Selecting the Proper Puppy for Police K9

By Adam Witherspoon

Training Director

Shiloh K-9 Dog Training Services LLC

          I recently imported two German Shepherd Pups from Holland.  One was already sold as a protection dog for a family and one to be trained as a dual purpose K-9 if he could do the work.   Well seeing the people who purchased the protection dog paid for the pups (I simply took my markup and imported another at the same time saving me the shipping) I let them pick their pup out of the two.  They never once asked me for advice as to which one would do better for them, they simply liked the one with the darker mask.  Two days before a friend of mine who occasionally helps me told me he liked the one they picked as well.  I told him I liked the other for my purpose and that the pup they picked would work for them just fine.  They wanted a protection dog, I wanted a dual purpose dog.  Two TOTALLY different arenas of work.  A couple of weeks later the puppy I liked was running circles around the other, both with equal amounts of training work, just my pup had more natural drive for multi facet work.  Both doing equally well in the biting on the tug, just pup b (my pup) doing much better and with better focus on retrieving  than pup A.  Also pup B had more focus on the bite work than pup A.  So why?  What made me like pup B more than pup A?  Lets look at it and find out.

            First keep in mind that a puppy at 13 weeks of age is always a risk.  You want to avoid purchasing pups for police k-9 work it at all possible.  Too much chance of them fizzling out.  Since however we are talking about pups lets look at them.    When the pups got off the plane, you couldnt tell who was better.  They were both equally active, neither were affected by their new environments, they just seemed like really sound pups.  Pup A was even more environmentally sound than Pup B.  Out in our training center Pup A continued to work and tug when I cranked up a leaf blower inside.  Pup B ran to hide.  BUT, pup B ran and hid with this kong in his mouth and NEVER dropped it.  Also Pup B would retrieve his kong anywhere.  Pup A lost interest in about 10 mins.  Pup A will make and is starting to make a great protection dog, but a dual purpose dog he is not.  PUP B is .  All the way no questions.  After a few exposures to loud noises, high surfaces, and slick floors pup B is jamming right on along, where pup A is still having difficulty focusing.  He improves daily, but is no where near the level of pup B.  When selecting a puppy, you want to look for natural prey drive.  Soundness in all environments is very important, but dont pick the first one that picks up a kong or tug rag.  Make them work in VERY short spells, about 2-4 mins, multiple times in a day.  Watch for the one that keeps focus on the task at hand each time.   Dont worry about noises or floors just yet.  Those problems can often be corrected by a little exposure.  Just dont pick your first instinct without checking them all out.  My first instinct said I wanted PUP A but after a closer look, PUP b was the clear choice.  Anyone with any questions can feel free to contact us at 336-949-3157 or email us at info@shilohk9.com