1. You must consistent if you want a consistent dog. 2. One direction – One correction 3. You must be disciplined and controlled before you expect your dog to

exhibit these qualities. 4. Train under realistic stress. 5. You must master yourself before you can master your dog. 6. You are responsible for everything your dog does or fails to do. 7. Dogs are not humans 8. Dogs do not think humans are dogs. 9. Dogs are affected, as is all creation, by the sinful fall of man. 10. You should regard the life of your dog and treat him\her with respect. 11. Dogmen must integrate dogs into everything that they do from mundane

to insane 12. Anything a soldier, LE officer or tracker can do, they can do with a dog.

Think about each of these in detail in your own mind and consider carefully how these could not only apply to your training of your dog, but also how each of these may impact your own personal life.

12 Pillars OF DOG TRAING GUIDE

12 Pillars of dog training dunetos k-9

Pillar #1 – Consistency

Many dog owners, military and law enforcement handlers and SAR trackers are very frustrated with their dogs

because of their lack of consistency. Many who work with dogs simply refuse to deal with their dogs unless they

are on the training field or being called out. They lock their dogs in their crates for half of their life, ashamed that

they can’t control the dog. Let’s face the truth, dogs require us to be disciplined if we are going to have them with

us all the time. But this is what Dogmen do:

We must discipline ourselves to be consistent. Why would we expect something out of our dogs that we are not

willing to train into ourselves? Do not allow yourself to give into laziness and take the easy route. Expect the

same thing out of your dog in your home as you would at work laying under your desk (not in the back in his

kennel), in your car during transport, when in the field, all of the time.. And you must become a consistent

handler for this to be a reality.

Every time you fail to correct your dog, you are doing both him and yourself a disservice. Consistency may save

both your life and his. Plus, it is much nicer to have a consistent dog in your home.

Remember: Be consistent.

Pillar #2 – One Direction – One Correction

I can not tell you how many times I have seen handlers repeat commands over and over to their dogs without

giving a correction. For anyone who deals with dogs in potentially life threatening situations, including search

and rescue, this is totally unacceptable. You do not need to be harsh with your dog, but you must demand

obedience. This very simple, but extremely important pillar is foundational to training an effective, consistent,

obedient, and stable dog. Every time you allow your dog to disobey a command without a correction, you are

doing yourself and him a disservice

Your dog must obey. During a gunfight, your dog must stay when commanded. He must come when

commanded. He must remain in position when commanded. When you are tracking someone who went down a

very steep incline, and you are working your way down so that you can pick up the track at the bottom, your dog

must wait when commanded so that he does not cause you to lose your footing and injure yourself.

To obtain this, you must consistently apply the training philosophy of One Direction – One Correction. This is the

most basic of the training directions given at Dúnetos K-9 and it has proven itself over and over again.

Remember: One Direction – One Correction.

Bring your body under subjection to your own will and you will find that doing so with your dog will become a natural extension of who you have become.

3

Pillar #3 – Discipline and Control

I am always amazed at people who expect discipline and control out of

their dogs, but they are completely undisciplined and out of control

themselves. In order to have a dog that is disciplined and under control,

you must develop in yourself, discipline and control. If asked, most

people want a dog that is disciplined and controlled. They do not want a

dog that damages their property, or knocks down young children, but

many are not willing to make the necessary changes in their own lives to

achieve this result. How do you have a disciplined and controlled

dog? You discipline and control yourself.

Bring your body under subjection to your own will and you will find that

doing so with your dog will become a natural extension of who you have

become.

Remember: Learn discipline and control yourself before you try to

force that on your dog.

Pillar #4 – Train Under Realistic Stress

I find it interesting that this tactical principle is largely not practiced

among dog trainers. Allow me to give you an example:

I was recently browsing through dog training videos and noticed that

consistently, when doing bite work with a dog, that the decoy would have

a weapon in the hand that the dog was not biting. Furthermore, I noticed

that if the weapon was a gun, the decoy would fire the gun while being

bitten. If the weapon were a blunt force weapon, like a stick or club, they

would strike the dog repeatedly with the stick while the dog bit the arm.

Many of you may be thinking, isn’t that realistic? Don’t we want our dogs

to continue biting if the person has a gun or other weapon? The answer

is, YES, you want your dog to continue biting. But the flip side to that

question is this follow on, “HOW do you want your dog biting?” You must

train your dog to first, target the weaponed hand. The highest priority

should be to remove the weapon from the fight. And second, you must

train your dog to retarget if the free hand produces a weapon, or even if

it is being used to beat on the dog. This is the only way to ensure that

your dog can defend you against a hostile attack. If a person has a gun

in their free hand and your dog bites the other arm, what do you think

that person is going to do? If the person can produce a knife with his

free hand, what should your dog do? It is a better option to have a dog

that can disarm an assailant from the start, and then you have the

freedom to call the dog off the attack, and direct your, now disarmed,

subject to surrender.

Remember: Train under realistic stress.

This is a journey to not only becoming a better dog handler, but becoming a better person. Take that first step today!

“How do you

want your dog

biting?”

12 Pillars of dog training dunetos k-9

Pillar #5 – You Must Master Yourself Before You Can Master Your

Dog

Many people become frustrated with their dogs and wonder why they are out of control. These people may have

done training with their dogs, and their dogs may even be highly trained. But for some reason, unknown to the

handler, the dog is simply out of control. Of course there are various levels of this depending on the dog and the

handler. But whenever this question comes up, and it comes up often, my answer is the same, “You must

master yourself before you can master your dog.” This topic is related to an article that I wrote about discipline.

What flaws you see in your dog are always indicators of weaknesses that you have in yourself. If you are slack in

your discipline, the dog will be too. If you are too harsh in your correction, the dog will either act out in

aggression or flinch back in fear. If you allow your dog to do whatever he wants in your home, you will often

struggle with control on the training field or in real world application.

Mastering yourself requires more than just military style discipline. This context is full orbed. We will discuss this

in more depth later, but for now, observe your dog and consider how his faults are reflections of your own, and

how you might better master yourself such that your dog’s faults will be corrected as well.

Remember: You must master yourself before you can master your dog.

Remember: You must master yourself before you can master your dog.

“If an ox gore a man or a woman, that

they die: then the ox shall be surely

stoned, and his flesh shall not be

eaten; but the owner of the ox [shall

be] acquitted. But if the ox were wont

to push with his horn in time past,

and it hath been testified to his

owner, and he hath not kept him in,

but that he hath killed a man or a

woman; the ox shall be stoned, and

his owner also shall be put to death.

If there be laid on him a sum of

money, then he shall give for the

ransom of his life whatsoever is laid

upon him. Whether he have gored a

son, or have gored a daughter,

according to this judgment shall it be

done unto him.” Ex. 21:28-32

5

Pillar #6 - You Are Responsible for Everything Your Dog Does or

Fails to Do

“If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be

eaten; but the owner of the ox [shall be] acquitted. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and

it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox

shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall

give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a

daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him.” Ex. 21:28-32

This is the portion of the biblical law that we derive the liability laws for animals from. If you question this, you

can do more research from Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Biblical Law, and study early American Law. But

these biblical truths have been passed down over the generations, and although we have perverted many of the

laws in our system, this still remains intact.

What this means for you as an owner, both based on these pillars, and also in reality is that you must have

control of your dog. This does not only apply to those owners who have highly trained protection dogs, but this

also applies to those with any dog. See my article entitled, “I don’t want my dog to bite.” If you train at Dunetos

K-9, you will hear this repeated over and over again. So how does this apply to the LE or Military handler?

You are also responsible for the actions of your dog on the beat or battlefield. If you tell your dog to wait, he

must wait. If you call your dog back to you, he must come back.

Remember: Control your dog!

Pillar #7 - Dogs are Not Humans

On the surface, this would seem like an obvious statement. But when considering dog training, it is worth

discussing. Increasingly, more and more people are treating their dogs like children and children like dogs. This

is the sad reality of the world we live in.

But we must maintain this distinction self-consciously. We must understand that there is a distinction between

humans and dogs and we must not allow that distinction to be blurred. This does not mean that we treat our dog

poorly or that we abuse them, but rather the opposite. When we allow dogs to be what they are, we also allow

humans to come into their proper place.

It is the most respectful thing you can do to treat a dog

like a dog. This frees the dog to do what dogs

do. Don’t confuse this with allowing the dog to do

whatever they want, but we are talking about the dog

being able to function as a dog. All societies, even

animal societies have consequences for bad

actions. We must train our dogs to understand what

appropriate actions are, while maintaining their

dogness.

Remember: Make sure you are treating your dog

like a dog, and your fellow humans like humans.

12 Pillars of dog training dunetos k-9

Pillar #8 - Dogs Do NOT Think Humans are Dogs

This is the prevailing failure in the dog community today. Practically every other training facility and philosophy

assumes the opposite of this pillar.

First, let me clarify a few common misunderstandings when discussing this topic. First, I am not saying that dogs

are not pack animals. They absolutely are pack animals. I am also not saying that dogs do not behave like

pack animals. Because they are pack animals, they behave like pack animals. So with that cleared up, let us

proceed with considering the question of how dogs look at humans.

Let me start with the obvious, and I will argue this by stating the absurd contradiction. Dogs to not think that

squirrels are dogs, they do not think deer are dogs, they do not think chickens are dogs and they do not think

dolphins are dogs. So why do so many people talk and think about dogs as if they thought humans were dogs.

Second, humans don’t think dogs are humans (or at least they shouldn’t). Third, dogs do not act the same way

within their packs that they do with humans. I am not saying that there are not similarities, but consider the

following. Have you ever seen a dog command another dog to sit, lay or wait? Have you ever seen a dog feed

other dogs (other than their pups)? Have you ever seen a dog strap equipment on another dog in an effort to co

ntrol them? The answer to all of these questions is “no.”

So how do we understand our relationship with dogs? We understand it in light of how the Scriptures describe it.

in Gen. 9:2. This, in conjunction with a proper understanding of the dominion mandate, will help solve this

confusion. We are called to take dominion over the animals in a way that honors God’s requirement that we be

good stewards of all that He has given us. Because of this, our training philosophy is far different than most.

Dogmen must have a proper understanding of how humans and dogs relate to one another. To the extent that

we fail to understand this relationship, we will fail to effectively train our dogs for real world tactical application.

Remember: Dogs are not dumb, they know your not a dog.

7

Pillar # 9 - Dogs are Affected by the Fall of Man

Scripture tells us that, “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and

hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for

thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to

thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;” Gen 3:17-18

What we see at the fall of man, is that the earth was cursed because of the sin of man. “For we know that the

whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only [they], but ourselves also,

which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,

[to wit], the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope.” Rom 8:22-24.

All creation now groans because of man’s sin. This also means that the animals are not only imperfect, but also

that they can be a danger to us. Because of this, we must take dominion over the animals that we are in contact

with such that they are safe, enjoyable and productive.

We must be patient with our dogs. They are not going to be perfect, no matter how well we train them. But we

must be patient and understanding of the fact that they are fallen due to our own failures.

This also means that we have a greater responsibility for alertness when we are with our dogs. It is important to

understand that even if we do everything right in our training, we are as perfect as we can be in our handling,

dogs are still going to mess up, because they are affected by the fall.

Dogmen, also know that part of mastering yourself is controlling bitterness in your heart toward others who have

wronged you as well as your dog that will continue to be imperfect. Allow this relationship to further develop in

you patience and understanding.

Remember: Be patient, your dog is not going to be perfect.

“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast

hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast

eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee,

saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the

ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of]

it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles

shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the

herb of the field;” Gen 3:17-18

12 Pillars of dog training dunetos k-9

Pillar #10 - Regard the Life of Your Dog

“A righteous [man] regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked [are] cruel.” Pr. 12:10

Many people think that they are being kind, when in fact they are being cruel. This manifests itself in many ways

both in society as well as in the world of dog training. We create weak and suffering dogs by interfering in the

natural culling process of the mother dogs. We take from the wealthy that work hard for their money and give it

to those who have not worked for it and create even more poverty. And in many cases, we allow reckless liberty

in our dogs, only to have them harm another person, causing their own death. Regarding the life of your dog

does not mean that you allow your dog to do whatever it wants.

It is important that the Dogmen regard the life of his animal. This means that he will ensure that his animal is

safe, fed and handled responsibly. When we follow these guidelines with our animals, we discover that they are

happier and more useful than ever before.

When you have control of your dog, you can call them off while they are chasing a ball into the street with

oncoming traffic. It means that you can recall your deployed dog when the subject surrenders. It means that you

can redirect your dog off the innocent child and direct them to the hostile with a gun. These are critical aspects

of handling dogs, but must be properly understood.

Don’t confuse reckless liberty with care and regard of your dog. Allowing reckless liberty is actually unloving and

uncaring toward your dog. Care for your dog with a proper understanding of the distinctions between dog and

man, and you will both be happier about it.

Remember: Regard the life of your dog

Pillar #11 - Dogmen must integrate dogs into everything they do

If you desire to be a Dogman, you must learn to integrate dogs into everything that you do. Dogs have so many

different ways that they can be useful to men, and it is the desire of every Dogman to apply the benefits of the

dog to as many areas as they can. This means integrating the dog into everything that you do.

This means that if you have a dog for personal protection, you should take your dog with you everywhere you

go. If possible, take your dog to work. The more your dog is with you, the better he\she will be. He\she will not

only be able to better protect you better, but they will also desire to protect you more because the bond will be

stronger.

If you are a search and rescue tracker, you should also have your dog with you everywhere you go. This will

assist you in learning to read your dog. You will better understand how he\she responds to specific scents. You

will know the things that distract them and the things that he may be jumpy around. All of these things are critical

to your being able to track effectively.

If you are a LE or military handler, you should have your dog with you at all times. When you are doing

paperwork, your dog should be sitting or laying at your side. When you are doing physical conditioning, your dog

should be at your side. If you are working on a military obstacle course, your dog should be up on the obstacle

along side you. When you are at the range, your dog should be on the range with you.

Remember: Find a way to integrate your dog into your life.

9

Pillar #12 Anything a Soldier, LE

Officer or Tracker Can Do, They Can

Do With a Dog

Previously we discussed the concept that you SHOULD

integrate your dog into your life. But this pillar states that you

CAN do it. If you are rappelling down mountains, you can climb

with your dog. If you are jumping out of airplanes, you can do it

with a dog. If you are leaping out of helicopters on waterborne

operations, you can do it with a dog. And if you can do these

things with a dog, there is really nothing you can’t do with your

dog.

So let us consider the above examples of this to illustrate the point. Rappelling with a dog is the first thing you

learn if you are going to attempt parachuting with your dog. Using the basic equipment that Dunetos K-9

recommend carrying at all times, you can easily include your dog on your next rappel. Take your first of two 6’

leads, and fashion a harness like the one used in our video on Lifting and lowering your dog. Then you clip your

second 6’ lead into your harness and into the ring on the dog’s harness. Now lower the dog over the edge until

the lead is taught. Then rappel off the cliff yourself. This is a training process for the dog, but is practiced

regularly.

For parachuting, it takes a bit more equipment, and it will vary slightly based on the type of parachuting. But let’s

take free fall parachuting as an example. You put the Dunetos K-9 free fall harness on your dog, clip this

harness into your harness and function much the same way you would if you were carrying a backpack in that

position. There is a training process to introduce the dog to this sensation, but it also practiced by military and

free fall Dogmen.

For waterborne operations, jumping out the back of a helicopter into the water requires no special equipment at

all. If you are going to be in the water for a longer period of time, you can use a neoprene vest that will give the

dog extra flotation. This training involves teaching a

dog to stop paddling in an attempt to swim. Once the

dog relaxes enough that they will stop trying to swim

when commanded to, you can enter and exit the water

and remain in position to avoid detection if necessary

without a problem.

While there is obviously more to these exercises than

can be explained in a brief article, I hope you see that

even complex activities can be accomplished while

integrating your dog. Dunetos K-9 specializes in

teaching you how to integrate your dog into every area

of your life…no matter what your life is like.

Until next time, this is Joel with Dunetos K-9,

helping sharpen our world...one dog at a time.