To that end I am a firm believer in strong breeding which in short means that you occasionally breed dogs into your lines that are not the same breed but have the same working characteristics and traits that you are looking for. This produces healthier, and longer living dogs.

To this end I am not a fan of AKC or any kennel clubs as they go directly against this philosophy as well as breed for looks and not working ability which results in unhealthy breeds. The german shepherd being one of the recent many breeds that has been run into the ground health and work wise because

Training

I firmly believe that the owner of the dog needs to do the training of the dog. Many trainers will work with the owners and tech them how to do it properly. This is because a bond forms through the training that you just don’t get if you send the dog off to a trainer for ti to be done for you. You also don’t learn how to maintain the training properly and the training will degrade and go away eventually.

No one training system will work on every dog out there. Just like humans every dog is different. So where do you start?

How does a mother dog raise(train) their pups? With corrections. She growls at them, mouths them, and if needed snaps at or bites them, usually in the scruff. The closest a human can get to this behavior while maintaining the safety of them and the dog is a pinch collar and verbal correction.

I train using a balanced approach of marker and reward training and corrections either verbally or with a pinch collar depending on what the dog and their temperament requires. Training collars and devices get a bad wrap because of people who have no clue how to use them and people who have never trained a dog in their life weighing in.

Marker training comes in because we know dogs respond to rewards as well even though it may or may not be completely inline evolutionarily. Though if you use only this method you often get dogs that wont listen unless you have treats in your hand. So you need to balance it out. Marker training is also where I start with puppies. Because at 8 wks old building a bond is more important than spot on training.

As they grow, the bond strengthens, and their temperament and personality develops and comes out more you can start to determine what the specific dog requires in terms of training methodology.

All their training starts on a leash, and then ounce their training progresses I move them to a long line. This especially is beneficial for recall training as they get more freedom but you can still remain in control so they cannot ignore the recall command. Then once I am firmly confident in their recall they progress to off leash training.

You have to Know what your dog is capable of

Not just training wise but physically. A corgey is not able of clearing a 6 foot wall no matter how much training you do. You also need to clearly communicate your expectations. This doesn’t mean explaining it to the dog. This is done through consistency. If your dog is not to get on the couch, then you can’t let him on the couch some times. If they are to bark at intruders or warn you of danger you can’t correct them when they do.

Sit down and think about what you want from the dog and think about how you and your family will need to act in order to foster that behavior. If you want the dog to warn of danger but your wife yells at it every time it barks its going to get confused.

The most important thing when it comes to corrections is to never correct the dog of it doesn’t understand the command in the first place. If you are training Sit for the first time, and you correct it when the dog doesn’t know sit your not accomplishing anything.

Great books on training your own dog are

Team dog – Written by seal team dog trainer Mike Ritland. Team Dog Book

Team dog online – Mike Ritland’s online training resource. https://teamdog.pet/

Fortress k9 online – Another online training resource from fortress K9. http://k9academyonline.com/

Dog man book series – These are the two that cover the most of his training philosophy. I do not agree with everything in there but a lot of it is good information.

Dog Man 1

Dog Man 2

Conclusion

That is the basic foundation and philosophy of how I raise dogs. The specifics will change slightly depending on what disciplines or combinations of them each dog is doing.

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Dogs – Barbarians and their wolves

Dogs are not only truly loyal, dogs are devoted and love unconditionally, three traits that men seldom receive, at least in adulthood. This loyalty and devotion, is in my opinion why so many veterans returning home to a society that no longer accepts them, with no brotherhood or loyalty and very few in person connections of any kind, find solace in the heart of a dog.

Why are dogs mans best friend? They fill a hole in many a man’s heart.

These days unless your lucky enough to have found yourself as part of a brotherhood, you have beat the odds and built your own, or you found yourself a good wife, A dog very well may be the most loyal living thing that you have in your life. Even if you have, experiencing the unique bond between you and a dog is a quintessential human experience. One just as important as the experience of having a brotherhood. This experience is heightened even more so with a working dog. A partner that shares a purpose with you, both driving toward the same goal. Raised to an even higher degree with a protection dog. For those that have the knowledge and temperament to work with one there is nothing like the experience of bonding with another predator.

That bond can also give you insights into other people around you. Your dog will be able to size up a person and their intentions 100x faster than you can. Trust them. If they are normally well trained and well behaved and they all of a sudden start acting out or being standoffish with a certain person or even aggressive toward them, trust that instinct. That is a person that you should probably be careful around or avoid entirely.

The level of experiences that dogs offer, represent almost a form of spirituality for some people. They offer/require structure, a source of strength, someone to talk to when there is no one, all things that religious and spiritual people have but that those that have been driven away from spirituality might be lacking.

How do you hold up your end in a relationship like that?

Just like you should a human relationship of that caliber. Make sure that you return the favor. Reward that love, that devotion, and that loyalty in kind. Protect them, take care of them, treat them like a brother, like one of your family because thats how they see you. Don’t abandon them, don’t drop them at a shelter when they get old, or inconvenient. Thats not loyalty, and certainly not devotion.

Most old dogs that go to a shelter end up getting euthanized, remember that. Most people don’t go to a shelter looking for an old dog so they will get past over time and time again. All the while wondering what they did wrong to end up there. You are basically killing your dog, in body and in spirit by leaving them there, if you wouldn’t put them down yourself, don’t send them to a shelter when they are old. While there are no kill shelters around they do fill up and often transfer dogs to other facilities that may or may not be kill shelters.

This also happens to younger dogs as shelters get more and more over populated. So if you are not willing to keep and care for that family member then don’t get one from the start. Many people say you wouldn’t abandon your kids so don’t abandon your dogs, but if you take a cursory glance at the internet I am not convinced most people these days wouldn’t abandon their children too if they got to inconvenient so don’t do either unless your going to see it through.

Now when it is your dogs time to go, don’t leave them to face it alone. Grow a pair and stand there with them, no man wants to die alone and scared and neither do or should your dog. They are already going to be stressed being in a strange cold environment the least you could do to repay all they have given you is to stay with them at the end. This is called responsibilities, don’t shrug them off just be cause you can that doesn’t make you a man. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Man up, there is little that is harder to go through than to see the look of confusion, pain, and panic on

the face of your friend when there time has come. It doesn’t matter if its too soon from tragedy or after a long happy life. You have spent a life time building a bond, earning their trust and now they look to you for help and you cant help them. But that doesn’t mean you walk away.

So barbarian you still want your wolf?

Don’t get a dog based only on looks or what breed is popular at the time. That just says your making a status purchase, not looking for a companion. Research breeds, their personality and common traits as well as what they were used for and make sure that they fit in with your lifestyle, family, or needs. If you are looking for a hunting dog you don’t want a chihuahua. If you live in a small apartment a giant breed or high energy breed is not going to work out well. This simple act alone can head off many of the problems listed above.

Once you’ve done that you can start looking for breeders if you are looking for a specific breed. I do, only recommend breeders for people who are looking for a specific breed for a specific working purpose. Protection dogs, hunting dogs, and so on. If you do not have that specific need and are looking for a companion for you or your family, then go to a shelter. In addition don’t shut your self off to adult dogs as well don’t go looking for a puppy only. Not only could it make the learning curve and transition easier for you adult dogs need homes to. They may take a little more time to bond to you after going through what ever landed them there, but when they do it will be bond stronger than any other, If you put in the time.

All that being said, the dog you need or that you are meant to have is the dog that you are going to get. Whether you evaluate a litter and carefully select one, pick one blindly or go to a shelter and let the dog choose you, you will get the one that is meant for you. The dog that you need is usually to teach you a lesson of some kind, usually to teach you patience or how to be loyal.

Care and keeping of your wolf

Nutrition

It is just as important for dogs as it is for you, if you are not willing to put the effort into learning what dogs need then again don’t get one. Most kibble is horrible for dogs If you just buy kibble because its cheap and throw it down in front of your dog. You will either end up having a dog with a shorter life span or one ripe with heath issues just like a human who eats nothing but processed foods. Now there are some much better kibbles out there than others but you have to find them. Little hint, they will not be at the grocery store, and most likely not at any big chain pet stores. I recommend a book called forever dog that explains this topic in depth as well as raw feeding, and the process to finding a good kibble or choosing between kibble and raw.

My family started feeding our dogs a raw diet 8 years ago, and have never seen anything make such a big difference in a dogs quality of life. We currently have dogs on both a raw diet and kibble diet, and some that eat both kibble and raw meat. You will likely get push back from most veterinarians because their entire education was at schools funded by pet food companies like most human medical schools are funded by pharmaceutical companies. Do your own research on how to do it safely for you and correctly for the dog if you go down that road.

Research and understand what a healthy dog looks like. It is called their body condition and there is an easy 9 point scale https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/body-condition-scores to understand what is healthy and what is not. Another helpful tip most dogs today are at unhealthy weights so don’t look to what you see around you as normal, and use it as your guide, unless you belong to a dog club that has healthy dogs. Fat people have fat dogs, if for no other reason than to make them selves feel better about their own bad life decisions. So make sure both you and your dogs are healthy and you’ll both live longer happier lives.

Purpose

Finally your dog needs a purpose in life just like you do. Especially so if you get any working breed dog. If you got a working dog for that purpose then its purpose will be fulfilled most likely as you got them for that reason. The more you can give them that purpose or jobs inline with their breed instincts the better off they will be. Hunting dogs will need to hunt, herding dogs nee to herd, breeds like Belgian Malinoise will need to herd or do protection work, or scent work as well as run 5-10 miles a day, live stock dogs need something to protect, huskies need to be able to run, you get the point.

Conclusion

Barbarians need their wolves, just like they need their tribes. But getting a dog is not something to be taken lightly. It takes time and responsibility, and you have to be the kind of person the dog deserves. People don’t like the comparison that dogs are like children but they are in way more ways than people want to admit. So if you are not going to put in the effort just like anything else that should be done right don’t do it at all. The only thing that irritates me more than seeing unfit unhealthy untrained dogs being dragged around by or dragging around their fat owners is dogs being abused, and allowing your dog to get over weight and unhealthy and not letting him live a life in line with his instincts is just another form of abuse, only a more accepted one by most of society.

Recommended Reading

Advice From a Dog Man – Basic philosophy on dog training/raising

I Belive What My Dog Says – Quotes on dogs, training, and life

Team Dog – Basic dog training

Forever Dog – Dog nutrition and health

Online Schools

https://k9academy.us/

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