In an Unsafe World: Michael Hussain and the Future of Protection Dogs | S2 Ep. 177

0:05Hey everyone, welcome back to Founder's Story. Today we have Suede Michael Hussain. And Suede, you are the founder and trainer at Alpen House Shep. We had a really interesting conversation almost a year ago now, maybe six months ago, about what you're working on. And I'm super excited to learn more about what's happening in Europe, in the U.S., and other places, and just more about shepherds. I think I shared a story when I was a kid. I always wanted a shepherd, and it did not get along with our cat, and I had to choose the cat. Looking back, I think it might have been a mistake. But, Swade, I'd love to understand how did you get into founding this company and why?

0:47Yeah, I mean, it's a long story, and I'll do my best to abbreviate it and just, you know, pick out the highlights. But basically, I got a protection dog, my first protection dog, my first trained dog, about six years ago. And it was something that I've been looking into for a while, almost a decade, just toying with the idea, playing with the idea, lining up sort of my understanding of protection dogs as, you know, with a reality that I would ultimately be in where I could actually have one, be able to care for it, be able to, you know, have a dog with me in the way that I wanted to have a dog with me at all times in my life as part of a lifestyle.

1:28So it took a long time. And I went through a long period of research, in-depth research, trying to figure out the right dog to get and what's involved. And it was completely confusing. I mean, I've got a background in management consulting and we do a lot of due diligence in that field. And doing due diligence and protection dogs is basically impossible, I found. And so ultimately, I selected a dog, you know, using the techniques and methodologies that I knew how to make decisions based upon the research that I did. And it was a beautiful dog, a phenomenal dog I fell in love with. And I'm very happy to have selected him.

2:10O 'Connor von Haus Trendy, Germany, German origin, trained in Germany to the highest level in IGP. And just a beauty, just exactly the dog I wanted. And what I ultimately came to understand after I purchased him, despite all the assurances from the person that I bought him from, and despite the decades of experience that the person had working with these dogs and the degree from one of the best schools on the planet that this individual had, this dog, O 'Connor, would have not actually protected me in real life. He was sold to me as a protection dog. He was sold to me as having tracking capabilities, obedience capabilities.

2:51And yeah, he had certificates and all that stuff. But in reality, in the real world, none of those capabilities would have been able to come into play. Not even the obedience. So it was an eye-opening experience for me, and it led me down a path of researching how to train him myself in all these different disciplines. And one thing led to another, led to another, led to another, and I fell in love with dog training. I fell in love with protection training, and I decided to embark on it on my own because I could see that the entire space of protection dog training. Once I began to understand what was actually involved with both the space and the actual training of real protection dogs that are lovable, loving, social, stable, and safe in the real world, there was a huge dichotomy between those two things.

3:44What it actually took to make those dogs and what was actually being offered and created and purchased by people in the marketplace looking for a protection dog were two entirely different things. And I wanted to create real protection dogs for real clients. And that vision is what consumed me and what ended up dictating the past five years of my life as I embarked on that path. And that was the sort of foundational spirit and set of moments that unfolded for Alpenhouse Shepherds to be born. I think protection, safety, security are really on a lot of people's minds now. You know, I've been watching how, you know, basketball players in the U.S., their homes have been robbed.

4:35I have friends recently, their homes were broken into and robbed. Luckily, they were not there. But they've, you know, supposedly there's a group of people doing this at different places. They're tracking people's social media. So when I think of safety and protection, I'm really curious as to what even is a safety dog or protection dog and why a shepherd? So really good questions, you know, and the most of the best questions that emerge when you're talking about or thinking about protection dogs are just the simplest of all questions. So what is a protection dog? What is what it what should it be?

5:13everyone has in mind this what i call the dream of a protection dog where it's safe it's stable it'll play with your children it's safe around your parents it's safe when your friends come over um it's a perfectly social dog but if you need the dog to if you snap your fingers issue a command it will immediately go into protection mode and fight very aggressively to defend you to defend your wife, to defend your children, to defend your parents, to defend your property. And then you can immediately snap your fingers as well and turn the dog off. The reality is that that is not at all true. Protection dogs that are sold and commonplace in the marketplace all over the world, not just in the United States, do not fit that criteria.

6:00They're either going to overprotect you as a general rule, or they're going to underprotect you. So that means that generally speaking, they may be safe and social, but they won't really protect you in real life like Connor. Or they will really protect you in real life, but they're not going to be safe and social. We've heard a lot of horror stories about this, about people buying a protection dog and the dog was constantly looking for a fight, would constantly bite people, nip at people, lunge at people out in public and owners have to give these dogs away over and over and over again. They don't have any control.

6:37There's no real world obedience. We've heard stories about dogs having to be kept on a leash inside the house. And people come away thinking that, oh, you know, I thought a protection dog was this way, but in reality, it's this way. And I guess that's how protection dogs are. They just are overprotective. They're naturally aggressive because that's a protection dog. So that is, you know, the reality, which is very different from the conception that most people have when they look into this. at Alpenhouse, we can create that dream that people have where they are safe, where they're stable, where they're social, but they will also be turned on and able to protect upon command, and then subsequently turned off and able to go back and being a normal dog and play with your children and then be turned on again immediately whenever you desire.

7:33And, you know, we have these capabilities shown very clearly on the videos that we put out on our YouTube channel. So, you know, this isn't just me talking and telling you what we do. We actually prove it and demonstrate it in the media that we publish about our dogs and about our program. So, yeah, so that's the answer to the first question. And shepherds, why shepherds? Well, a couple of reasons. Number one, And I love shepherds. So I like working with dogs that I know and dogs that I love. Number two, shepherds are the highest performance dogs in the world. Belgian Malinois, Dutch shepherds, and working line German shepherds.

8:16We focus on Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois because they are the highest performance dogs. We do the highest performance training in the world at Alpenhaus. So we want to use the most athletic, the smartest, the quickest. Quickness is very important. The speed is very important. So they're very fast. If you ever, God forbid, have to really deploy a protection dog in your defense or in the defense of your family, you want that dog to be deployed in a way where it can engage in a fight and win that fight. And the faster it is, the stronger it is, the quicker it is to intercept an arm with a weapon, to run at someone and take them out if they're about to pull a gun.

8:56Those things matter. and Dobermans, Rottweilers, all the other breeds that people look at for protection dogs simply don't have those characteristics. They're going to be slower. They're going to be slower thinking. And that can mean the difference between a fight that's won and a fight that's lost. And, you know, God forbid one of our dogs is ever used in real life, but we prepare our dogs to be used in real life. We think about them being used in real life. And so we want them to be able to be used in real life and be used in a way that they're going to win and win decisively. So having the experience you do, being the expert trainer that you are, I think it's always a question on people's minds as to how does one get started training a dog?

9:43So do people bring the dog to you with already some existing training? Should they do some training beforehand? Or do you start to finish? Do you do all the training? And if they should bring a dog with some training, what are some training tips that you have? So really good question. We get this a lot. We only work with our own dogs. We only work with dogs from lines, genetics that we know. There's very good reasons for this. We want to get the healthiest dogs. Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds are the healthiest dogs on the planet. They're going to last the longest. They're going to have the longest service life.

10:19They don't really have hip problems. They don't have elbow problems. and we at Alpenhouse want to be able to look through the pedigrees of these dogs. We understand the parents, the grandparents, the great-grandparents. We know what they did. We know what sports or, you know, utilities they were used in, whether it's the police, whether it's the military. We understand these genetics. And so we work with our own dogs. We get them for the most part when they're puppies, eight weeks old, maybe a couple months old, but normally it's eight weeks old. And we develop them over the course of their lives.

10:55And the reason we want to do that is because we shape the way that they see the world. We shape their understandings. They go out into the world and they have a very specific set of understandings. And we also, in addition to shaping our obedience, in addition to shaping their protection, we also shape their socialization. So we train them and teach them how to be social. And this is a very complicated and nuanced thing to be able to shape and mold a dog in any one of these things, but in all three of these things simultaneously. So, I mean, it's so there's no one else that does it like we do it.

11:33So that's how complicated it is. So for clients to bring us a dog that they have, it's not something that we generally do or would want to do because it's too complicated. We don't know what's happened to the dog. We don't know the dog inside and out like we do with our own dogs. And therefore, I can't give the assurances to the clients of what they're going to get. I can tell them probabilities, but I can't give them assurances. With our dogs that we develop and we train, I know them better than the back of my hand. I know them better than the clients know themselves. So I can pair a dog with a client to the degree that I think is appropriate for really an elite level bond, which is what we're trying to do.

12:15Sounds like a very personalized experience. It's really about matching and right fit versus like I have a dog, I bring it to a trainer, they train the dog. Because of how complex a situation the dog could be in, that you want to ensure that the dog is really at up to speed at par to be able to possibly have to do something in the real world. I mean, I didn't even know this was like a thing. I think it's amazing just because, you know, how close people are a bond with, you know, human and dogs and how they can even protect you on top of, you know, helping you with anxiety, being there as like your best friend.

12:56I didn't even realize, you know, what they could be used for on top of all that. So when somebody comes to you, how do you make sure that they are a right fit to have a dog? It's a great question. And I don't want to go into that answer too much, believe it or not, because there are certain things I look for and some of them are tangible, some of them are intangible. And I really need to understand the client authentically so that I know that they're right for this program, so that I know that they're right for these dogs. But what I can tell you is the right client for us is going to be a client that is patient, that is open minded, that understands that they're getting the best of the best in a dog in all ways, the obedience, the socialization and the protection.

13:56they understand that they're getting a very finely tuned instrument and that's what they want and that's what they're willing to really focus on there are a point in their lives where you know they're they're not going to simply have this dog as a status symbol they're not going to simply have this dog as something that's around the house that they kind of really don't pay that much attention to but expect a lot out of that's not the right client for us because these dogs If you're not preoccupied with these dogs that are coming to you, you're not going to get the most out of these dogs. And these dogs aren't going to get the most out of their relationship with you.

14:39And it's not optimal and ideal for the dog. And just as importantly or more importantly, it's not optimal or ideal for the client. And there's plenty of other dogs that that client can go to and plenty of other people that those clients can go to to get a dog that is more appropriate for them. So that's, you know, that is, I think what I would tell clients that are thinking about this, if you're, if you don't have that sort of mentality and that, that bandwidth and that interest, most importantly, then Alpinosa probably is not for you. I can see, you know, it is a commitment on both ends. It's a commitment for the person.

15:15It's a commitment for the dog. It's going to create, I'm sure, an amazing bond for them, their family. But you got to put in the work and you got to be willing to commit to it. It's commit to the process. But having a having someone like yourself to do a lot of the work, I know for me, you know, having a dog or puppy and then training, it's so much work. And that's just a regular dog and regular training, not anything that had any complexities involved. So I would rather work with someone like yourself who can do all of that. And then, you know, I have the dog ready and I don't have to go through those stages, at least because I am no expert in any sort of training.

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17:11Indeed.com slash founders story. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring Indeed is all you need. But if people want to get in touch with you, they want to find out more information. How can they do so? So our website is a great place to start. AlpenHouseShepherds.com. Alpen is A-L-P-I-N Haus H-A-U-S So quite German even though we're based in France Alpenhaus and then Shepherds S-H-E-P-H-E-R-D-S dot com We have a YouTube channel as well Alpenhaus Shepherds and we have an Instagram And all this is very small We are a very small organization I'm the trainer, I handle all the clients I integrate our dogs with the clients I'm doing all of this myself You know, we are designed to be a best in class organization, which means that at every step of the way, we have to do things the best possible way from the diet to the genetics, to the health care, to the to the environment and conditions our dogs live in, to the client interaction, to making sure that that integration with the dog and the client goes perfectly.

18:20And I'm the one that's responsible for all that. And I'm the one that does it. So I would have it no other way. I don't want to hire anyone to fulfill any of those responsibilities other than myself. So yeah. So Instagram, YouTube, and the good old internet. I imagine it's great for social. I've seen, you know, some dog training videos and videos of dogs. People love people love watching animals. uh suede michael who's saying this has been great thank you i'm so glad that you were able to join today i know this has been months in the making and thank you for sharing all that you're doing and i hope to one day when i get back to france i love to meet with you there check out what you're doing in person because i think it's you know nothing short of incredible providing safety providing protection uh providing a bond to somebody i think you know we all need all those things in life nowadays.

19:13But thank you so much for joining us today on Founder Story. The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Thank you.