Vit Singh Part Three Kris Kotsopoulos' Re Breeding, Training and Mental Tactics for Protection Dogs

April 8, 2012 - PRLog -- When I watch the Videos of Amando Yonny “Kirt” as he was called I see my Von Forell Pamela and her three brothers in 1997. Kirt was well respected in my city and rightly so.
I worked him as did many others. He was a great dog and a pleasure to see and it proved we subconsciously knew what a great working dog was but had never really been taught what to look for, or how to identify them. I guess not knowing how to explain it either, hence why there are people who just have a breeders eye and who breed great dogs but can never really tell what makes a breeding dog.

Now as the story went, apparently the dogs were selected and sent to the owners in Melbourne Australia as a political favour and what a favour, it absolutely revolutionised the breeding in our state and by sheer chance we had a dog called Ingo v Hafenlorhtal Sch 111 who was a Lido v Allmannspfort grandson and a Bodo lierburg great grandson that was bred to the old DDR lines and produced some of the best producers we had ever seen here. In addition we had a Marko Cellerland son here as well that combined well with the Bodo and Ex lines. To date nothing has produced that overall calmness, cool, clear headed, hard and active aggressive dog like Stobar Hardt did. We have frozen semen from Stobar Hardt “Vulcan” as he was called (thanks to Neville Williams – the pioneer of working dogs in Australia) and we shall be using him in around two years. I have the females that are bred to suit him and too date they are the right character. These old dogs needed a little more agility and higher drives which my females have and I guess we shall see if it all works.


What are the major divergences you see nowadays between Sport dogs and Working dogs, and is it more now than ever before? Are there good dogs in the past, like Gento or Hassan, that you admire traits of, that did not necessarily occupy the podium in the sports?

The only difference I see as a general rule is the level of active aggression towards humans. It has decreased significantly. Quality aggression, which may sound strange is in decline and has been for a while. I am not talking about dogs that want to bite people indiscriminately but an aggression or some self assuredness when provoked, and the reflexive behaviour that is exhibited that depicts absolute sureness under stimulation. If we observe the evolution of working dog breeding and training there is one thing that is obvious; that being, the results that breeders and trainers have achieved to date have been created by conscious or unconscious design.

Over time breeders in the show ring have selectively bred for a low prey drive dog for ease of handling, but in doing so have created a innately unbalanced dog. It is also true that highly specialized working kennels have created the opposite imbalance where if the dog is not constantly at work (in a world where opportunities for such are reducing rapidly) they are also highly subject to behavioural disturbances.  

To add to the disparity, the majority of working kennels are intentionally eliminating aggressive tendencies favouring the promotion of prey instincts solely, creating further unbalanced working behaviours. I do agree however, as responsible breeders we must address the issue of undesirable and unmanageable defensive aggression in dogs in the interest of public safety, but we must simultaneously address the issue that we are in avertedly producing dogs that lack strength of character producing reactive dogs that consequently develop maladaptive behaviours far more easily.

Defensive aggression is highly undesirable and certainly unfavourable in working dog circles; however the active aggression that manifests from my “optimum Function Zone’ model is predictable, stable and manageable and in my opinion should be highly sort after.

It is not my intention to say which of the polar extremes is right or wrong, rather than, as breeders have specialized their dogs specifically for their own desires that the resulting unbalanced dog does on average make a very poor family pet. The key for all breeders is to achieve a balanced dog through careful selection and to ensure that the right people are trained with sound training principles to own such dogs.

I believe a detailed evaluation of a dog’s emotional reactivity should be done prior to any serious attempts at training and or breeding, emphasising the importance on the reliance of identifying a dogs personal thresholds and reactivity potential and adjust any training methods accordingly to best suit the individual concerned. Hence why, in my opinion the “Optimum Function Zone” model is a better approach in evaluating a dog’s innate thresholds and emotional reactivity to testing, training and breed worthiness.  This “Optimum Functional Zone” is unique, heritable and visually identifiable and can be a bench mark for future assessment and there is less reliance on the adjustment of training methods to suit, simply because these dogs are far more adaptive.


Any advice you may have for persons who want to choose breeding partners for their stock and primarily use the sport world as their choices.

Yes I have a lot of advice. Firstly you will never see the dog in its entirety when choosing dogs for breeding from the sporting world. Every breeding system has its own assets and liabilities. Every breeding system evolves out of need and cultural influence. The sport if not careful can create a gene pool where there is less behavioural diversity and I believe it is happening now. The same applies to individual countries. West Germany, East Germany, Cz Republic, Slovenia, Sweden they all have their own qualities and problems. There are no perfect dogs nor perfect training systems and by default we are all left with our personal opinions so my world view is that the West German dogs today generally have solid nerves and nice drives.

The DDR dogs mostly have low prey drives and look nice but their nerves are questionable. Some Czech dogs are similar with low motivation for obedience and so on. Now let’s clarify this. I am not saying all these specific bloodlines are like that but I am emphasising the general behavioural pattern. For me I look at what I like, what I have and what my breeding requires. It does not need the latest Import; it needs the correct dog to further the breeding program. It needs good health for sustainability and longevity. Every dog and its bloodlines have issues and that’s the way it is. It’s all about selection and in this case we are talking about working dogs with correct character, and the better you get at identifying correct character and selecting for it the better the dogs you produce will become. It has nothing do to if the dog won the BSP, WUSV or Sieger Show.

Here is the advice:

I know now that conventional breeding and training philosophies and models of working dog behaviour generally convey ambiguity and are filled with contradiction. There are hypothesis, which claim that canine behaviour accurately reflects mindset reality. Although behaviour should reflect mindset reality I seldom find this to be the truth.  
Humanity is only just embarking on the deep understanding necessary to consistently create and work with dogs that express powerful working canine behaviour. Few people understand it let alone are able to convey it.  

Dogs that operate within an “Optimum Function Zone” of which I conceptually refer to contradict conventional drive theories and consequently exhibit far more predictive responses. They display less volatility with negative feedback loops and if anything mentally grow and develop a form of mental inoculation even if treated irrationally. As a result they are adaptive in nature and appear to acquire a buffer of tolerance or adaptive optimism that enables them to cope more effectively with uncertainty.

END OF PART THREE - If you wish to speak to Kris Kotsopoulos please find him on http//www.vonforell.com

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