Thanks for visiting www.ralphsweebroek.nl, my name is Ralph Sweebroek, and I love dogs and dog sports. My passion is training and developing working dogs and working as a trial and club decoy.
I had little choice in being involved in dogs and dog sports. My father was the founder of the "Den Dulvert" club in the city of Sprang-Capelle in The Netherlands. I was a member of the club at age 10 and my father was and still is a huge inspiration to me. We lived and breathed dogs as a family and still do to this day.
My first dog was Vischa v.d. Berlex Hoeve breed by Bert Aerts, Vischa was the first dog I ever titled and we got a 276 our first time out on the field. She was an extraordinary dog and many of her brothers and sisters competed at IPO World Championships for Belgian Shepherds and FCI.
After titling Vischa I was hooked on competing in IPO, I wanted higher scores and tougher competition.
After Vischa some other dogs I trained are:
- Vischa v.d. Berlex Hoeve IPO III SCH III
- Baris Perle de Tourbiere IPO III SCH III
- Baddy v. Kucuk Asya IPO III SCH III
- Cash von Domburger Schloss IPO I SCH I
- Breston IPO II SCH II
- Charief v.d. Lobo Hoeve IPO III SCH III
- Boban v. Kimbles Home UV,VZH,IPO III, VH III, SCH III, SPH I
- Rico Amy Bueno Vita BH
- Arko BH - Arko is my new dog and really something special
I competed in many competitions with these dogs
- De Gulbergen Trofee
- De Bossche Bol Bokaal
- Maasroutebokaal
- De Wolstadcup
- NVBH Kampioenschappen
- Niervaertbokaal
- De Bovensbosbokaal and many others
I started decoy work at the age of 16 out of necessity. A disagreement at my local club left us without a decoy and I "volunteered" for the job. The first few weeks of decoy work were at best a little bumpy. Frustrating for me and for the club members; for me "this way harder than it looks" and "man these dogs are freaking heavy" - for the members "he is never going to learn to catch a dog or my dog is going to kill him". As in all things in life nothing is ever as easy as it looks and nothing of consequence is ever easy. Like all those other things in life, if you work hard and keep trying you will get better.
There were days I wanted to take off my suit and go home, but quitting was out of the question and I just kept grinding away. No matter what people were saying about or to me, I knew I would make it.
And to reach this goal I started to train and take lessons on different clubs. I will never forget the people and dogs that helped me.
- My Dad of course
- Club Vriendschap Voorop for helping me to become a better decoy
- Ton Bos, who patiently taught me at the seminar by NBG de Wolstad in Tilburg
- Club HV Mierlo for helping me to become a better decoy and for those great dogs they had to work with me. Special thanks for: Arie v. Reeuwijk, Marcel Bovenkamp and John Comer for working on me with Dewi v. Fort Oranje every time.
After lots of hard work, I had my first qualification day for the NVBH (Dutch Society for Belgian Shepherds)by NVBH Randmeren and judged by C. v. Gijn. To my pleasant surprise (but not my dad's) I tested for my A-license and scored the same points as many of my heroes.
On the selection day in Tilburg by "Vriendschap Voorop", I was asked by the owners of DHAVO Oosterhout to do decoy work there. This club had also been without decoys for some time and they had good dogs for us to work with and they really needed decoys. This was a good alternative for us because of the big distance we needed to drive every week to all those dog clubs. We had lots of great times at this club and I became a member of the club and still am to this day.
The same year, I competed as a decoy for the first time at the NBG Nationals for Decoys the Arnhem. This was a new highlight in my career as a decoy. I scored 95 points along with R. v. Belzen who was the same age as me. This started a big discussion; the opinion of many people was that we had to be judged on our quality at that point and not on our age and experience. Alas, sometimes life is not fair and I didn't get my A- license for the NGB that day. Still I got lots of exposure and met some great people and worked some awesome dogs.
 At 18 I went into business with my dad and opened "K-9 Security Dogs". Our first business priority was importing and exporting very serious sport and working K9s. We also offer the following product and services:
- Importing/Export of puppies, green and finished dogs
- Security services with and without dogs
- Julius Professional Dog Equipement
- Decoy School
- Seminars all over the World
I visited the USA for the first time the same year to teach an obedience seminar and give decoy lessons to a customer. First time in the US and I am giving lessons to guys who could be my dad, not bad for an 18 year old kid.
I always work hard at my seminars to teach proper sleeve handling and safely catching the dogs. At K-9 Security Dogs we pride ourselves on building better dogs through proper training by the decoy and handler. Not by trying to prove who is tougher, the dog or the decoy. A decoys job is to work the dog like a personal trainer, not test them like at a trial.
A bad habit many inexperienced decoys have is to test the dogs every time they work them to impress other handlers and compete against other decoys. So I try to teach them techniques to make the dogs better. A good decoy is a decoy who builds a better dog, not the decoy who likes to be stronger than the dogs. It's easy to beat the dog when you have on a sleeve or a suit. The hard part is building up the dog and teaching it to bite better.
One year after starting the company with my dad, I had biggest highlight (yet) in my career as a decoy. I was in the pre-selection of the WC FCI in Breda Netherlands. Now 6 Years later I have done more than 50 trials/competitions, not bad for my age.
Here are a few trials I have competed in: De Gulbergentrofee, De Abrahambokaal, NVBH Kringgroepenwedstrijden, NVBH kampioenschappen, Nederlandse Kampioenschappen Alle Rassen, De Bossche Bol Bokaal, De lichtstadbokaal, De verenigingsbokaal, De Zuidwesthoekbokaal, De wolstapcup and several others.
I hope you enjoy our web-site and I am sure you will be happy with the products and services we offer.
Your Friend,
Ralph
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