Protection Dog Program Comparison

When purchasing a fully trained dog knowing what you are purchasing is extremely important. The terms Protection Dog Basics I, II and III have no meaning in and of themselves. For that matter neither do our terms Executive Protection Dog, Elite Family and Estate Protection Dogs by CPI or Elite Family Guardian by CPI. There are no industry standards. They are just categories.

The same is true of exercises such as the "Secure" and the "Protective Escape". They are just labels which we use to represent our training. We have learned of others within our field using our terms, but applying them to sport exercises! Of course not reputable companies. Putting aside copyright law, as a potential buyer you need to look at the description of the actual training.

It is the actual training that is included in each category that is important. Therefore knowing what each program consists of and making sure the exercises are provided in writing within a contract is essential.

An educated buyer is our best client.

The following is a basic overview of the protective benefits within the 5 training programs.

FOUNDATIONAL TRAINING IN PROTECTION

The following are foundational skills taught prior to our basic
and advanced handler protection skills.

BASIC HANDLER PROTECTION SKILLS

Once foundational training (imprinting and development of drives; biting skills, etc.) within the protection program has been competed handler protection skills are taught. These handler protection skills determine how the dog protects you. We divided these handler protection skills into two categories, basic and advanced.

Basic handler protection skills are taught within all of the CPI training programs. These skills include "turn on", "turn off", "attack", "release" and the "stop attack" or Recall.

For a description of individual advanced exercises please see Training Methods and Techniques, or where available click on specific link below.

ADVANCED HANDLER PROTECTION SKILLS
(Executive Protection Dogs; The Elite Family and Estate Security Dog by CPI™; The Elite Family Guardian by CPI™)

Advanced Handler Protection Skills are taught in our Executive Protection program as well as in our Elite programs. These advanced skills provide a variety of useful options as to "how" the dog protects you. Naturally, if faced with a serious threat the more options available to you the better.

As the advanced skills provide a more resourceful and secure way of responding to a threat, they are the preferred choice in such situations. In situations where someone only suspects a potential threat, advanced exercises like the Covert Secure are extremely useful.

OBEDIENCE

The following formal and informal commands are given one time, said in a normal tone. Your dog will obey instantly, regardless of the situation, and completely off-leash.

MANNERS

We ask that every client fill out a comprehensive questionnaire in order to understand their specific needs. Among these are whether or not children are present in the home. As most of our clients do have children the exercises below are designed to protect their hands from accidentally being hurt when playing with the dog (ie the dog taking a toy out of their hand, etc.). There are numerous ways in which we customize each dog's training based on each clients specific lifestyle and personal preferences.

PRICING

The following are the price ranges for each level. The prices are based on a combination of level of ability, level of training, structure, working titles and show titles (more information available by selecting pricing in navigation menu).

The ability of a dog to protect is directly related to their level of ability combined with their level of skill (through training). The greater the investment in ability and training the higher the level of protection.

While these price ranges represent the majority of dogs sold, from time to time dogs are available which exceed these ranges. Such dogs are so exceptional they represent the highest level of ability available anywhere (top 1% of the top 1%). These are the dogs sought after by Europe's top trainers, and typically are considered once in a lifetime type dogs. These dogs are almost never for sale yet purchased by us by increasing our offers until finally they are accepted. We often keep such dogs for demonstrations until another dog of the same caliber can be purchased. Inquires into their availability are welcomed, and preferential consideration is given to our present clientele.