About us
Dog training
Dog training is a dynamic combination of theoretical knowledge, mechanical movements, observational skills and the ability to quickly adjust the plan and make a new decision. Our goal is always to develop all of these parts in the dog teams that we train. The theoretical knowledge is important but the practical part of the training skills takes much longer time to develop. Building up a focused and motivated dog is very much depending on the trainers ability to identify the weak and the strong sides of each dog. And in the end it comes down to the trainers ability to strengthen the weaknesses and continue to reinforce the strong parts and through that build confidence and motivation for the task. In our courses, both on sight and online, we always start with the mechanical skills and emphasize the importance of paying attention to details. This is what we call the foundations of dog training. If the trainers master those foundations they will have a good chance of handling most of the problems they encounter in the future training. We have learned a lot during our life with dogs and we are eager to share all that with our clients.
Tobias Gustavsson
Tobias is one of the founders of SWDI and one of the authors of ”Tracking Dogs – Scents and Skills” He has been working full-time as a dog trainer and instructor for the last 20 years. In 2022 he decided to leave SWDI and to start up his own company together with Boki. There main clients are governmental agencies around the world. That includes police K9 units, police and military special operation forces, government dog teams for large carnivore management, search and rescue dog teams, customs and prison service. Tobias is specialized in tracking and scent detection and has an extensive experience in developing skills in dog teams on all levels.
Borislav Damis Boki
Boki has been working with dogs for 17 years. He started working for Norwegian People`s Aid – Global Training Center as a puppy trainer in 2005. Norwegian People’s Aid established Global Training Center for Mine and Explosive Detection Dogs (NPA GTC/MDD-EDDs) to provide NPA programmes. GTC produces dogs through its own breeding and training program. He worked in NPA GTC until 2018 and have held several positions including: puppy trainer, trainer of young dogs, adult dog trainer and senior dog trainer. In 2019 he started working as a dog trainer for Eksplosiv Hund, a company working with explosive detection dogs mostly used on construction sites.
Shaun Cummings - Head of Gritty K9 Tactical
Shaun is a highly experienced and accomplished counter terrorist specialist. He has served over 42 years within a specialist British Army unit where he was responsible for the organizational planning, development, and successful delivery of military operations, both physical and technical. He has worked primarily in the counter terrorism (CT) role, alongside other agencies to save lives and effectively exploit the intelligence product. For which he was recognized by the Queen and awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
Shaun has worked for 14 years in UK Special Units spearheading the K9 capability, this involved the Arms Explosive Search and Tracking capability as well as the research and development of future K9 capabilities against the most sophisticated of global threats.
Shaun holds further technical and security expertise having served on secondments with UK police, national security agency and national intelligence agency. He is an accredited member of the Institute of Modern Dog Trainers (IMDT).
Clients
Some of our clients: Police forces in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Chile, the US, the UK, Australia, New Zeeland, South Korea and Argentina Military dog schools in Sweden, Mexico, Germany, Norway and Denmark Military and police special operation forces in Switzerland, Norway, Poland, Germany, Spain, Italy and Lithuania Canadian Police, Canine Association, California Narcotics Canine Association GSG9, German Federal Police