July 2025 – Controlled Aggression Podcast

Learning to Adapt with K9s Talking Scents, Cameron Ford

July 31, 2025 suddeth08 1:29:34

In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw and Cameron Ford discuss:

The creation of PSA and evolution of dog sport.
How the rigidity in traditional dog sports has led to innovation and creativity.
Being open to adaptation not fighting against it.
Increasing complexity in training detection.
The responsibility of having an online platform for your dog training.
Training based on experience and on research.

Key Takeaways:

PSA exploded in popularity the last decade due to the prevalence of younger trainers and social media.
A lot of traditional dog sport is built around breeding programs and registering your dogs. PSA allows for dogs of any breed and age as long as they can handle the training.
If you’re interested in your dogs learning detection, teach your puppies to track and hunt. It is key for police work.
Training detection dogs is about more than odor, no matter what changes have occurred over the years.
Adjusting to what the dog is doing during training when they aren’t following your progressions is where the fun and intrigue comes in.
Training is not a race. Do it right from the beginning and it will create a stronger, better dog than if you try and do it all in just a few weeks.

“Unfortunately, a lot of dog trainers get married to doing something because it’s the way they’ve always done and they feel comfortable with it. But I think you have to be smart enough to jettison what’s not working or is less efficient.” — Jerry Bradshaw

Contact Cameron:

Website: https://www.fordk9.com/

Website: https://stratosk9.com/

K9s Talking Scents: https://www.fordk9.com/podcasts/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLa_PL0uHeOK5WsSgjR-Mw

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fordk9/

Get Jerry’s book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com

Contact Jerry:

Website: controlledaggressionpodcast.com

Email: JBradshaw@TarheelCanine.com

Tarheel Canine Training: www.tarheelcanine.com

Youtube: tarheelcanine

Twitter: @tarheelcanine

Instagram: @tarheelk9

Facebook: TarheelCanineTraining

Protection Sports Website: psak9-as.org

Patreon: patreon.com/controlledaggression

Slideshare: Tarheel Canine

Calendly: https://calendly.com/tarheelcanine

Tarheel Canine Seminars: https://streetreadyk9.com/

Tarheel Canine Student Portal: https://tcstudentportal.com/

Sponsors:

ALM K9 Equipment: almk9equipment.com

PSA & American Schutzhund: psak9-as.org

Tarheel Canine: tarheelcanine.com

The Drive Company: https://thedriveco.com/

The Drive Company Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedrive.co

Find out more about Hold The Line Conference 2026 at https://htlk9.com/

Train Hard, train smart, be safe.

Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

Brad Gillespie – Signal Punishment & Punishment Markers

July 23, 2025 suddeth08 1:06:05

In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw and Brad Gillespie discuss:

Positive and negative punishment in police dog training.
Pros, cons, and balancing the use of punishment markers.
Intentional and unintentional markers.
The importance of consistency in punishment.
Marking for clearer communication.
Biting through the muzzle.
Changing one variable at a time and reducing the number of variables in training.

Key Takeaways:

In some cases, marking punishment may be more important than marking with positive reinforcement. Following the punishment marker with the punishment allows the dogs to understand what is happening.
Be careful about the overuse of those punishment markers. They can oftentimes create a drift where the marker itself becomes the signal for the dog to rectify the behavior, rather than when you give that command.
You need to be consistent in your timing and ready with the punishment. Dogs are great at recognizing when things are consistent or not.
Communication is the problem with most issues we have with dogs. Marking punishment is a way that can help us to have clearer communication.
Train the dog (and the handler) in a way that makes it look and feel real.

“I really think that using a marker can allow us, both on negative reinforcement and on positive punishment, to use much higher levels of stimulation, and the dogs are able to better process what’s happening. We have a system, or at least a way of communicating with the dog. And I think that the marker helps them understand that a little bit better on both ends of the spectrum.” — Brad Gillespie

Contact Brad:

Website: CanadianPoliceCanine.com

Get Jerry’s book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com

Contact Jerry:

Website: controlledaggressionpodcast.com

Email: JBradshaw@TarheelCanine.com

Tarheel Canine Training: www.tarheelcanine.com

YouTube: tarheelcanine

Twitter: @tarheelcanine

Instagram: @tarheelk9

Facebook: TarheelCanineTraining

Protection Sports Website: psak9-as.org

Patreon: patreon.com/controlledaggression

Slideshare: Tarheel Canine

Calendly: https://calendly.com/tarheelcanine

Tarheel Canine Seminars: https://streetreadyk9.com/

Tarheel Canine Student Portal: https://tcstudentportal.com/

Sponsors:

ALM K9 Equipment: almk9equipment.com

PSA & American Schutzhund: psak9-as.org

Tarheel Canine: tarheelcanine.com

The Drive Company: https://thedriveco.com/

The Drive Company Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedrive.co

Find out more about Hold The Line Conference 2024 at https://htlk9.com/

Train Hard, train smart, be safe.

Show notes by Podcastologist Chelsea Taylor-Sturkie

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You’re the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

The Evolution of Police Dog Training with Dr. Stewart Hilliard

July 17, 2025 suddeth08 1:30:00

In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw and Dr. Stewart Hilliard discuss:

The influence of European sport dogs in early North American working dog training.
Benefits and challenges of introducing KNPV-trained dogs to the American market.
Evolution of Eastern European working dog trade.
Sourcing and importing working dogs.
Institutional breeding programs, increased costs, and decreased quality.
The future of dog training with kynology.

Key Takeaways:

KNPV (Royal Dutch Police Dog Association) dogs were the gold standard for transitioning sport dogs to dual-purpose police dog prospects.
KNPV dogs were not trained to distinguish between equipment and humans, which gave those early Malinois dogs a bad reputation.
Dogs that come from a deprived background with limited experiences often need to be deprogrammed before they can be taught to forget, then taught to learn what they need to know.
Don’t kill your dog by playing with it. The dog’s reward is not a toy; it’s a reward. Toy implies play, and these are working dogs.
Malinois and German Shepherd dogs are not fully adult dogs until 2.5-3. Younger dogs are more vulnerable to mistakes and stress, leaving you, as the trainer, with the technical burden of not making many mistakes.

“I think the future is going to be agency-based breeding, heavily informed by scientific practice, but also with strong participation of practitioners – practical dog people who know how to produce results. Those are the agencies that are going to do really well.” — Dr. Stewart Hilliard

Contact Stewart:

Website: https://www.caninetrainingsystems.com/

Book: