48 hours Please - Page 8

Bob,
to continue: ( I just got home from work, and was called out earlier today during my previous post) 

After I test them with out equipment and push the dog's into defense I'll give them a bite to relieve stress and see how their bite is. Any dogs that back down here or go into avoidance are out.   I am looking for a hard committed strike and a hard bite.  Full and calm is a bonus, but not a necessity for a Police K9.  The bite must be hard and the dog intense.  I will then do an old fashioned "courage test"  Running away from the dog for 50 or 60 yards and having the handler send the dog.  I will turn and charge into the dog and try to pressure them again.  If I can run them off or cause them to really gather they are out of the process.   If I see a highly prey driven, equipment fixated dog I will carry a second sleeve and throw it in front of the dog on the courage test.  You will be surprised how many dogs will do a cart wheel over the sleeve on the ground and bite that sleeve ignoring me running straight at them.  I will grab the dogs leash and attempt to get it to drop the thrown sleeve and turn and engage me.  Points go to the dogs that will do this.  Remember, these are potential Police dogs, not pets and not sport dogs. 

Next we will use either a suit or sleeve depending on the situation and run off into the woods out of site to see how well the dog pursues and engages.  We are looking for speed here and an intense fight in the woods. 

The dogs that pass so far are taken into a building with slick floors and small rooms.  Here we test environmental issues.  This is done in a full suit.  We will take the dogs on a bite up stairs and into dark rooms and close the door.  We want dogs that stay on the bite regardless of the stress of the situation.  We grade the dogs in each step of the process and will only consider the dogs that pass everything and make it through till the end.  

Bob, we don't even test the dogs for their tracking ability.  If a dog has sufficient drives and does well in all of the tests we do, we can teach them to track.   For me a dog witha foundation in SchH tracking would be a plus.  However, I wouldn't mention sport  to some K9 guys, some don't see the foundation work as a benefit.  Some of the dogs we see have never seen a bite suit so I will also use a sleeve.  Almost all of them have seen a sleeve.  The big things I look for are a self assured, outgoing social temperament.  Good with gunfire,  and high drive.  I also want the dogs to have natural aggression and want to bite for "real" when confronted.  The dogs can never show avoidance, submission or back down or not commit in the fight.  In the past  month or so I tested about 20 dogs for our PD from different K9 vendors, I would only have considered two of the 20 offered for sale for Police K9's.  The rest didn't make it through our selection process and I chose an 11 month old Mali, who is turning out to be fantastic.  

Hope that answers your question,

Jim

   



 

Bob,
You can come out here and train with me anytime.  You can do SchH with us or come to our K-9 training or do both.  

There are several ways to start the dogs on narcotics detection.  We start with "3 in 1's" which is Marijuana, crack, and Heroin placed in a burlap pouch attached to a rolled up towel.  We tease the dog with the towel and do several throws and retrieves.  As the dog brings the towel back he gets the odor of the narcotics and begins to make an association.  We then throw the towel into high grass out of sight causing the dog to use his nose to find it.  

Next we go to vehicles and buildings and increase the difficulty in the hides.  We will decide what type of alert will work best with the dog, passive or aggressive and begin to train the alert.  Then we split the odors and work individual odors.  At this point we are working car exteriors and interiors as well as buildings.  We still use the towel as a reward but it is separated and proofed from the target odors.     

Since we are talking about Narcotics, FWIW, I'll address Raymond's sarcastic comment and attempt to clear up any confusion about his statement.  Perhaps I wasn't clear enough

Here is what I said:

When my dog alerts to narcotics it is a very aggressive alert, which includes at times several large scratches on the outside of the car and torn up vehicle interiors. He has shredded leather seats, arm rests, door panels, dash boards, glove boxes and head liners

My dog alerts to the odor of narcotics, not the presence of narcotics but the odor that comes form narcotics.  Dogs, unlike people rarely lie and my dog has no reason to falsely indicate.  he is not rewarded for false indications and is only rewarded when he is correct.  Therefore, I can trust my dog 100% when he indicated to the odor of narcotics.  Also, his breathing change, body carriage and change in demeanor are the true indication and alert.  The scratching is a trained response, I can call the alert based on his behavior, breathing and body language changes.  This is similar to "Pavlov's dogs" salivating at the sound of a bell.  You can not teach how to salivate, but you can condition a response to a desired stimulus.  The behavior, breathing and body language are similar to the salivating, I can not create these behavioral / body language changes but I can train the scratching behavior.   The scratching and biting occurs at the source of the odor.  If narcotics have never been in a vehicle, there is no alert.  Hence, no scratching, biting tearing of upholstery. 

Has my dog done damage to vehicles, sure he has.  Have the vehicles contained dope, sure they have,  Has he scratched on passenger or driver seats and no dope is found in the car?  Sure, was the dope then found hidden in the vehicle occupants pockets, crotch, etc,  Absolutely.  I can run a vehicle and from exterior alerts tell you which occupant has recently handled dope and from interior alerts I can tell you where it is on their person.  I can also tell you who touched the radio, glove box etc. 

I warn everyone about my dogs aggressive alerts prior to running the vehicle, if they complain about damage I'll refer them to Risk Management and they can call the city and explain that my certified Narcotics K-9 damaged their car because they had illegal drugs in it. They can try and get compensation.  I don't care if they call and complain.  Don't have dope in your car, it's really that simple. 

I hope that explains Ray's sarcastic com