EMBOROUGH, England: Scream all you want, but Lobo isn’t letting go.

The young German shepherd has chomped into the arm of a would-be attacker wearing a padded suit at K9 Protector in southwest England.

A command later, Lobo is back at the feet of Alaster Bly and awaiting his next instruction.

“I describe them as pets with a toolkit built into them. A toolkit that you hope you’re never going to use,” said Bly, K9 Protector co-owner.

Expensive protection dogs like Lobo have been in demand among professional athletes to guard against burglars who target wealthy homes often as part of sophisticated crime rings. Athletes are particularly vulnerable while they’re away at games.

“He will end up in somebody’s home with high-net worth that is potentially at risk from more than your opportunist burglar,” Bly said of Lobo, who costs 45,000 pounds ($60,000) and boasts a Bavarian bloodline that is “second to none.”

The lengthy list of athletes whose residences have been hit includes Premier League stars Jack Grealish and Alexander Isak. England cricket captain Ben Stokes’ home was burglarized while he was playing in Pakistan.

It’s becoming a major problem in the United States, too, with former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman a recent example.

The homes of Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were burglarized in October as part of a wave of break-ins that also targeted Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. Seven Chilean men were charged in connection with those burglaries, as well as the break-in at Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis’ home, where nearly $1.5 million in cash and valuables were stolen.

After consulting the FBI, the NBA drew up guidance for players.

One of the recommendations: “Utilize dogs for home protection.”

WHICH BREED IS BEST?

While almost any dog can provide some deterrence, protection-dog providers offer breeds like German shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Rottweiler, Doberman and Cane Corso.

Bly and his wife, K9 Protector co-owner Sian Bly, work predominantly with German shepherds.

“They are the most proven dogs at being family dogs,” Alaster Bly said.

They begin to differentiate early on which pups show potential.

“If we’ve got a puppy that’s really confident, is chasing a rag, biting hold of the rag, and their food drive is high, that’s a good starting point,” Sian Bly said. “We look at how competitive they are with their siblings, as well. You’re looking for quite a strong dog.”

Dogs that don’t make the cut might get routed to prison service or police duty.

“You can’t place a dog with young kids that’s nervous or that the temperament isn’t 100 percent,” she said.

PROTECTION DOGS ARE EXPENSIVE

The handful of K9 Protector dogs that reach “high-threat environment” status cost up to 75,000 pounds ($100,000).

It can take a couple of years to train for all sorts of scenarios.

“It’s vast — the ability to deal with four intruders at once, vehicle carjacking tactics, being acceptant of multi-handlers,” Alaster Bly said. “Husband, wife, nanny, housekeeper, estate manager all being able to handle that dog in an equal way in a threat scenario, and the dog still responding in the same way — is very different to a pet-level-trained dog with protection training.”

Clients must be a good match, though.

Sian Bly said if they think a buyer “might use the dog in the wrong way, then we don’t sell them the dog. It doesn’t matter about the finances.”

Between 10-15 percent of their clients are professional athletes and they typically require nondisclosure agreements, as do the actors and singers who come calling.

They sell about two or three dogs per month. When the economy is bad and crime increases — demand is higher. Winter months see more sales and the pandemic period of 2020-21 was “the busiest we’ve ever been,” Sian Bly said.

UFC FIGHTER ASPINALL PICKS A GERMAN SHEPHERD

UFC heavyweight Tom Aspinall added a protection dog to his family after moving to a new house. The Manchester native posted a video about it.

“I’m not here all the time. I just wanted someone else kind of looking after the family, as well as me, even when I’m here,” Aspinall said of his German shepherd.

US soccer midfielder Tyler Adams opted for a Rottweiler from Total K9, the North Yorkshire company that provided Aspinall’s dog.

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison got a 145-pound Cane Corso from Leicestershire-based Chaperone K9, which also counts Grealish as a client.

Grealish’s mansion was burglarized just after Christmas in 2023 while the Manchester City midfielder was playing a game at Everton. Family members called police when they heard noises and after Grealish’s Belgian Malinois and Cockapoo reportedly started barking.

Grealish later called it “a traumatic experience for all of us, I am just so grateful that nobody was hurt.”

TIPS FOR HOME SECURITY

The NBA memo urged removing online real estate listings that show interiors.

Some stars post their protection dogs on social media along with the pets’ names — but they probably shouldn’t.

“There is nothing more off-putting to a dog than being called by its own name when you’re breaking into the home,” Alaster Bly said.

The Blys use German commands, which buyers must learn.

On K9 Protector’s website, former long-distance runner Mo Farah, a four-time Olympic champion, described turning to a protection dog after his home was burglarized despite an alarm system, video coverage and 24-hour security patrols.

Intruders at Burrow’s house eluded manned security at his property while he was playing a Monday Night Football game at Dallas in December. The criminal complaint on the Chilean crew said they liked to approach from “a wooded or dark area.”

KNOWING THE RULES

Under the UK’s “Guard Dogs Act,” someone capable of controlling a guard dog must be at the premises, and a notice must be posted at the entrance about the dog.

Technically, there are scenarios that could result in criminal prosecution of dog owners in Britain — even in burglaries.

The National Association of Security Dog Users “does not promote the use of dogs as personal/family protection dogs and issues no certification or training courses in relation to this type of dog,” said Roger Flett, a NASDU director.

Samantha Gaines of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals warned against the “glamorization” of painful ear-cropping on breeds like Doberman and Cane Corso. The procedure is prohibited in England and Wales, but it’s legal to import them that way.

UK BURGLARIES ARE DECREASING

It’s unknown if break-ins at wealthy homes are increasing, but statistics for England and Wales show residential burglaries overall are decreasing.

From the year ending March 2018 to the year ending September 2024, there was a 42 percent drop, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Just a small percentage of burglaries get solved, however. Only in late 2022 did police chiefs commit to responding to all break-ins.

Alaster Bly, a former police officer, said it’s not just about burglaries. A CEO of a company might be facing a threat, or a person might be dealing with a stalker.

“There are life-changing incidents that take place regularly,” he said. “The array of problems and crime that’s going on in the UK at the moment keeps us busy.”

French families of victims of a 1989 plane bombing told the court about their shock and sense of betrayal
During the trial, Sarkozy has said he has “never ever betrayed” families of victims

PARIS: The monthslong trial of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the alleged illegal financing of his 2007 presidential campaign is shedding light on France’s back-channel talks with the government of then-Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
Family members of terrorist attacks sponsored by Qaddafi’s regime have told the court they suspect that Sarkozy was willing to sacrifice the memories of their loved ones in order to normalize ties with Libya almost two decades ago.
French prosecutors on Thursday requested a seven-year prison sentence for the 70-year-old former leader. Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has denied all wrongdoing.
The trial, which started in January, is to continue until April 8, with Sarkozy’s lawyers to plead on the last day. The verdict is expected at a later date.
Some key moments in the trial have focused on talks between France and Libya in the 2000s, when Qaddafi was seeking to restore diplomatic ties with the West. Before that, Libya was considered a pariah state for having sponsored attacks.
French families of victims of a 1989 plane bombing told the court about their shock and sense of betrayal as the trial questioned whether promises possibly made to Qaddafi’s government were part of the alleged corruption deal.
The Lockerbie and UTA flight bombings
In 1988, a bomb planted aboard a Pam Am flight exploded while the plane was over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people from 21 countries, including 190 Americans.
The following year, on Sept. 19, 1989, the bombing of UTA flight 772 over Niger killed 170 people, including 54 French nationals on board, after an in-flight explosion caused by a suitcase bomb.
Both French and US investigations have tied both bombings to Libya, whose government had engaged in long-running hostilities with the US and other Western governments.
Now, families of victims are wondering whether French government officials close to Sarkozy promised to forget about the bombings in exchange for business opportunities with the oil-rich nation and possibly, an alleged corruption deal.
“What did they do with our dead?” Nicoletta Diasio, the daughter of a man who died in the bombing, has told the court, saying she wondered if the memories of the victims “could have been used for bartering” in talks between France and Libya.
During the trial, Sarkozy has said he has “never ever betrayed” families of victims. “I have never traded their fate for any compromise, nor pact of realpolitik,” he said.
Libya’s push to restore ties with the West
Libya was long a pariah state for its involvement in the 1980s bombings.
In 2003, it took responsibility for both the 1988 and 1989 plane bombings and agreed to pay billions in compensation to the victims’ families.
Qaddafi also announced he was dismantling his nuclear weapons program, which led to the lifting of international sanctions against the country.
Britain, France and other Western countries sought to restore a relationship with Libya for security, diplomatic and business purposes.
In 2007, Sarkozy welcomed Qaddafi to Paris with honors for a five-day official visit, allowing him to set up a bedouin tent near the Elysee presidential palace. Many French people still remember that gesture, feeling Sarkozy went too far to please a dictator.
Sarkozy said during the trial he would have preferred to “do without” Qaddafi’s visit at the time but it came as a diplomatic gesture after Libya’s release of Bulgarian nurses who were imprisoned and facing death sentences for a crime they said they did not commit.
Bulgarian nurses
On July 24, 2007, under an accord partially brokered by first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and EU officials, Libya released the five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor.
The medics, who had spent over eight years in prison, faced death sentence on charges they deliberately infected hundreds of children with the AIDS virus in the late 1990s — an allegation they denied.
The release of the medics removed the last major obstacle to Libya’s rejoining the international community.
Sarkozy traveled to the capital, Tripoli, for talks with Qaddafi the day after the medics were returned to Bulgaria on a French presidential plane.
In court has spoken of his “pride to have saved those six persons.”
“If you did not discuss with Qaddafi, you’d not get the release of the nurses,” he said.
Libya’s spy chief at heart of questions
Accused of masterminding the attack on UTA Flight 772, Qaddafi’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief Abdullah Al-Senoussi was convicted in absentia to a life sentence by a Paris court in 1999 for the attack.
An international arrest warrant was issued for him and five other suspects.
Financial prosecutors have accused Sarkozy of having promised to lift the arrest warrant targeting Al-Senoussi in exchange for alleged campaign financing.
In 2005, people close to Sarkozy, who was at the time the interior minister, including his chief of staff Claude Guéant and junior minister Brice Hortefeux, traveled to Tripoli, where they met with Al-Senoussi.
Both Guéant and Hortefeux have told the court that it was a “surprise” meeting they were not aware of beforehand.
Al-Senoussi told investigative judges that millions of dollars were provided to support Sarkozy’s campaign. Accused of war crimes, he is now imprisoned in Libya.
Sarkozy has strongly denied that.
Qaddafi’s son accusations
Qaddafi’s son, Seif Al-Islam, told the French news network RFI in January that he was personally involved in giving Sarkozy 5 million dollars in cash.
Seif Al-Islam sent RFI radio a two-page statement on his version of events. It was the first time he talked to the media about the case since 2011.
He said Sarkozy initially “received $2.5 million from Libya to finance his electoral campaign” during the 2007 presidential election, in return for which Sarkozy would “conclude agreements and carry out projects in favor of Libya.”
He said a second payment of $2.5 million in cash was handed over without specifying when it was given.
According to him, Libyan authorities expected that in return, Sarkozy would end a legal case about the 1989 UTA Flight 771 attack — including removing his name from an international warrant notice.
Sarkozy strongly denied those allegations.
“You’ll never find one Libyan euro, one Libyan cent in my campaign,” he said at the opening of the trial in January. “There’s no corruption money because there was no corruption.”
Sarkozy turning his back to Qaddafi
The Libyan civil war started in February 2011, with army units and militiamen loyal to Qaddafi opposing rebels.
Sarkozy was the first Western leader to take a public stance to support the rebellion.
On Feb. 25, 2011, he said the violence by pro-Qaddafi forces was unacceptable and should not go unpunished. “Qaddafi must go,” he said at the time.
On March 10 that year, France was the first country in the world to recognize the National Transitional Council as the legitimate government of Libya.
“That was the Arab Spring,” Sarkozy told the court. “Qaddafi was the only dictator who had sent (military) aircrafts against his people. He had promised rivers of blood, that’s his expression.”
Muammar Qaddafi was killed by opposition fighters in Oct. 2011, ending his four-decade rule of the North African country.