Starting Police K9 Unit - Page 3

Nallop, I dont know if you got my point, or if anyone else did.  You dont sound like your really in law enforcement.

I would think you'd have plenty of sources within the law enforcement community for finding dogs and trainers.

Personally I was just wondering if you were for real, not just yanking everyones chains.

Excuse me if I'm off base here, but there seems to be alot of BS on the board lately.

anyone else feel this way?    or am I just paranoid.

I just got a PM from the natural@aggression guy who I think is wack!

There are good specimens to be found within both breeds. I would also recommend Mike Diehl also.

two moons

Even if he is a fake, these people will know immediately. 

It is not unusual for small dept. to be without knowledge of the dogworld.    I live in a small rural area.  The next biggest town is very small and they bought a import German show dog for a k9.

K9 handlers aren't always the most knowledgable guy/gal on the force.  Sometimes it is the person with seniority.

Yeah Don you make a good  point.    Maybe its just me.

Mike Diehl is a super recommendation since he is a Sch. 3 national champion, world team member, police officer, training director, consultant to k9 law enforcment but most importantly

a super nice and humble guy family man to the max

I would also recommend Suzanne Eviston.  I have seen dogs that came from Suzanne and they worked

worked very nice.  She would also be able to help you on policy matters.   She will also take the time to match dog to handler.   The biggest piece of advice is make sure your handler is committed and realizes the huge amount of work

involved in handling a K9.  The unit I train with has their prospective handlers show up at training and be decoys so they can see if they are really interested and likely to stick to it.

To address Germanguy's comments on US dogs being made "soft" compared to european dogs,

we in the US have to keep that little thing called "civil liability" in mind, something the vast majority of

european officers do not have to worry about.

I'v read some of the posts and thought I'd add my 2 cents FWIW.

You may want to check out  http://www.Policeone.com if you are a LEO you can register for the secure forums.  They have a forum just for K9.  You can discuss your issues with other police officers and K9 guys.  They have a lot of info for you.  There are many guys on the forum in your situation with a small dept.  Kind of been there done that advice from other cops.

Many dept's are going to mali's....mine currently has 3 malis, 4 shepherds and one single purpose narcotics lab.  The reason is; it is easier and often cheaper to find a suitable mali for police work than a shepherd.  Unfortunately, our breed has been somewhat lessened for actual working ability.  When a breed becomes popular, like the GSD, many breeders breed strictly for confirmation and not working ability.  This is more marketable and the bulk of the market; i.e. pet homes like a pretty door mat., not a hyper working dog.  Good GSD's (I mean hard serious working dogs) for schutzhund or police work are hard to find, when you do find them they can be expensive.  Despite what some may say, a good sport dog with a strong temperment can make an excellent police dog.  Most police k9's will not make good sport dogs, but the are great police dogs.   With out Schutzhund we would not have have many GSD's for police work.  It is the serious working breeders that produce the working dogs for sport or police.  The mali's haven't been ruined by popularity or overbreeding yet.

I have a male out of Dante Traho, excellent sport dog.  Grips are full and crushing, many malinois people say his drives are more like a mali. I say his high energy, high drive is what a shepherd should be.  Super high drive obedience, great natural tracker.  Strong temperment, self assured in any enviroment.  He is an excellent sport dog and will be an excellent police dog. 

I guess my point is, yes you can get a good shepherd for police work. If you are a shepherd fan like me don't give up on the breed.  I work with Mali's in Schutzhund and Police K9 as a decoy and they are great.  I see better mali's for schutzhund lately than I do shepherds.  Grrrrr...I know, it really bothers me.  But, I show the mali people how my dog works and I'm happy; they all say "that dog must have mali in him"...TThey are mostly disgruntled shepherd people. 

Check out the policeone K9 forums you'll benefit from them.

Jim

I train with Mike's club from time to time and have a very nice male that I purchased from him as a puppy.

He typically has a few dogs with varying levels of training that he places with PDs.

Mike is a great guy to deal with and I would highly recommend purchasing a dog from him.  I have seen most of the dogs he has for sale currently and I was very impressed. 

Kyle

You could contact the RCMP they generally have trained dogs ready to go and offer training for the Officer as well. The best place for you  to go is to a Police Service and discuss their protocall. Many civilians have great intentions although due to the fact your begining a K-9 unit you have to secure the ground work first and formost. Thus I would speak to them, get the data you require as to the structuring of their training teams. Another great one is to get intouch with N.P.W.A.D.A. north american police work dog association! They are and will always be the masters where k-9 police service dogs are concerned!