October 2017 Top Tier K9 Student Spotlight: Chad Miller Alberta Canada

I have been a hunter and outdoorsman my entire life, I grew up in North Central Saskatchewan hunting and fishing throughout my childhood. As I got older I became interested in hunting with hounds and chasing mountain lions and bears all over North America. After I left the Canadian Armed Forces, I became a big game guide in Alberta Canada and specialized in dangerous game hunts with hound dogs that I raised and trained. My success in the industry lead to my involvement in some of the predator studies being done with one of the Universities in Alberta and the provincial government. I also became involved in Bear Aversion projects throughout Alberta and this lead to my involvement in importing, raising and training Malinois’s and my interest in Police/Military working dog training. I have the pleasure of knowing a very well respected Police Officer and K-9 officer from Holland who raises, trains, handles and sells police dogs to agencies all over the world including Police agencies in Canada. Odette helped us carefully choose the proper dogs for what our goals where in the industry. We wanted to raise solid social dogs that had the nerve and grit to stand up to the toughest environments and situations that may arise whatever the dogs job. On top of this I want to develop a line of dogs that are inherently known for the tenacious ability to trail perpetrators. I want to be a liaison for the Malinois and Dutch Shepherds breeds so people can see just how courageous and loyal they can be if they are raised, trained and handled professionally. This desire and personal goal I set for myself led me to meeting Jeff Minder of Top Tier K9 in Oct of 2015. I was on his web site and decided to call and chat with him and that is when I knew that I needed to go through Top Tier K9's Working Dog Trainer Certification program. Then due to a crash in the oil and gas industry in 2015 in Canada I traded in my coveralls for a badge with a federal law enforcement agency in Canada. Upon completing the law enforcement academy I got settled in my new career and I signed up with Top Tier K9 and I haven’t looked back since. We have already started booking clients and previous customers who had bought pups from us and they now want training for their dogs. We have 2 litters on the ground as of now and both of our females were breed to our male Havoc.

Our dogs

LEXI – Is a solid black female who is a medium sized female. Her father Gadget was on duty in Holland till the age of 10.5 and has recently retired. Gadget was famous for his ability to trail and catch bad guys. He was a dog that has extreme drives. Senna is Lexi’s mother. A very stout solid female that is trained as a Protection/Security dog that has very high drives as well. Lexi is like her parents and has the extreme drives and a nose that rivals some of my best trailing hounds. She is a unique dog in that at the end of the day she will turn off the drives and curl up by the wood stove and just relax. Her confidence in everything she does shows her mental stability, she is social but also intuitive in her interactions with strangers.

AYDEN- Comes from some of the older bloodlines in Holland and she is a very social dog yet very protective. She is a Van Joe Farm and Lobster homes breed dog and is highly intelligent . Both lines of dogs have produced multitudes of police and military working dogs in Holland. She is a very hard female who hovers around the 70 pound mark and tenacious in her drives. She is fearless in her pursuit bite and hold and her ball drive is nothing short of unbelievable. Her pups from last year have proven to be intelligent, athletic and mentally tough. Again Ayden like Lexi at the end of the day can relax and turn off the intensity and just hang out in the house.

HAVOC- Is a hard dog who is civil by nature and also has high drives. He is Van Leeuwen breed on his mother side. Roxy was a dog that did not like any sort of sport type events as she went into such an extreme fight drive the decoys would not work her. She actually scared them, she is also a civil dog who is good with her family and close family friends but does not put up with any strangers. Havoc’s dad was Czar who is also a Civil dog who will tolerate people but is wary and very intense. Czar’s dad was a KNVP dog from Holland who was a hard gritty dog that was civil as well. Havoc has a very strong bite and is a very tall athletic dog who moves very fast. He has a strong fight drive and defensive drive like his parents and would die to protect his handler and family. He is my personal dog and the one I leave at home when I go to work and have to leave my family alone.

You can see the work that Chad does at http://albertanhb.wixsite.com/millerranchk9

Here is a cool video of Chad's recent litter of puppies