Me and my dogs, O'bre-on's Ysha Rose and Molinka Klein von Canine ("Molly")
This Mondioring Site is dedicated to all the fine trainers, handlers, decoys and dogs I have had the pleasure to know .It was created by myself, Sharon Novak, I am a beginning student of Mondioring, training my malinois for competition, and on March 9, 2003, I was certified as a Level 1 Trial Decoy. My first dog, Molly, (at the time of purchase unknown to me ) a severely displastic 6 year old rottie, and her need for "attitude adjustments" led me to Mondioring. In Molly's puppyhood, we first trained with an AKC obedience person and then helped with her classes for about a year and a half. At that point, we started having problems with Molly and other dogs, which led to us to another trainer and his "personal protection" training club. There, I met Kathy O'Brien, and got to decoy her malis, Bomber, Eureka, & Dynamite. Kathy, one of the original American "carriers", exposed me to six different types of dog protection sports and ultimately, the "incurable Mondio virus", which compelled me to get my Female Mali, Ysha from Kathy. While we support and applaud all types of dog training that produces happy well behaved dogs, we train just Mondioring, which we believe is the best foundation for all dogs, and is the most safe, interesting and fun, for the dogs and the handlers as well as being acceptable to the majority of public and their attitudes. I know of no better answer to our problems with dogs- aggression, boredom, obedience, socialization and public opinion, etc. In addition to making Mondio with my own and friend's dogs, I have been helping Kathy socialize and imprinting puppies (mondio pre-school:) At some point, I would like to start a non-profit, raising puppies to donate to Police/Military/SAR groups. Since these techniques are so time intensive, I would like to use youth and teenager volunteers to help. This year my husband and I just got a property in Northern California where we will build a dedicated Mondioring Field for Training, Trials & Seminars. I have produced three Mondioring/French Ring Seminars with French Trainer/Decoy Daniel Boulais and three Mondioring/Police Dog Seminars with Rene Sagarra, World Mondioring Vice-Champion, as well as supported a few trials in the US. In the last few years, I went to Switzerland three times to train with Rene Sagarra and his Security Dogs Suisse Club , which myself and Kathy O'Brien have been honored with membership. I was support person/team chief for US World Mondioring Team in Switzerland in 2000 and then in Italy in 2001. For fun and PR, on the first Sunday of the month we demo at Nike Missile Site in Marin, CA and sometimes at other various park fairs and block parties. When we train or demo, we sometimes use the audience as part of the demo for distractions, throwing the food for food refusal and even on occasion to help hold/be the obstacle that the dog must jump over in the face attack with obstacle. We hand out mondio info and let the dog's socialize with the audience after they work. It's great to experience people's amazed reactions when they see the dogs are friendly just after protection work. I maintain www.californiamondioring.org and will post any Mondio info/links that we can get. I take my dogs out in the world as much as I can, and hope that we are good ambassadors for their breeds as well as our sport. We wish you and your dogs the best!!!
What is a trained dog and why should I do this ?
Why we use leg placement for our dogs
Using Food, Prongs and Ecollars for training
Coming Soon:.
Training Mondioring alone - can it be done and how?
And other neat stuff???? email me you interests
Gesamtheheitsmethode - Our methods of teaching are not new, but they are not seen often in the dog training scene. The quintessence of our training is basic and simple but requires acute concentration. In addition, it is time intensive and one must pay attention to details at the right moment. We practice the gesamtheheitsmethode or totalistic" method with the training of our dogs.
Following are some of the characteristics of this way of training.
Sometimes less is better. We generally do not train together as a group
more than once a week, or twice in the case of those dogs who also practice
Security Work. BUT, we are expected to spend as much time as possible with our
dogs and train on our own everyday in every way of our daily lives. Obedience
can be worked into our lives and routines. The tug can teach protection work.
Any handler who is serious about competition will have access or have their
own jumps and practice them in addition to weekly group training. Jumps are
worth 55 points at Level 3 and are also very important to help the dog build
and maintain stamina. There are instances where an exercise that is executed
with perfect timimg needs to only be done once. If the dog "gets it"
training may be stopped for the dog to absord and assimulate what she has learned.
Everything is training "If you see a pig on the road you make Mondioring."
Our goal is to not try to hide or avoid the problems that come up in our daily
life and training, but instead use them to "proof" our dogs and give
us ideas for future training situations. For example, once I was driving in
my car after making training with my mali. I saw a pig on a leash tied up in
someone's front yard, so I parked the car, got the dog back out and did some
heeling and tugwork on the sidewalk until the pig was no longer a distraction.
Another example would be the same reaction of training when the workers were
cutting down a tree with chain saws in my neighbors yard, I went out to do some
absence, heeling and tugwork on the sidewalk. If the dog picks up an object,
the apport(retrieve) can be worked.
Training is like Trialing This is one of the most laborious practices
and in my opinion, one of the major reasons why we don't see many people practice
the gesamtheheitsemethode. When we work together as a club or for seminar, we
have about six people spend one hour setting up and one hour breaking down the
field. All exercises of obedience, jumps and protection are planned and the
field is set up according to the international rules, with slight variations
for beginning level dogs. Additionally, sometimes exercises are MORE challenging
in training then what would be allowed in a real trial, such as the distraction
being performed closer than 5 meters on an absence of handler. Praise (if any)
and corrections (leash, verbal or other) should be at right moment. The person
who is "judge" or 'helper" may give corrections in training if
they make it the right amount at the right moment. This timing is difficult
and requires much experience and practice to be done well. Sometimes a wrongly
timed praise is a damaging as a wrongly timed or incorrect intensity/amount
of correction. When they have a true understanding of what is expected, we don't
generally praise our dogs for performing their job correctly. At this level,
we do not believe in bribing our dogs with tidbits of food or other such things,
nor do we make heavy threats or brutality either verbal or physical. The dog
must, as we all must, must do his job. This is normal.
Top reasons to train your dog -because a trained dog is a pleasure and not a pain (well mostly:)
To be sound in body, mind and spirit, everyone must have a job.
It's fun and gives you and your dog a chance to learn about yourselves and grow
People who are nuetral or dog negative may change their atttitudes when they
see your control
Your dog will not run away, be hurt, poisoned, stolen, killed, impregnated or
taken to a shelter
You are confident and feel safer when you are with your dog at home or in public
People and other creatures are safe from problems with YOUR dog
With better control, you're welcome in more places enriching lives
The more time you spend with your dog, the longer you will live
Your's and other people's stuff is not always destroyed
It's stimulating for mind, body, and creativity
What is a trained dog? A trained dog is a joy
to be around and is friendly or neutral to other people and creatures. S/he
is able to hang out at home alone or with family and company and is also calm
and welcome in many public places.
A trained dog is healthy and current in their vaccinations, lisences and grooming.
Depending on how much mess they get into, they should be washed with Baby Shampoo
a few times a year up to monthly. If they go outside, they should have a semi-annually
heartworm shot, and monthly applications of Front Line or another vet approved
flea and tick topical. Their nails should be cut at least twice a month and
teeth brushed as needed. Fur grooming depends on coat condition and how much
time your dog spends in "nature". If you walk in the woods or the
country, you should inspect your dog for ticks, fleas, burrs, and foxtails.
Mosquitos, ticks and fleas can give your dog diseases that can make them sick
and sometimes die. Foxtails can actually go through your dog's body and organs.
Yuck!! They are most likely to get worked into the body through the feet, so
pay a little extra attention on the feet and between the webbing of the toes.
Think about that happening to you and protect your friend (who can't tell you)
by checking them out. Doing all these basic grooming chores can be chances to
bond with your dog and are actually training exercises as well.
A trained dog is happy to learn tasks. When they understand their "job"
they will perform because they enjoy the work and want to please their leader/handler,
not because they are afraid to disobey. When a dog is trained, s/he is "under
control". This means that the dog will stay by their handler's side, and
if they are not by their side, they will recall (come back to you) ideally with
one command. They will not harm or bother other people or creatures. In almost
ALL public places, your dog must be on a leash, no longer than six feet. If
your dog is on a "flex" or extendable leash and is further than six
feet away from you, it is not possible to control the dog from, eating yucky
and/or poisoness/dangerous stuff. Nor is it possible to control your dog if
they get "interested" in another animal or person. If you are on your
own property or places where off leash is allowed, your dog should be leashed
until it is under voice control. Anything else will result in your dog learning
that it can do what it likes.
WHY we use leg placement from a beginner's perspective
and come from my personal observations of the last four years as well as talking
to several Ring Handlers, Trainers and Decoys.
On Malinois handler it was written"Why do Ringers use leg bites and is
it safer to use leg biting techniques?" My first answer to first question
is second question
1)Ergonomically, it is preferable for the dog to bite legs- four legs on the
ground and not likely to "go into orbit" 2)It is more difficult for
the bad guy/decoy to esquive with the legs and makes a cleaner take down. Unfortunately
there are too many dogs (some even police dogs:( out there that won't bite if
the decoy puts their hands behind their back -seen this way too often and also
if the decoy uses accessories - it's not possible to hide your legs:) 3)The
bruises are more concealed so that you don't have to always explain what you
do when people look at you funny or ask if you husband or wife beats you:))
In legwork, the majority of the people I've talked with/seen seem to prefer the knee area, which does indeed seem to be effective especially for take downs on the flee attack and also seems to be a common decoy busted up area:(( In Mondioring, the dog MUST bite at least 30cm up off the ground, which is certainly safer for the decoy, but I personally have never seen a judge penalize for ankle bites. Some people train the "feeding/presentation" of that knee area and I know of some people who make all kinds of attachments on the suit to make the knee be the only choice. My trainer says to let the dog find it's comfort zone, although the dog should bite in a safety zone ABOVE the ankle. My dog zone seems to be on the thigh, but I may have unconsiously trained that because I just HATE when my knees get jammed up because I am such a baby and slow and old. Kathy O'Brien's nasty (said with great affection:) Dyna likes to go low. I think she is looking to take her daddy's title of decoy destroyer. Even after working on her targeting, I do see that shoes go on when Dyna is putting on her working gear:)))))
IMO,any good sport and/or protection dog should bite arms (or other body parts) as well when the arm is the best choice i.e. in certain approaches of the object guard and some instances of the Mondioring defence of handler- decoy attacks handler sitting in chair etc.
Food, e-collars & prongs.When I started training my first dog, my first trainer taught me to use compulsion, to force my dog into my will. She didn't believe in treats, so we didn't use them EVER - just force and some praise. I then learned and came to believe that using food can be a useful training tool especially when the dog has no prey drive or has had it's prey drive broken. In most NORMAL dogs, the prey drive is the strongest drive and can and should be utilized to teach and re-enforce. This seems like the best way for sport/protection dogs, however in some cases I will go against my trainer's advice. The exceptions would be cases where the dog has broken or minimum prey drive or when the dog has to be taught fast such as needing a recall so it can stay with the owner as oppossed to being put into a shelter and/or put down.
In Switzerland, the prong collar and the e collar are forbidden. As a member of a Swiss club I have agreed to not use these methods. When my trainer does seminars in the US, he will not work with a dog that has these types of collars. Some people choose to not train with him and some people try it and find that they can indeed control their dogs with just a slip collar and handler presence. I have yet to see a dog that Rene can not train without an e or prong collar. Your can and should make your own choices about training, but to many people, these methods are considered brutal. Based on what I have seen from people who have had electric shock therapy and the training I have seen, I believe that e collars make a dog un clear in their minds and are excessive. From my own experience with my malinois, I saw that the prong collar just made her go into drive MORE and was more uncontrollable, so I found a way to teach her without. Ultimetely, the proof of any methods should be in the results. If it works it may be effective, if not then??? We could have long discussions about whether e collars and prong collars work or not. We could even ask the dog - they won't say, but they will tell with how they work. In Mondioring trials, the dog has NO collar, so in any case, you must be sure that your dog will obey - that is the test.