For today, let’s keep in mind Inigo Montoya’s famous line: “I do not think it means what you think it means,” as we chat about the K9 Speak I learned during my research for A Boy and His Dog. Don’t forget to scroll down for your chance to win a ten-dollar gift card and ten novels from the authors in the All-American Boy Series!
Kongs are the favored reward for military dogs, since a game of fetch doesn’t add pounds or cause cavities. To “Kong” someone means to give them something terrific. Military handlers call themselves “Kong dispensers” since they reward their dogs so much—praise works better than punishment for motivation.
Dogs that are trained to apprehend practice on other handlers, so if a K9’s partner asks you, “Will you catch my dog?” it means to decoy for them: putting on the bite suit and hiding to be found and dragged out, or running away to be tackled. This could lead to getting “housed,” or taken down so hard that the decoy ends up dazed on the ground, as in this video below at 6:34, from GoArmy. A decoy must act menacing early in a dog’s training, so to avoid not knowing what to say, handlers are trained to shout “Hot sauce! Hot sauce!” to rile up the dog.
The dogs hit hard, and in training, a decoy is supposed to “give” a bit, allowing the dog’s momentum to spin them around, since to lean into a flying bite can jam a dog’s jaws, causing injury. A decoy that fails to give adequately might hear the rebuke, “Want some peanut butter with that jam?”
A beautifully-trained dog that rarely needs correction is a “push-button,” like Mojo in my story, and he’s also a “landshark,” one that is a cut above in strength, agility, and intelligence. At the other end of the spectrum is a nervous dog who, instead of taking a big bite and holding on, will bite, let go, bite again, and readjust. These dogs are called “typewriters.”
I’ve always found the bond between dogs and people fascinating and loved writing this story!
Want a chance to win ten novels and a $10 Amazon gift card? My contribution is the ebook, Helios. Enter here! https://tinyurl.com/3cfrtn4r
Want a sure thing? You can preorder A Boy and his Dog now, and Helios is available on Amazon now to purchase or read via Kindle Unlimited.
Here’s that vid from GoArmy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvjwH1r7_Iw
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