Sharing Safety
story by Meg Kumin
With a scruffy beard and stocky build, Aric Harris appears rough and intimidating. When he's dressed in a leather butcher's apron and a German Shepherd, latched by the teeth, swings from his arm, he appears barbaric.
But once the apron comes off and he gives the command to "heel," the scene changes.
Aric, 27, is a man with gentle eyes, is a family man, and his dogs-in-training are calm and approachable pups that he invites into his living room and allows his children to kiss on the nose.
When he arrives home from training sessions, his three children rush to the door to greet him, and he sweeps giggling kids into his strong arms.
"They are the light of my life," he says of David, 2, Quorra, 4 and Domanic, 6.
Fatherhood gives him unique perspective on his job as a protective dog trainer.
Aric does all he can to provide safety and security for his children, and he works hard to instill the same protectiveness in his canines. His clients are people who seek his expertise to train dogs that will protect them.
One of Aric's clients is a 15-year-old girl who survived kidnapping. Aric tells of how she stayed withdrawn and mute after returning to the familiarity of home.
But after meeting her protective companion, she began to find her voice again.
"After I dropped off her dog I wept the whole way home," Aric says. "I knew I had played a part in bringing peace to her life again."
Emily Harris assists her husband, Aric, with putting on his tactical bite suit. Aric works as a protective dog trainer, and Emily helps him manage his training facility.
Koa, an adolescent long-haired German Shepherd, peeks out between the bars of her crate. Koa is part of a group of dogs that reside with Aric. The dogs take turns having time in the family home and time in their kennels.
Koa, plays fetch over an A-frame ladder. Aric often takes his dogs outdoors to run, a key to building endurance and agility.
Working as a decoy to antagonize one of his dogs-in-training, Aric gives it the OK to bite. He trains his dogs to bite to hurt, not kill or cause serious injury. The arm is the best place to minimize harm to both the perpetrator and the dog, he says.
Aric sprays down the living quarters of where these dogs live and train at his protective training facility. Aric starts each day with this routine. With so many dogs coming in and out of the facility, it is critical that they maintain a clean environment to keep the canines healthy.
Her mother looks on while daughter Quorra, 4, acts silly in her father Aric's arms. Aric's kids are thrilled when he comes home from work and burst with excitement as soon as he walks through the door. "My children are the light of my life," Aric says.
Aric leads his son Domanic, 6, to the work van after a morning outing with a co-worker's dog, Koa.
On a sunny afternoon, Emily pushes her son David, 2, in the swing, while her husband helps Quorra, 4, jump from the monkey bars. The family was able to take advantage of the warm weather because Aric took the day off from his dog-training business.
Domanic Harris, 6, cuddles Koa, after taking her to the groomer with his father, Aric.