Table Of ContentTHE KOEHLER METHOD OF Guard Dog Training
by
W. R. Koehler
1980-Twentieth Printing
HOWELL BOOK HOUSE INC. 230 PARK AVENUE NEW YORK,N.Y. 10017
To Margaret Pooley
Copyright 1967, 1962 by Howell Book House Inc.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 67-26609
Printed in U.S.A.
ISBN 0-87605-552-8
No part of this book may be reproduced without special permission in
writing from the publisher.
If you consider the manner and number of crimes of violence which shame
our society, you will be convinced that there are more areas of need for
dogs at this time than ever before. With the awareness of a need that a
dog can fill in a singular way, there comes a multitude of questions.
Police chiefs and others, who on the one hand are responsible for the
effectiveness and economy of their administrations, and on the other
hand must maintain good public relations, need solutions, not mere
answers, to forestall the problems that often becloud the survey,
procurement, and training factors of installing police dogs in a
department. Similarly, those individuals in business and industry who
have been harassed by vandalism and theft have asked how dogs can meet
their specific needs and how to establish such a service for plant
protection.
The military has encountered many problems of security as the strategic
importance of new electronically-oriented installations increases. In
addition to such security values, the dog is being considered as an aid
to certain types of combat operations.
The constant security and peace of mind that a dog of proven reliability
can bring to a home has caused thousands of family heads to ask how they
may procure and maintain dogs of predictable effectiveness for the
protection of home, yard, automobile, and boat.
This book is specifically designed to provide the solutions to these
problems.
PREFACE
AFFIDAVIT
Burbank, California
May 12,1967
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I, Raymond E. Shultz, residing at 732 Screenland Drive, Burbank,
California, do hereby certify that the following information, pertaining
to the experience and accomplishments of W. R. Koehler, of 5059 State
Street, Ontario, California, is factual.
According to War Department Credentials, Mr. Koehler served as a dog
trainer at the Pomona Ordnance Base, and was transferred from that Base
to the War Dog Reception and Training Center, San Carlos, California,
where he served as a Principal Trainer. Further evidence establishes,
that in addition to instructing officers and enlisted men, Mr. Koehler
did training of a specialized nature.
From July 1946 through this date, Mr. Koehler has served as Chief
Trainer for the obedience program of the Orange Empire Dog Club, the
largest open membership dog club in the United States. Statistics show
that during this period more than 14,000 dogs participated in the
obedience classes sponsored by the above organization. He also
conducted classes in tracking and specialized training for that club.
From 1946 through 1957 Mr. Koehler served as Class Instructor for
obedience classes sponsored by the Boxer Club of Southern California.
Club records show that during that period more than 1100 dogs
participated in these classes.
Mr. Koehler served as Instructor for obedience classes sponsored by the
Doberman Pinscher Club of Southern California. During the period of his
instruction, 90 dogs participated in these classes.
From 1954 through 1960, Mr. Koehler served as Instructor for the Field
Dog Classes sponsored by the Irish Setter Club of Southern California,
which are open to all pointing breeds. Records show that 140 dogs have
received instruction in this specialized training program.
Additional classes, for which the number of participants has been
substantiated, bring the total number of dogs trained in Mr. Koehler's
classes to well over 15,700.
The following innovations have been accredited to Mr. Koehler's work in
the field of obedience classes:
Introduction of foundation work with a longed line, in conjunction with
a complete absence of oral communication, as an emphatic means of
instilling attentiveness into a dog.
Introduction of a system of gradually diminishing the length of a light
line, used in conjunction with other equipment, as an assurance of a
dog's reliable off-leash performance.
Development of more widely applicable methods of rehabilitating
fighters, biters, and other major offenders. There is no record of his
ever having refused a dog the opportunity for rehabilitation for any
reason.
Establishing class procedure which demanded that all class participants
make emphatic corrections, and which ruled out tentative, nagging
corrections on the premise that an indefinite approach to animal
handling constituted a major cruelty. Later this contention was
supported with evidence supplied by an internationally accredited
scientist who revealed that the use of electroencephalograph equipment,
of the same type used by the medical profession, showed that the
training efforts of an indeterminate person cause great emotional
disturbance to a dog.
Following are some of the accomplishments resulting from Mr. Koehler's
efforts in the field of obedience classes:
The rehabilitation of an unsurpassed number of problem dogs, many of
which were referred to his classes by humane organizations and law
forces as a last hope to avoid destruction.
The generating of competitive obedience dogs, outstanding in numbers and
quality even in the Los Angeles area, which, according to The American
Kennel Club statistics, is by far the greatest obedience center in the
United
States.
A record of effectiveness and provision for the physical welfare of dogs
that has caused his formats and training methods to be adopted by more
obedience clubs than those of any other trainer in this region.
Three of the owner-handled dogs from his Field Classes have become Field
Champions and many others have won points.
I have viewed letters from law forces in evidence of his personal
experience in the areas of police work and tracking with dogs.
As an indication of the standard of performance exhibited by motion
picture dogs he has trained, four of the number have been selected as
deserving of the Achievement Award by the American Humane Association.
"Wildfire" received the award for his performance in the picture "It's a
Dog's Life," presented for the outstanding animal actor in 1955. The
honor went to "Chiffon" for his performance in the picture "The Shaggy
Dog" in 1959. "Asta," trained by Mr. Koehler and handled by him and
his associate, Hal Driscoll, received the award for best television
performance by an animal because of his work in the series, "The Thin
Man."
"Big Red," trained by Mr. Koehler, received the award for 1962.
My qualifications for the aforementioned statements are as follows:
1. Obedience Chairman-Boxer Club of Southern California, Inc. (5
years).
2. President-Boxer Club of Southern California, Inc. (1 year).
3. Delegate to the Southern California Obedience Council (5 years).
4. President-Southern California Obedience Council (2 years).
5. Vice President-Hollywood Dog Obedience Club, Inc. (2 years).
6. President-Hollywood Dog Obedience Club, Inc. (2 years).
7. Chairman of an Advisory Committee to the Southern California
Obedience
Council (2 years).
8. Director-German Short-haired Pointer Club of Southern California (1
year).
9. Presently serving as President of the German Short-haired Pointer
Club of Southern California.
Notorized by DOROTHY T. HOFFMAN, NOTARY PUBLIC -CALIFORNIA
INTRODUCTION
You charged the author with a great responsibility when you bought this
book for a definite use. Service and safety demand that the instruction
for training police and protection dogs be executed with the utmost
accuracy and penetration. In order to accomplish this I have treated
the three categories of use separately by placing all information
pertaining to each category in an individual section, except for a few
parts that can be applied without modification to more than one type of
dog. This has been done to prevent diffusing the reader's focus as well
as to make it less likely that a user will try techniques that are
irrelevant and harmful to his particular training needs. Unless you are
referred to such material by the section treating the kind of dog you
need, leave it alone. You will borrow trouble if you borrow that which
does not concern your dog.
1. The Personal Protection Dog
1. A WARNING
You might make one of the most costly mistakes of your life within the
next hour. Your failure to accept the truth of this chapter can hang
you up for the most thorough bleeding imaginable. Show my statements to
a lawyer and ask him if I exaggerate when I say that there is being
created in this country a most inviting field for exploitation. Further,
get his opinion on why a certain type of dog can be a real "stopper,"
giving the maximum degree of personal protection with a minimum of legal
risk.
It is a fact that the opinions of the public and the courts have often
been colored by an unjust classification of dogs, sometimes favorably
and sometimes unfavorably, but never logically. Experienced
veterinarians and professional dog men can tell you that from 1945 until
about 1955 the two breeds most commonly accepted as "good family dogs"
were the leaders in the percentage of indiscriminate biters per existing
numbers of all the breeds combined. One of the two breeds charmed its
beholders with appealing puppiness and surprised them later with
puddling shyness and "fear biting." The other, regarded as heroic from
its representation in many novels, saddened many homes by showing
hysterics instead. Although judicious breeding has brought the two
breeds to a level of good temperament, the same individuals who accepted
them solely on reputation as being "good" now reject them solely on
reputation as "bad."
Let's see how illogical prejudice affects other areas of the dog's
relationship with man. There are sections of our country where a dog
found roaming at large in the vicinity of pastured livestock can be shot
without risk of legal redress, even if it could be proved that his
liberty was caused neither by intent nor carelessness and that the dog
had never chased any stock. The fact that the dog might have been a top
hound with a record of winning tree-hound purses would not alter the
case. The same courts that would order a road department to replace a
cow killed by careless weed-spraying because the animal "contributed to
a farmer's livelihood" would reject claims for a dog worth five times
the cow's cash value.
With dogs guiding the blind, doing police and guard work, herding stock,
hunting, retrieving, and doing other jobs, it is certain that more dogs
than horses are working in useful occupations, but the horse, as
livestock, still enjoys a legal status that the dog does not have.
In some areas there is a "three-bite rule"-not officially, but as a
matter of custom. A dog whose first bite is shabby, indefensible attack
will often be permitted two more bites, though circumstances show him so
unpredictable that his career should have ended with the first offense.
Another dog may exhibit admirable patience around a bunch of senseless
humans, score three justified nips in as many years, and then be
automatically classified as one who will "have to go."
You might have noticed "Beware the Dog" signs are being replaced by
signs that say such things as "Dog-Do Not Open Gate." Such words as
beware and mean have often been used as evidence by "innocent victims"
who enter yards in "moments of emergency" and receive bites that cause
"great physical suffering and long periods of expensive mental anguish."
Now let your lawyer friend tell you how much fun an attorney for a
plaintiff would have with the fact that his poor client suffered
irreparable damage at the teeth of a dog that had been "formally trained
to attack human beings." All present in the court would be moved by
evidence that "a trained attack-dog" had been kept in a position to
injure anyone who might seek help in an emergency. It is almost
inevitable that the current propagandizing and promotion of
"attack-trained dogs for home protection" will provide opportunities for
the "innocent" to become injured and enriched.
2. ATTACK-TRAINED vs. NATURAL PROTECTOR
Cheer up! Even if you are convinced that the classification of
attack-trained" could make a dog into quite a liability, you can still
have the right guard dog whether you need a reliable alarm or a physical
protector. Whatever little protection you require from a dog, you will
profit from comparing two classifications of dogs at the highest level
of guard work, which is man-stopping. One of these is the
attack-trained dog who has been expertly agitated to a point where he
identifies persons who act in a certain way, or enter certain places, as
human varmints whom he should attack. The second kind is the natural
guard dog who is motivated by inherent temperament traits to accept
responsibility for the protection of persons and property and to use the
proper amount of force to do that job. The advantages of an
attack-trained dog are:
1. Agitation can sometimes put suspicion into an overly trusting dog,
stiffen up an indecisive dog, or break the "taboo" a dog might have
against biting a person, thus making possible varying degrees of
usefulness in dogs who could not otherwise qualify for guard dog work.
2. Attack training makes it easy to set up test situations in which a
dog can demonstrate his readiness to bite a person who acts in a certain
way.
3. An attack-trained dog may make an all-out assault more certainly in
some situations than would a natural guard dog.
4. His reputation of being attack-trained may discourage intruders.
The disadvantages of an attack-trained dog are:
1. In the event of law suits, his classification of "attack-trained"
would prejudice a court.
2. He can be stimulated to attack under the most regrettable
circumstances by a person who may innocently act like an agitator.
3. The patterns of reaction that trigger him will often override his
discernment and good judgment.
4. Although the suspicious moves of an agitator can be purposefully
related to trespassing, the theft of garden tools, or threats to a
person, and can result in a dog clobbering people who "make the wrong
moves," they can never provide the fine discrimination that is based on
a sense of responsibility.
5. The impression made by attack training will often give undeserved
accreditation to an inferior dog.
6. A dog that needs to be shut away for the protection of the innocent
will probably not be close at hand when he is needed.
7. He can be teased into a booby trap much easier than a natural guard.
8. If lightly agitated in the apparent hope that he will "bite
lightly," he will have a half-hearted attitude that will soon fade to
nothing.
The advantages of a natural guard dog are:
1. Motivated by a responsibility for what is his, he won't leave his
own property to bite someone who happens to act in a certain way.
2. He is more completely aware of his surroundings and less subject to
distraction than an attack-trained dog would be.
3. His judgment is better: He won't leave the baby and run out toward
the road to investigate the waving motions of a surveyor.
4. He is discriminating in his enforcement as well as in his decisions.
It is not uncommon for him merely to warn friends who try to come near
his baby but attack a stranger who takes the same liberties.
5. In the case of a bad bite under doubtful circumstances he will be
regarded in court as a dog who did "what came naturally" instead of as a
dog "trained to attack human beings."
The disadvantages of a natural guard dog are:
1. He is much more difficult to obtain.
2. Because he is motivated to protect something by "what he feels"
rather than to fight something because certain patterns tell him to do
so, he is harder to test and demonstrate.
3. He may have less psychological effect than a dog reputed to be
attack-trained.
4. In some situations he may only warn or threaten, where the agitated
dog would make an all-out attack.
If, after reading these comparisons, you decide you want a dog to make
an all-out attack each time he is stimulated, and you are going to be
with him every moment he is on duty, as with the police dog, you will
find instructions for that type of training in the Police Dog Section.
You may decide that, since you are without acquaintances who would ever
call on you, the dog most useful to you would be one who uses force on
everyone who enters his premises. The section on plant-protection dogs
will take you to such a goal. Talk to your lawyer before you decide on
either of these two types of dogs for personal protection, and get costs
from an agent on how much liability insurance you should carry.
