VOM HAUS HVK-NINES ARKO “ARKO”

CGC : TDI : CD : CDX

Arko (Artilleriekommandeur): Artillery Commander, see below.

Artillerie-Kommandeur: Artillery Commander. The General Staff officer in charge of coordinating Korps level artillery and also a Korps level numbered HQ used to control artillery assets. Used for most of WWII.

Arko is a Czechoslovakian German Shepherd. Czech dogs are used for K9 Work, Police, Border Patrol, Military, etc. Bob Conklin of Hudson Valley K9 Academy introduced us to Arko. Bob is a reputable breeder and trainer with over 38 year of experience working with dogs in the Air force, Boarder Patrol, United States Customs, and the Police Department. Kilo is Arko’s father. Kilo is trained in obedience, tracking, and protection. Kilo’s great looks, health, agility, and knowledge have without a doubt been passed along to Arko. Arko’s grandparents are BREN Modra Srela & ABA Obadove Oko, who are from famous Czech lines, known for producing long life, health and strong vitality with clear heads and drive. His great granparent are from the Mat-Roz working lines. Kilo’s offspring carry his powerful body and great temperament and his willingness to work.

Arko has a great genetic balance. He is social with other pets, children, and adults, yet has a great sense for guarding our property with the drive to protect. These Czech dogs are not heavily angulated like the typical conformation of German Shepherd show dogs. Arko is primarily black with tan on his legs. He has a rich black coat. Czech dogs come in traditional colors, black & tan, black & red, all black, and sable. He brings back the “old style” bloodlines with a broad, muscular head, well defined ears, thick powerful chest, and thick muscular neck and shoulders. Arko stands on an 85lb frame but looks larger due to his muscularity. Not only a handsome dog to look at, he has great work ability. Arko has the mind set to accelerate at all levels of training.

Good health, intelligence, obedience, agility, personality, We couldn’t ask for a better dog. Arko’s goal is to give love and be loved. He is not to be mistaken for a soft dog. These Czech dogs are tough and not to be taken for granted.

You may think you have seen Arko at the Mention Ridge Golf Course upstate NY. It’s his brother Onyx. Onyx was purchased and trained through Hudson Valley K9 Academy to chase geese off the golf course.

Canine Good Citizen &

Therapy Dog International

Harry and Arko decided to have a little fun February 5th. 2005. Arko passed his CGC & TDI certifications.

Canine Good Citizen

Therapy Dog International

Broadlawn Manor Certificate of Appreciation
The certificate was given to us by Broadlawn Manor assisted living, for consistent volunteer work. We visit Broadlawn Manor with Arko our TDI certified dog.

AKC Companion Dog (CD)

To earn Arko's CD title, Harry and Arko competed on February 19th 2005 at the Jim Rau Dog Show sponsored by the Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club. The Novice Class had 28 competitors. Harry and Arko came in 1st place with a score of 195 out of 200 and also took home the prize for the highest scoring German Shepherd.

The 2nd competition was held on February 20th, also a Jim Rau Dog Show, sponsored by the Bayshore Champion Dog Club. This class had 27 competitors and Harry and Arko placed second with a score of 190.5 out of 200 and again took home the prize for the highest scoring German Shepherd.

The 3rd competition of the CD title was held by the New Brunswick Kennel Club, INC. It was the 52nd All-Breed Dog Show and Obedience Trial. This competition had 17 competitors, Harry and Arko placed 2nd with a score of 195 out of 200 points.

Novice A 1st Leg
February 19th, 2005
195/200
Highest Scoring German Shepherd

Novice A 2nd Leg
February 20th, 2005
190.5/200
Highest Scoring German Shepherd

Novice A 3rd Leg
March 26th, 2005
195/200
No Awards For Specific Breeds

AKC Companion Dog Excellent (CDX)

To earn Arko's CDX title, Harry and Arko competed on May 18th 2007 at the Ladies' Kennel Association Of America in Oyster Bay, NY. The Open A Class had 10 competitors. Harry and Arko came in 2nd place with a score of 190 out of 200 on their 1st leg.

Open A 1st Leg
May 18th 2007
190/200
No Awards For Specific Breeds

Open A 2nd Leg
February 16th 2008
184.5/200
No Awards For Specific Breeds

Harry and Arko competed on February 16th 2008 at the Staten Island Companion Dog Training Club in Staten Island NY. The Open A Class had 25 competitors. Harry and Arko came in 3rd place with a score of 184.5 out of 200 on their 2nd leg.

This 3rd place ribbons is a good reminder of how training never stops. Like any race car, athlete, or a person that has specified job, keeping up with training is a must if you want to maintain top results. This 3rd place ribbon was a great win. But, it could have been a 2nd or 1st place. Due to our busy training schedule and some bad weather, we did not get out to train as much as we should have. This is not only a lesson for us, but for anyone with a dog. If you want your dog to behave and perform its obedience, you must keep them tuned. Tuning your dog could be going back for brush up classes. It can also be training on your own with the training that you used to create your dog when you 1st got them. You never stop thinking. Neither does your dog.

Open A 3rd Leg
May 18th 2008
184.5/200
No Awards For Specific Breeds

Harry and Arko competed on May 18th 2008 at the Long Island Kennel Club in Roslyn NY. The Open A Class had 9 competitors. Harry and Arko came in 3rd place with a score of 190 out of 200. This was an improvement of 5 ½ points from the last competition.

Between working, training dogs, home construction, and planning a wedding, Arko and I managed to get some training time in. We took another 3rd place ribbon and scored 5 ½ points higher than our last show. This was the last leg on completing Arko’s CDX title.

September 16th 2008 | Harry & Arko on The Moning Show with Mike & Juliet

Harry and Arko were invited on the The Moning Show with Mike & Juliet. A few days prior to this segment, a German Shepherd saved his owners life by dialing 911. This service dog was trained to dial 911 when his owner had a seizure. Mike and Harry discussed and demonstrated training a dog to retrieve a phone or touch a phone to dial 911.

June 8th 2012 | Harry & Arko on Channel 12 Connecticut Pet Talk Show with Lauren Collier

Lauren Collier from Channel 12 Connecticut Pet Talk Show invited Harry and Arko to talk about the advantages of Dog Orthotics.

VOM HAUS HVK-NINES ASHA "ASHA"

ASHA IS CURRENTLY IN OUR BOARD AND TRAIN PROGRAM

Asha’s parents are Xano and Shatzi. This makes Asha Neiko’s half sister. Asha was purchased from Hudson Valley K9 Academy. Her owners raised her until she was nine months old. Her owner’s claim she was aggressive with people, aggressive with dogs and was very difficult to handle. They took Asha to a “Professional” dog trainer in upstate NY. The report the “Professional” dog trainer gave according to the owners was, this is a working line German Shepherd that, cannot live in a home, cannot live with a family, cannot live with other dogs, should live in a kennel, has to have a working job, and should only be in a working home, not a family environment. When asked if he would train her, the “Professional Trainer” stated, she cannot be trained to live in a regular home. This trainer has written several dog training books.

With this information, She was returned to Hudson Valley K9 Academy. Bob has sent Asha to us. We will enter her into our Behavior Modification & In-House Obedience program. Asha will be educated with care. She will NOT be forced by hammering corrections, swatted with a newspaper, shock therapy, pinned down or food bribing. With the assistance of our training techniques, Asha will take a position in our pack. This is the same program that we put Max through. Asha’s progress will be posted weekly:

July 28th - August 4th, 2006: Week One.
We picked up Asha form HVK9A on July 28th, 2006. She will be given a week to get acclimated to her new environment with us on Long Island. She will not start our On-Leash Obedience course until her second week with us. We will continue setting the foundation that Bob owner of HVK9A started.

We have been working on and resolved the following issues without compulsive training, shocking, pinning her down or food bribing:

• Aggressive toward other dogs on walk.
  (learned behavior)
• Aggressive towards people on walks.
  (learned behavior)
• Aggressive toward women when in a crate or behind a fence.
  (Social Issues from negative experience)
• Rushing out of her crate.
  (learned behavior)
• Jumping on people for affection.
  (learned behavior)
• Jumping on counters
  (learned behavior)
• Mouthing and biting hands.
  (learned behavior)
• Running out the door
  (learned behavior)

Days 1 – 4 were successful. Asha has learned to behave on her walks. She no longer shows aggression towards people and other pets on low distraction walks, doesn’t pull on her walks, no longer rushes out of her create or the front door, or jump on us. We have made great progress with her aggression toward women when she is behind a fence or in a crate. Most important, Asha has not shut down or gone into avoidance during her sessions. She shows no fear or aggression towards me while I handles her.

We took Asha to a local strip mall on day 5 and 6. On day 5 Asha had her eye on everyone with the hair on her back slightly raised. She was NOT trying to eat everyone. There was an increase in pedestrian traffic on day 6. Asha still walked with confidence but did not have her hair raised. Some folks gather close to see Asha. They were amazed by her manors and striking looks. The bond with between Asha and I created with the handler techniques gave Asha enough trust to lay down and relax on her own with the crowd around us.

Asha Currently

• Lives in our home with 3 other working line German Shepherds
• Lives with our family
• Lives with other guest dogs that we watch
• Her only job as of now will be to perform her obedience and playing fetch like any other dog.

Neiko : Asha : Arko : Juza

Asha is clearly a genetically sound dog. She is very confident and has great drive. She overflows with affection towards her handler. She is currently living in our home with Arko, Juza, and Neiko. We are building her foundation. WE HAVE NOT DONE ANY OBEDIENCE WORK WITH HER AT THIS TIME.

Her aggression towards women in a crate is a social issue from negative actions toward her when crated. The dogs crate is a place of comfort for the dog. You should never punish, bang on, tease, or throw things at your dog while they are in their place of comfort/crate.

For folks looking for quick fixes. Good Luck! Creating the dog you want comes with time, patients and the right handler technique. Some of the common issues created by rough handling and forcing the dog into behaving are,

• dogs that are afraid of their handler
• dogs that are aggressive toward their handlera
• dogs that work out of fear.

Short cuts create dogs that humans considered dumb, crazy, reckless and aggressive. To avoid this, we take the time to tailor our courses to the dog and owner. We don’t take any shortcuts or use quick fix gimmicks in our training.

“What you create today you are going to have to live with tomorrow.”

August 5th - 11th, 2006: Week Two.
We started training Asha on our On-Leash Training program. She is progressing rapidly and performs her heeling, automatic sit during heeling, front sits, recalls, and downs. Asha understands all of these skills in English and Czech. We also started teaching her to finish on the left during a recall. To exercise her mind , we are teaching Asha how to fetch and drop the item. Asha loves long walks and allows us to brush her out at the park. She is submissive to us on her own. While lying on the floor she turns her belly up to us to play. Asha was NEVER forced to do this.

August 12 - 18th, 2006: Week Three.
Asha now eats in the same room with all of our dogs. There are no food aggression issues.

Juza, Neiko, Arko, & Asha eating together.

Her obedience has progressed. We are working the “Check” movement where the dog is taught to finish on the left side. Heeling, automatic sits during heeling, front sits, downs, and short distance recall, are now being worked with low to higher levels of distraction in town. We took Asha to the local pet store that allows pets. She did great with the distractions in the store. We walked around the store for 10 minuets then worked her obedience with no problems.

Holly can approach the crate without Asha showing aggression. Asha also has submitted to Holly. She rolls over on her back to play with Holly. Holly has NEVER had to pin Asha down.

Pining a dog down to show it who’s the boss is a great way to ruin your bond and get your face and or arms mauled. This is why we educate our dogs on who’s the pack leader, and don’t start our relationship off fighting the dog into submission.

August 19th - 25th, 2006: Week Four.
We continue to educate Asha on how to behave in and out of the house. She continues to accelerate in her obedience. Below are some pictures of us working Asha in town.

Harry & Asha In Town on Week 4

Holly working Asha in Town Saturday August 19th. Three weeks ago, Holly could not get near Asha's crate. Now Holly put her in her crate, feeds her, walks her, and works her.

Asha in town with a in a down stay while a child walks past her and Harry.

Here is Asha working while a young couple gets out of a car. We then follow the couple to show Asha is not aggressive towards them.

Harry and Asha take a seat. Pedestrians walk passed them with no negative reactions from Asha.

A young couple walks by, and then stops to talk to us. We talked for about 15 min. They did a great job raising their dogs. Thanks for the information on the restaurant. We order food to go.

We finished the day heeling across the street and passing more pedestrians with no negative behavior.

August 26th - September 1st, 2006: Week Four.
We continue to educate Asha on how to behave in and out of the house. She continues to accelerate in her obedience.

End of 4 weeks.
Asha has completed our 4-week Behavior Modification & In-House Obedience program. She is the same energetic confident dog that we took into our home in July. Her spirit has not been broken. Her behavior is 360 degrease from day picked her up. This is a great example of how her past behavior was created by improper handling. You don’t have to be a professional trainer to raise a dog like Asha. You do need to consult with a trainer that understands how to handle dogs with out bribing, shock therapy, and hard corrections on a collar. The foundation that Asha has today is based on communicating with a language that she understands, not the language of the rolled up newspaper.

The education does not stop here. With any dog, you always use and practice your foundation and obedience techniques throughout the dogs life.

Unlike Max and Cooper, Asha will be staying with us. She will continue on to our Distraction Course and Advanced Obedience Course. We will be joining HVK9’s in home breeding program again where Asha will be bred in 2007.

Many owners are misled by trainers that don’t know or understand how to read, handle and raise dogs. When their bribing and compulsive techniques fail on a dog, the trainer will tell you the dog is no good and cannot live in that home. You may get the same report Asha was given and give up a perfectly good dog. Asha is a great case of how it is clearly not the dog, but how the dog was handled and the improper advice that her past owners were given by the “Professional Trainer”.

The trainer the evaluated Asha is located upstate NY. To avoid having your dog missed diagnosed on it’s behavior contact USA K9 or HVK9A

“Save a dog, train it’s owner”

Why waist great talent?
Now that Asha is a happier dog, we decided not to waist this talent and have some fun with her.

CONGRATULATIONS to Asha on her Tier 4 treadmill title.

Marty of Martins K9 Formula has invited us to title Asha on a self-propelled treadmill to see what she is capable of. The titles range from Tier 1 to Tier 4; Tier 4 is the highest title. Dogs must perform the following task to achieve the Tier 4 title.

• Run with confidence uphill for a duration of one minute.
• Run with confidence downhill for a duration of one minute.
• The dog must turn from the uphill to the downhill position with confidence.
• Bite a sleeve with confidence on the uphill run for duration of one minute.
• Bite a sleeve with confidence on the downhill run for duration of one minute.
• Bite a sleeve with confidence on the uphill run, and then pull the decoy into the treadmill for the duration of one minute.
• Bite a sleeve with confidence on the downhill run, and then pull the decoy into the treadmill for duration of one minuet.
• Remain in a sit or down position on the uphill for a duration of one minute after performing the above task.

Asha was worked for a ½ hour once a week. She achieved her Tier 3 title on week three of working on the treadmill and was given her Tier 4 title on week four.

We thank Marty for the invite and his work on keeping dogs healthy.

ASHA TREADMILL TRAINING
Below is a video of Asha working out on a dog treadmill. Asha has titled Tier 4 on her 4th time on a treadmill. The Tier 4 Title consists of an up hill run, down hill run, up hill run with a bite, a down hill run with a bite. Once the dog had engaged in the bite, it must continue to pull the decoy into the treadmill for one minuet on the up hill and down hill bite. Marty from Martin's K9 Formula has considered creating a tier 5 title. This would require the dog to bite a hidden sleeve or bite suit along with a clatter sticks as a distraction. Asha and I have this covered.

Asha Treadmill Workout

ASHA ON THE POOL PLANK & SWIMMING
We try to find different ways to have fun with our dogs. All of our dogs are capable of performing the task you see in this video. The catwalk in this video is 8 inches wide and 17 feet long. Our dogs not only run across it but perform obedience with confidence. This is a great way to exercise your dog on a hot summer day.