While her fifth-grade students in Calhan were busy with classes in late September, teacher Ann Malburg and her husband, Don, were on their way to the Mondioring World Championships in Lyss, Switzerland, where her 5-year-old Belgian Malinois ñ Rebel ñ competed at the first level phase of the competition.As a native of Durango, Malburg grew up with German Shepherds and enjoyed training them, especially police dogs, she said. She discovered a type of dog training called Schutzhund that is widely used in Europe. From there, she was introduced to Mondioring, a similar type of protection training.Malburg said, while the training is similar in both Schutzhund and Mondioring, there are differences. Schutzhund has three levels: obedience, protection and tracking, she said. Mondioring also has three levels: obedience, agility and protection. ìIt’s about getting the dog to work in any environment, under any type of distress or distractions,î Malburg said. ìThey’re going to throw a lot of environmental stress and distractions and the dog must still complete its tasks.îIn Schutzhund, the animal performs each level separately, Malburg said. In Mondioring, all the phases are performed at once. ìThey go in without a leash or a collar until they leave,î she said. ìYou do every exercise you’re asked to do until you’re done.îSchutzhund and Mondioring are similar in that they both have levels of difficulty, from one to three. Each level gets progressively harder; and, as the dogsí skills improve, they perform trials to move on to the next level. To move up in Mondioring, however, the dog must pass two separate trials on two separate days, she said. ìA Mondioring Level 1 trial lasts about 20 minutes, while a Mondioring 3 trial lasts about 45 minutes,î Malburg said.ìIt’s very easy to fail (in Mondioring) because they just throw so many environmental things at you, and there’s only so much you can prepare for. You get there that day and it’s like, oh I wasn’t expecting that.îIn addition to her training schedule with Rebel, Malburg is also certified in Schutzhund as a decoy ñ which means she can allow the dog to perform protective maneuvers like biting her. She is one of the only women in the United States certified as a decoy. ìFor both Schutzhund and Mondioring, it’s very challenging to be a decoy,î Malburg said. ìYou have to learn how to catch them correctly so you don’t get injured and the dog doesn’t get injured.î The decoys wear protective clothing.Malburg acts as a decoy for Schutzhund, where the dog is trained to only attack a sleeve. In Mondioring, the decoy is dressed in a full protective suit and the dogs are permitted to attack the whole body. ìBeing a Mondioring decoy really bruises you up,î she said. ìYou can feel the pressure from the bite.îThere is little money to be made in the Mondioring competition realm, Malburg said. ìI do it more just because I love it,î she said.Malburg has sold some of the dogs she has trained as protective dogs to high-profile clients like a judge from the Oklahoma City bombing trial. She said she doesnít make much money because she invests more money into purchasing the dogs and raising and training them.ìYou can test them as a puppy, but you don’t know until they grow up if they can do it (Mondioring or Schutzhund),î she said. ìQuite often the dogs don’t work out. They may not make a great competition dog, but they could be a good protection dog. Or not even that and they just end up as a pet.îMalburg has trained three dogs from puppyhood to Schutzhund Level 3, including Rebel. Her other Belgian Malinois, Jax, is still in the early stages of Mondioring. If possible, Malburg said she would like to take Rebel as a Mondioring Level 2 competitor and Jax as a Mondioring Level 1 competitor to the World Championship in France next year.Dogs can qualify for the national team by competing in local trials. Since the sport is still small in the United States, Malburg said she had to travel to compete in different trials. ìMost of the trials in this area are happening in the spring and fall,î she said.Once the national team is selected, attending the World Championship requires plenty of work, Malburg said. ìWe spent months just trying to get the paperwork to travel with Rebel,î she said. ìWe had to get all the paperwork and all the shots, then all the registrations for the shots, then microchips, which he already had, but we found out he had the wrong microchips. We even had to go to Denver to have the state veterinarian sign off on a health certificate for him.îRebel and Malburg took 16th out of 20 dogs at Level 1 at their first international appearance at the World Championship in Switzerland. Twenty countries were represented. Malburg had hoped for better placement, but she said the experience was ìincredible.îìYou get to watch everything when everyone else is competing,î Malburg said. ìYou have to fight your way through the crowd to make it to the field Ö since it’s a big spectator sport, you’d see all sorts of dogs in the crowd. It’s incredible to watch, and it’s a lot of fun.î
