The so called "super dogs" were actually reactive, neurotic messes.
There was much hype put out by the biosensor program early in the process, long before they had any real results to brag about:
A member of the Vietnam Security Police recalls the graduates from the Super Dog program:
The dogs resembled a German Shepherd, but most had a far away look in their eyes. The initial litters had been raised in a kennel environment. When the dogs were exposed to common elements of an outside environment (birds, grass, etc), they were afraid, confused and skittish.
Instructors of one class with several of these dogs demonstrated how the dogs refused to cross a line painted on the pavement. Other Instructors joked with them about how cheap it would be to kennel them. All you had to do was paint a circle around a doghouse.
Later litters were taken outside to run and play in a fenced in obstacle course area. This was an attempt to socialize them to the outdoors. Many of these dogs then associated a obstacle course as a play area and could not be controlled easily off leash.
That’s hardly the sort of results puppy raisers would want to achieve for dogs being placed in homes, around children, and with the expectation to be good citizens.
Mike Lister, Instructor at Fort Benning recalls his experience with “super” dogs:
It was the opinion of those at Ft. Benning that the dogs were great at scent discrimination tasks, but were not suitable for aggression tasks. They were much shyer and sensitive than the dogs we got from the public. I believe Col. Castleberry addressed this issue, by having more human interaction for the pups as they were growing up. We were told in the beginning there was very little human interaction.
The dogs were also very sensitive to correction. At Ft. Benning we followed the principles of conditioning when training our dogs. When using level of titration to correct our dogs, we only needed the lowest level for the Bio Dogs. Usualloy voice or a look was enough of a correction. As regarding stress, they didn’t handle it as well as other dogs. The Bio Dogs were the only neonatal dogs we trained.
Denzil’s summary of Dr. William J. Fuller on the prospect of the Military setting up another GSD breeding program:
The breeding program must be long-term and will require a large number of dogs. He states that the government has already taken that route once [Super Dog], and the results were not favorable enough to continue.
Regarding the biosensor program, he feels that it failed for the same reasons the ancient Greeks failed to make a superman. Dr. Fuller feels that great virtuosos or any other biological creation of marked superiority are “genetic accidents,” and that any program that tries to produce this superiority in a consistent manner is doomed to fail. He thinks a more reasonable goal would be to develop a program that would consistently produce good quality working dogs.
William D. Gilbert on the “Disposition of the Military Working Dog Program:”
The main reasons expressed in the letter for ending the program were that the program was a “questionable venture,” because there were no requirements for genetically superior dogs in the U.S. Air Force. The letter acknowledged that the program had been a success in producing “enviable pedigree lineages,” which could conceivably provide a detection capability, but this was not viewed as a projected requirement for the future.
Debbie Kay, private biosensor dog contractor:
Concerning the biosensor program, and based on what she has heard from various people associated with the program, it is her opinion that it was discontinued because the program was dominated with research-oriented personnel. And that there was no over-all coordination, and there was significant jealousy between the various factions that came into play as the money began to dry up.
Remember that despite being dominated by research (versus results) oriented people, the biosensor program never published one paper on their findings.
Dr. George Lees, shared his experience with the biosensor program with Denzil:
He went on to say that the dog fancy community is very fragmented in their beliefs , and whatever they believe as individuals, they are willing to discuss with anyone that will listen and convince them “that they are right and everybody else is crazy.”
He concluded by stating, that in his opinion, there were 2 reasons why the biosensor program failed. First, there was no clear vision or target of who needed, or how to best utilize the dogs. Second, the research team became impatient due to unrealistic expectations from upper echelon leadership, and a tightening of the budget purse strings.
This last bit is what I find most revealing. Dr. Lees pegs the purebred dog community exactly: fragmented, back biting, and followers of whatever messiah or snake-oil salesmen comes along with a nice sounding story with promises of ribbons and show success.
It amazes me how many breeders proudly advertise their adherence to “Super Dog” or “Bio-Sensor” and many who claim amazing results from 3-5 seconds of tickling a dog’s toes. Yet they do and it’s seemingly part of being a “reputable breeder.” The conformity isn’t so much in the dogs, it’s in the culture. Do what everyone else does, don’t think and certainly don’t question.
Battaglia’s Bio-Sensor is ridiculous on its face, but why are there so few of us who have ever questioned this? The warning signs are all there: Promises of amazing health and performance benefits for less than 3 minutes of work total, a celebrity faux-Doctor pitching it, no published results, and claims of secret knowledge (classified by the government!).
After seeing what the truth of the biosensor program is and its limited and unsuccessfyl use of early neurological stimulation, it is clear that Carmen Battaglia is a liar and a fraud.
| Battaglia’s Says: | Biosensor Scientists say: |
|---|---|
| The U.S. Military in their canine program developed a method that still serves as a guide to what works. | “biosensor failed”
“biosensor was a questionable venture” “the results were not favorable enough to continue” “the Army did not develop and use any particular program in raising puppies [after biosensor failed]” |
| In an effort to improve the performance of dogs used for military purposes, a program called “Bio Sensor” was developed. | “there was no clear vision”
“unrealistic expectations” “there was no over-all coordination” |
| Based on years of research, the military learned that early neurological stimulation exercises could have important and lasting effects. | “regarding stress, they didn’t handle it as well as other dogs”
“very sensitive to correction” “not suitable for aggression tasks” “much shyer and more sensitive than dogs from the general public” |
| Their studies confirmed that there are specific time periods early in life when neurological stimulation has optimum results. The first period involves a window of time that begins at the third day of life and lasts until the sixteenth day. | “No specifically critical time, like between 3-16 days for stimulation, was ever advocated by me. Nor was any report put out by the army to my knowledge”
“no control studies were conducted on the stimulation” “the Biosensor “early stress” program. I can tell you that it was attempted on a limited basis for a brief time and was based on suggestions by a consultant, Dr. Mike Fox.There was no scientific study on the results in so far as I can recall.” ” there was never any testing of outcome results with mature dogs” “we stopped using the early stress program before data could be developed” |
| It is believed that because this interval of time is a period of rapid neurological growth and development, and therefore is of great importance to the individual. | “It may well be that early stress is beneficial but we certainly did not prove that at Bio-Sensor”
“Personally, I’m skeptical about the efficacy of the extremely brief handling procedures as recommended by Battaglia and would like to see more in the way of supporting data.” “Although anecdotal reports suggest that neonatal stress may be beneficial, the exact nature of the effect and the procedural details have not been fully worked out.” |
| The “Bio Sensor” program was also concerned with early neurological stimulation in order to give the dog a superior advantage. | “most had a far away look in their eyes”
“they were afraid, confused, and skittish” “they could not be controlled easily off leash” |
| Its development utilized six exercises which were designed to stimulate the neurological system. Each workout involved handling puppies once each day. The workouts required handling them one at a time while performing a series of five exercises. Listed in order of preference, the handler starts with one pup and stimulates it using each of the five exercises. The handler completes the series from beginning to end before starting with the next pup. The handling of each pup once per day involves the following exercises:1. Tactical stimulation (between toes)2. Head held erect3. Head pointed down
4. Supine position 5. Thermal stimulation. |
“I do not recall the procedures as recommended by Dr. Battaglia”
“I don’t recall ever meeting Dr. Battaglia” “The procedure used by Fox involved repeated 1 minute periods of stress exposure. The effect of such exposure may vary significantly from breed to breed, perhaps requiring different levels and durations of stress to be effective.” “The program consisted of 3 components: 1. Exposure of neonatal (less than 21 days old) puppies to mild centrifugal force (a device similar to a carnival tilt-a-whirl only much slower was used). 2. Placement of the pups in a refrigerator for a short time and 3. Stroking their hair in a direction opposite to the way it laid on their back.” “I am sure we did not use a wet towel and do not recall holding pups in different positions or “tickling their toes” as he describes.” |
If you want to raise a healthy, well adjusted puppy, look elsewhere for guidance. Biosensor/Early Neurological Stimulation is over-sold pablum being pitched by a guy who should keep to his expertise in prisons and stay away from “Get Amazing Dogs Quick with Only Seconds a Day” bullshit schemes.
All posts in this series:
Bio-Sensor is Bad Science: QuackeryBio-Sensor is Bad Science: True Biosensor
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Chris a very well put together fact finding article. Especially liked the comments by Dr. George Lees regarding conformation fabciers..”Do what everybody else does, don’t think and don’t question.”
Battaglia in my opinion knows nothing about canines and should go back to lab rats.
Ironically enough, people who do work with rats know more than most breeders.
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Not being willing to cross paved roads is a behavior that exists in a lot of wolves.
One of the main barriers to wolf recovery is that large numbers of them won’t disperse beyond a paved road.
I watched a video of a breeding male driving out an interloping male during mating season. He was about to kill the interloper– until the interloper crossed the road. The breeding male slammed on the brakes within 10 feet of the road, barked, pissed, and went back to his pack.
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At the small breeder population I know, I was responsible for spreading the bio sensor amazing results, never thought I was creating more messianic movement.
All I wanted was for breeders to invest more time on the puppies socialization and care taking instead of just letting them be till they could go to their new homes (with no human interaction or outdoors interaction what so ever!). But like you said, Bio Sensor appeared as a perfect solution! Little work and lots of amazing results!
I have this sheltie breeder friend who bred two dogs with very nice temperaments, did the bio sensor and socialized the puppies like a maniac to every new situation she could think of. The puppies have amazing social skills and amazing working skills for their age! But somehow, she seems to forget about good genetics and good socialization and give all the credit for the good temperament exclusively to bio sensor! I mean, what??? Pseudoscience is all there is in dog community…
Chris, can you send me the references to this bio sensor study? Wanna have a look at it more closely 🙂
Comments from Vietnam Security Police:
http://www.vspa.com/k9/biosensor.htm
Many of the other comments are from this dissertation:
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA229000
Excellent follow-up work was done by the breeders here:
http://www.geocities.ws/marysjojosmum/biosensor.html
I think the main benefit from this program is it provides the beginning of a structured framework for breeders to follow so they will *gasp* actually DO STUFF with their puppies. So many don’t do much at all with the little puppy worms after initially being way too involved when the bitch whelps. They’re all about opening sacs & cutting cords themselves, but then they sort of ignore the pups until they open their eyes & start getting cute. But their brains, noses, & sense of touch work great long before their eyes & ears open & they can learn a lot about the world if we want to teach them.
I certainly don’t ascribe any magical properties to such early neurological stimulation programs. They won’t create social butterflies out of genetically shy pups or geniuses born from nimrod parents, & they aren’t some kind of guaranteed formula to create the next top winning competition performance dog (that formula remains a combination of proven breeding stock, proper socialization, top notch training, & a goodlo dose of luck!). But it’s not a bad first step to a good, well-balanced general socialization program which progresses from gentle daily handling, to a multi-textured & interactive environment, to actually going out into the world & meeting people, dogs, other animals, etc., all at age appropriate times & well BEFORE the pups are sold & go to their new homes.
I do find it weird how so many leap on stuff like ENS & proclaim it far & wide as THE THING.
I imagine a lot of the Super Dog program’s failure stems from not only the scattered & clearly ineffectual way in which the whole program was administered, but that they didn’t start with high quality breeding stock (temperament is genetic, after all!) & didn’t provide a good environment for raising puppies. Too much sterility & clinical control doesn’t make for a dog that is going to be supremely high-functioning in the real world. The whole thing is a classic case of a bureaucracy getting in its own way.
Everyone wants a magic bullet. The Biosensor program is yet another failed attempt to make one. But it’s soo much sexier than hard work & commitment, right?
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There’s further information out there about the bio-sensor program and the explanation of this being a conditioning process with scientifically proven beneficial results (in not only dogs). The biosensor program will not overcome the harmful results brought about by a future failure to socialize and expose a dog to environmental stimulation – which incidentally is not what the program claims to do.
I encourage people to seek out that information before dismissing the results of the bio-sensor program. Incidentally – the finer details of applying the program have been refined in their application since that time.
And always good to read the quoted comments within the full context they were given.
If there are “scientifically proven beneficial results” please provide the name and date of the study. Where’s a link? The super dog program NEVER published anything, not a single paper.
The only “paper” about “bio-sensor” is one cooked up by Carmen Battaglia that he’s been trying to shop around for years. Sadly, he’s not a scientist and he’s the one who cooked up the bio-sensor sales pitch, so anything he puts out calling “science” is suspect, especially due to how dishonest he has been with describing the actual super dog program.
And if you don’t like the quoted comments, please provide the fuller context for any one of them that would change their meaning.
I was an officer at the US ARMY Environmental Hygiene Agency at Edgewood Arsenal
(USAEHA) I was involved part-time with the Army Super Dog program. But, not in research, Just in training dogs. I had my own German Shepherd which was free of hip displasia and he went on to Lackland AFB in San Antonio as the lead sentry dog We trained sentry dogs and did a good job of it. They were not skittish. We worked them on/off leash in public settings esp. the commissary.Certainly some dogs failed the program, but most were healthy, aggressive, and socialized to humans and other dogs.Some of the dogs went on to be combat dogs. I never heard of one failing in the field.
Your article is stating that the early stimulation will not help the pups, but then go on to state that the early stimulation actually hurt the pups because they had a far away look in their eyes. Or were confused or skittish.
The fact that the dogs were skittish shows that the pups did not have human interaction like you stated in the article. If the early stimulation made the dogs smarter or more aware, then ignoring them would have just made them be very good at being shy.
I watch my pups squirm and squeal at the beginning of the training and by the end they do not, so they have developed for the better and have gotten 13 days of early human interaction that they normally would not have.
I still have to spend time with the pups after weaning. Especially up to 3 months old to prevent them from being shy.
I haven’t been doing it long enough to prove it good or bad, but my current litter and the last litter I did all started exiting and entering their doghouse before they were 3 weeks old.
As I said in another I was an officer at USAEHA at Edgewood Arsenal, MD, and did some work with the Army Super Dog program. I trained sentry dogs. We used the methods of our consultant William Koehler, trainer for Walt Disney Studios and author of 3-4 books on obedience training and guard dog training.I put my own personal dog, German Shepherd, thru the program and he became a working sentry dog at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and a lead dog in their training program.
What’s the current research and cultural belief about the biosensor program in July of 2016?
I’m not looking to breed super clandestine Sherlock Holmes puppies, but I am interested in what can be done at the really early stages to help the puppy “learn how to learn” easier than normal.
What are the top programs out there for early puppy development? I’m breeding by dog to create puppies for friends and family and maybe sell a couple to help cover some of the costs and I’d like to have some sort of program that can be followed and have “check boxes” to help make sure I’m not over/under doing any specific activities with the young pups.
I’m entirely skeptical of ANY puppy raising programs. They are all fads, they are all lacking serious scholarship. They all play in to the desire for breeders to DO SOMETHING, anything, to make better puppies. It’s an good sentiment, but you can’t train, tickle, or feed a kitten and make it a puppy. Think about that for a second. You can’t nurture away your dog’s nose. Or nurture its coat color to organically change to neon green and purple.
This sounds absurd, but it’s the realization that we don’t have amazing powers to alter how our dogs are going to turn out. They are profoundly genetic, and our power to harm is greater than our power to produce quality when the genetic propensity is not there.
So first do no harm. And realize that the most important decision is in choosing what stock to breed in the first place. And don’t worry about touching your puppy’s paws with q-tips the perfect amount of times or making sure they step on X different flooring types before they’re Z days old. All of that is religion, fads, wishful thinking, not science.
What we really should be doing is breeding dogs that thrive in normal conditions, with normal food, etc. You shouldn’t need to run around with a stop watch and a perfectly chilled rag for the perfect number of seconds to stimulate a puppy into being a good pet and companion.
Can you also do an eval of the “Puppy Culture” program?
I am sceptical of denouncing anything when there are no real details of what else these people did with the puppies. As someone said before me, if you don’t socialise the pups correctly to deal with the environment they are going to end up in, and bring them up in an enriched environment, then, whilst the bio sensor program may have some benefits, they will be overshadowed by problems that a lack of good socialisation produces.
Being ‘afraid, confused and skittish’ says to me that they weren’t used to being in the environment they found themselves in. If they were brought up as pups in a typical kennel or in a clinical environment for example, and hadn’t spent any time running around on grass, even that could be enough to overwhelm them, depending on how little they were exposed to new stimuli. And this would be especially pronounced if they were in the second fear imprint phase. Stimulating puppies in their first 2 weeks of life is to build up their stress coping mechanism, it’s not a magic pill for a perfectly well rounded and fearless dog.
So, back to what I said earlier – if these dogs were not socialised correctly (and all that that entails) they will still be poorly socialised dogs and react in ways that poorly socialised dogs do.