Controlled Aggression

Jerry Bradshaw
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Want to learn about K9 obedience, police dog training, learning theory and more? Jerry Bradshaw has been a sports competitor and police dog trainer for 25 years, and as the executive director of the Protection Sports Association he's been around the world competing and training K9s. Welcome to the Controlled Aggression podcast.

  1. 5d ago

    Podcast Short: PSA2 Muzzle Attack

    In today's podcast short, Jerry Bradshaw discusses issues with muzzle attacks in the PSA Level 2, noting that many dogs and handlers struggle with this exercise. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the fundamentals of a good muzzle fight and suggests starting with unsuited muzzle work to build civil aggression. Jerry advises limiting strikes in training sessions to manage your dog's frustrations and to gradually introduce other equipment, such as bite suits and hidden sleeves. He stresses the need for decoys to provide accurate feedback and to avoid distractions in early training sessions, especially when starting out on muzzle work.    "We want the dog biting through the muzzle. The muzzle is just something that's keeping him from biting that decoy." —  Jerry Bradshaw   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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    19 min

  2. 5d ago

    Ditch Your Bite Suit!

    In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses: Keeping in mind the olfactory and visual cues of a bite suit that we don't often consider.  Reducing equipment fixation, creating habits of engagement, and training the behaviors you want into your dog.  Why your dog needs to believe the bite suit is irrelevant.  Focusing training on the most likely scenarios your dog will encounter.   Key Takeaways: Too much suit work creates a false sense of security for your dog.  Active aggression is a trained response, usually to an invasion of territory or other behaviors soliciting that reaction. Through classical conditioning, we can train dogs to show that behavior in training and, in turn, active scenarios in deployment. Create a habit of engagement. During the development of your younger dogs, you want to develop that habit so they know where they're going to bite, so they don't get into a state of choice paralysis.  Train leg bites - it is typically the easiest and most likely place the dog will be able to get a bite on in most engagements. You're increasing the probability of real engagements every time you deemphasize the cues of odor and visuals from suits.   "We want to camouflage these suits with different visual patterns, randomize the visual cue of that suit, and so that means different colors, textures, covering those suits with, jeans, jackets, raincoats, sheets, layers of blankets, right, all of these things to make the picture look a lot less like a guy in a bite suit, and a lot more like what a suspect might look like on the street." —  Jerry Bradshaw   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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    1h 28m

  3. Trailer

    Tarheel Canine Police K9 Services 2026

    Today, Jerry outlines the 2026 Police Canine Services offered by Tarheel Canine Training. They offer instructor courses multiple times per year, unit canine training, and sell green dual and single canines. The selection process is low-stress, with dogs undergoing four months of training before handler courses. They also provide handler course-ready dogs and SWAT integrated canines. You can also look to Tarheel Canine for seminars that cover tracking, detection, street readiness, and high-risk deployments. If you're looking to get individualized training for your dogs and departments, reach out to Tarheel Canine.    For more information, email Jerry at JBradshaw@TarheelCanine.com or call the office at 919-774-4152.   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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official  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.

    10 min

  4. May 1

    Training for the Operational Release

    In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses: Getting your dog off the bite as quickly as you can when the threat has diminished to a reasonable level. The importance of being proficient in more than one option for your dog when you're in an engagement. The importance of your dog being willing to accept lower value rewards in the presence of a potential bite.  Mastering verbal, mechanical, and manual release protocols. Transitioning from negative reinforcement to positive punishment - from escape to avoidance.   Key Takeaways: Practice your call-offs in stressful situations during training. You're practicing for real-life situations, and real life is not going to be stress-free.  Trying to pull your dog off will create more opposition and make it more difficult to release the dog. Pushing into the bite will often make it easier to release your dog via the gag reflex. You don't want to use your handcuffs as a standard breakstick stand-in, so that you are not creating anticipation and an association with handcuffs and releasing. Not every release protocol or piece of equipment is going to work best for every dog. You will have to try different things to see what works best for your dog. It comes down to handlers needing to, in training, work at being proficient in the proper application of all the correct methods to get the dog to release. We have to be able to start getting them to realize, based on a training setup, what's going to be the more appropriate approach to getting a dog to release in that situation. Rewards make behaviors repeatable. Failure to reward releases and training makes biting something to fight for, and we don't want that dog constantly coming out thinking this is the last time he's ever going to get it, and he has to fight with all of his life to get it back.   "If our training never matches what an operational situation is going to look like, then the out procedure, whether it's a physical one or a verbal one, is going to be far different than anything that we've trained in the past, and it's going to look very different to the dog." —  Jerry Bradshaw   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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    1h 19m

  5. Apr 23

    Back to the Laboratory in Bite Work

    If your dog won't counter full, won't push into the fight, or spins away when you approach, this episode is for you. Jerry breaks down exactly why these bite work issues happen and how to rebuild the foundation so your dog bites harder, fuller, and with real confidence.   In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses: Drive channelling as a confidence builder for your dog.  Bite work problems and their solution strategies. Inducing counter bites, getting appropriate pressure when biting, and encouraging pushing into the bite.  Reasons to train your out before your bite work and not create an association that may create an out you don't want. The three types of pressure you need to account for are creating desensitization to distraction objects.   Key Takeaways: If a dog doesn't know how to fight out of its problems, you may get displacement and avoidance creeping in.  Training bite work in young dogs may require different techniques than those used for training with older dogs.  When you train with a crutch, you will, eventually, need to wean yourself off the crutch.  Make sure your decoys aren't bailing. Make sure they aren't sidestepping, dropping their arms, or pulling the dogs into their chest. That is only going to make it worse.  It is very important to be able to get your dog out in many different ways. That is going to require desensitization to anything you're going to bring near the dog's head.  We have to work on type, intensity, and duration of pressure, and our goal is to desensitize objects early in training. The more the dog can see those things, the more he can negotiate through weird stuff that he hasn't seen before; the more the dog will understand what he's supposed to do and how he's supposed to do it.    "One of the things that we know is that the grip itself is the barometer of how the dog feels when he's biting. So if the dog doesn't feel super confident about biting, he's going to create a little bit of distance between himself and the perceived conflict, which could be the helper itself." —  Jerry Bradshaw   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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    1h 24m

  6. Mar 26

    Attention, Direction & Draw

    In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses: Thinking about the end game from the beginning of your training.  Creating neutrality through all kinds of distractions.  Look at me, look at me, look at that, and look at that while giving commands for your dog.  Balancing the draw to fight against drift.    Key Takeaways: Attention is the dog's anchor. Give them a point to focus on that allows them to be neutral to everything else around.  You have to control a dog's eyes to control their behavior.  You want to lay the foundation for sending on command, not sending on agitation, and discriminating between the two early on in your training.  Create neutrality through time on the field.  No matter how advanced your dog is, keep working on your fundamentals. That is where the strength lies when you are in actual scenarios.    "One of the most important fundamental exercises of attention is teaching the dog to look at me, then look at that, and then look back to me, and then look back to that, and change it up for the dog where I point the dog at different things that might be of concern to him." —  Jerry Bradshaw   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/    Sponsors:  ALM K9 Equipment: almk9equipment.com PSA & American Schutzhund: psak9-as.org Tarheel Canine: tarheelcanine.com The Drive Company: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    1h 2m

  7. Mar 19

    Navigating Fears and Phobias in Working Dogs

    In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw discusses: Timing the puppy training early and with a directed purpose, and handling the fear periods in dogs.   Habituation, spontaneous recovery, sensitization, and learned irrelevance.   When to reorient and when to address fears.  Understanding your dog's phobias to learn how to solve the problem.  Common fears and phobias seen in police and sport dogs.     Key Takeaways: Too many people restrict social and experiential learning in puppies during the critical stages of development out of fear.  As a decoy, as a handler, as anyone working with a young dog, you need to be attentive to what you're doing and always be surveying your environment to avoid unintended consequences.  Avoid creating a problem that doesn't already exist. Take a systematic approach to expose your dog to everything they need to be exposed to.  Generally, fear periods are short-lived. Take your dog into more familiar places, more natural spaces, where it's not going to encounter a lot of things that are going to be super unusual or might provoke a fearful response.   "I have a phobia about creating phobias. I don't want to create a phobia in my dog, because the road is going to be super long to try and systematically desensitize to any type of stimuli that's been created as an avoidance response." —  Jerry Bradshaw   Get Jerry's book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com   Book Reference:  The Decoy Book by William Garrido - amazon.com/Decoy-Book-Collaborations-Some-Industry/dp/B08T6YGWSD Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training by Stephen R. Lindsay - amazon.com/Handbook-Applied-Behavior-Training-Vol/dp/0813807549 Excel-erated Learning by Pamela J. Reid - amazon.com/Excel-erated-Learning-Explaining-plain-English/dp/1888047070   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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    1h 35m

  8. Feb 12

    Liberty Leash Project

    In this episode, Jerry Bradshaw, Ben Searle, and Gary Dawson discuss: There is a need for highly trained service dogs for veterans.  The origin story and vital mission of the Liberty Leash Project. The importance of standardization and collaboration across service dog training. Things to consider when going into the dog training business.    Key Takeaways: Service dogs are a medical implement for people and need to be trained to the highest standards.  Training service dogs should be about collaboration, not competition. A village model builds the most resilient dogs and sustainable trainers. Different dogs require different levels of handling ability and different levels of training ability. When it comes to pairing dogs with veterans, they also require different dogs for different people, as no two people and no two dogs require the exact same thing.  If you're interested in helping with the Liberty Leash Project, no matter your skill set, reach out to Gary and Ben at the contact information below.    "We want these dogs to be these veterans' battle buddies and help them through their tough times and grow from it and thrive from it." —  Gary Dawson   Episode References: More information on the Kynology Seminar with Dr. Stewart Hilliard: https://kynology.org/    Get Jerry's book Controlled Aggression on Amazon.com   Contact Ben, Gary, and Libery Leash Project:  Liberty Leash Project: https://www.libertyleashproject.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/libertyleashproject/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Liberty-Leash-Project-61577084561466/  Phone: 919-351-9123 Email: sapperk91@gmail.com  Sapper K9: https://www.sapperk9.com/  Triune Kennels: https://www.triunekennels.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: thedriveco.com  The Drive Company Instagram: instagram.com/thedrive.co  Dog Armour: dogarmour.com  Dog Armour Instagram: instagram.com/dogarmourpro  Rogue Arsenal: roguearsenal.com  Rogue Arsenal Instagram: instagram.com/rogue_arsenal_official    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.

    1h 17m
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About

Want to learn about K9 obedience, police dog training, learning theory and more? Jerry Bradshaw has been a sports competitor and police dog trainer for 25 years, and as the executive director of the Protection Sports Association he's been around the world competing and training K9s. Welcome to the Controlled Aggression podcast.

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