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At Conquistador K-9 we don't just work to produce dogs for sale to our clients, we consider ourselves trainers first, producers second. We produce Triple - Threat Conquistador Presa Canarios to train for our program goals only, simply put. We develop individualized training goals for each of the dogs in our program, everyone has a job here. Our business model is not to train dogs others have produced for clients, unlike many training facilities, we only focus on dogs we have produced for our program.
Since we produce limited litters of puppies, almost all our time is spent developing the total skills of each handler and K-9 team. Each team member will only ever handle up to four dogs, making our K-9 to handler ratio very high and allowing for intimate bonding within the team to ensure each Conquistador K-9 reaches it's highest possible potential.
Our day-to-day training facility consists of 40 acres of diverse land, complete with a functioning family farm where our dogs play an integral role in livestock protection and management. We utilize off-site areas for civil training, multiple different facilities for conformation training, off-site training with our fellow club members of the OG Schutzhund team, and off-site training for tracking and hunting purposes. We look to leverage all opportunities to test and train our dogs and offer life-time training support and guidance to all our Conquistador K-9 family members.
We do offer training package for our clients, however we feel that the best possible avenue is to set you and your new Conquistador on the correct path together and require all our training package to include HANDLER based training as well.
In our program, we enjoy testing our dogs utilizing IPO training and testing techniques. It is easy to find many trainers focusing the defense only drive in the breed, however we believe that developing all the potential drives in a dog, and teaching them the restraint and control of each, is the way we maintain correct mental stability in our dogs. Schutzhund / IPO is a challenging 3 part sport which was originally designed as a breed test for the German Shepherd (to ensure the breed retained the genetic traits for tracking, obedience and protection) and has grown in to a popular sport, as well as continuing to function as a partial breed test. As a sport, several countries hold regional and national competitions.
Schutzhund, when it is properly trained, provides an arena where you can learn about aggression and how your dog reacts to stressful situations. The dog also learns to control his drives and learns to obey his owner even when he is very excited. This can result in a very well-behaved dog. The duration and breadth of training also helps create a very close bond between dog and handler.
Some people who like to avoid aggression try to train Schutzhund protection as an obedience exercise, where the dog learns to bark to "ask for a reward", and gets the sleeve or "prey object" as this reward. They argue that Schutzhund is a game and their dogs will only bite a sleeve. This concept is becoming more prevalent in trainers of the sport and is considered to be incorrect by those trying to maintain the natural abilities of the breed.
Schutzhund in it's original form, was supposed to be a test, a dog should show aggression in the protection phase, the decoy, helper or bad guy, should be a worthy adversary, and the dogs courage should be tested. The protection phase at a trial should be more like a boxing match, not like a choreographed movie-fight. When we are training protection, we build the dogs confidence and encourage him to enjoy the fight, we often let him win, by the decoy showing weakness, we also work on control, we teach the dog when and where it is OK to bite and when it is not.
A dogs basic character, socialization and training affects whether he will be aggressive towards people. A dogs genetics will define whether he has the protective instincts and courage to protect his family. Schutzhund training will not change this basic nature but will give the owner some idea of how their dog might react, and also enable the dog to remain under the control of his handler.
We will conclude with stating that we support all well rounded working sports from weight pulling to farm field hunting and livestock guard training. We focus on the dogs abilities and work to bring those to the surface.
Participating in dog shows is something we specialize in and feel it is a great start to developing a solid handler bond with your new puppy. Puppies can begin competing in dog show events s soon as 3 months of age. These events are meant to be a fun experience for both you and your dog and a great socialization experience for your new puppy.
All that sounds great, but where to start? Let Conquistador K-9's professional handlers help guide you through the ins and outs of the dog show hobby with our personalized conformation handler consultations. We can work with the smallest of handlers starting at 5 years of age through seniors.
Almost all our dogs are show quality dogs, meaning they will have no disqualifying faults in any ring following the FCI breed Standard for judging the Presa/Dogo Canario. Our clients are often surprised that our dogs take home Best in Show winnings on their first Dog Show experience! A little secret....no surprise to us. We consistently utilize the critiques from qualified judges to balance our breeding program decisions.
A balanced dog is of highest importance to our program guidelines. Our Triple Threat Conquistador Presa Canarios must be Champions, Companions, and Guardians. Meaning that correct conformation is required to be included into our program.
Since all our dogs are FCI registered, you may compete in almost any show circuit of your choosing. Below are some links to available circuits to those clients in the U.S.A.