Woodleaf, NC - Sina Vom Schwartenzwinger springs forward, her powerful jaws snapping. She found her prey in the form of "bad guy" Robert Britt, hiding behind a blind.
Sina's job is not to tear Britt limb from limb, but to keep him in position until her master, Sal Cicio gives another command.
Sina does her job well and is rewarded with a bit of hot dog.
Even though this impressive display would intimidate the most fearless of criminals. Cicio repeats an earlier comment.
"We're not making vicious animals." he says.

Sal Cicio imports German shepherds through his business, Vom Blackstar Imports K-9. Cicio also trains dogs for police work and conducts eight week obedience classes for all breeds. " It's an excellent course," Cicio says. It teaches theories and methods along with basic commands to dogs more than 4 months old.

Britt assists Cicio with helper work. That means he's the agitator or the "bad guy." He also helps feed and care for the dogs.
The German shepherd, Britt says, "are very stable. They don't snap out.
"Once you teach them something, they don't forget it." Cicio says.

With his own dogs, Cicio talks in German. He knows enough of the language to speak commands and read the dogs impressive pedigrees. The dogs have some training before they leave Germany.
"We polish and fine tune the dogs," Cicio says.

He walks over to a 12 month old pup bouncing around his kennel.
"He's a Tasmanian Devil," Cicio says of the ball of energy. "That's how the dog comes to us."
The training channels that energy, he says.

Cicio rewards the dogs with bites of hot dog from his work pocket.
Sometimes he'll spit them out of his mouth. The reason, he explains, is to keep the dog focused on his eyes. If he starts waving his hands or pretending to throw a kick, the dog will not blink, he says.
His 4 area fenced-in yard contains kennels, high blinds, and a obstacle course of barrels and hurdles.

All six of Cicio's dogs participate in Schutzhund competition, a breed test to measure temperament The idea behind Schutzhund is to breed German shepherds to serve man, Cicio says. It was developed to help select safe police dogs. Britt is president of the Carolina Schutzhund Club.
In the Schutzhund competition, 100 points each are awarded in the three areas of tracking, obedience and apprehension.
There are three levels of competition with Level 1 being the breed test and Level 3 being the most difficult. Sina has been awarded the prestigious Level 3 ranking several times.
Cicio doesn't mention in numbers what he paid for Sina, but says that she's worth the price of a good used automobile. The money is recouped in breeding, he says.

.Ando Vom Blackstar, a male 6 years old, placed second in the country in 1991 at a competition in St, Louis.
Ando's biggest competition so far was the national championship of AWDF, the American Working Dog Federation. HE was asked to the invitational because he was rated fifth in his class nationwide.
Ando has 100 felony arrests under his, um, collar. He's a certified narcotics dog and a certified tracking dog through the U.S. Police Canine Association.
"He's friendly, he loves people and travels well," Cicio says.

He's my pride and joy."
He's also the namesake for the business. But Ando has hung up his badge for now is used for showing and breeding.

Cicio has trained many dogs for police work. It takes about six weeks to train a dog for police work, and about six weeks to train the officer as well.
"To me, it's more important that the officer is trained that the dog." he says

Schutzhund judges and police departments look for sharp-looking, focused animals, he says.

The German shepherd has always been my favorite breed of dog, they are loving and loyal. I started the business with just one dog, then two, and they had puppies and it just grew from there.