US Police K9 trainers and Schutzhund - Page 4

Hi there everyone. My name is Steve Dean and I am a police K9 officer / trainer with the Metropolitan Police, London UK. I have been a K9 officer since 1981 and a full time trainer since 1991. To answer one of the questions above - Do any countries have a national standard on Police K9 training? Here in the UK All police service dogs are trained and licensed annually to the same standards. We have a national body called ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) who have an advisory board made up of K9 trainers & Supervisors who set the standards for police dog training as well as certification of police K9 trainers. A Patrol dog has 3 levels of competency. Basic - which is the standard required at the end of the 12 week basic training course and allows the dog to be worked operationally. Advanced - which is the standard that the dog / handler team must achieve on their first annual re license (to show that they have improved since leaving training) and Excellent which is the standard that all police dog teams should aspire to and is required prior to being allowed to compete at Regional & National level championships? In regard to Schutzhund, there was definitely a them and us attitude when the sport first began to gain popularity here, however, over the years we (the police K9 officer / trainer) have come to realise that the sports dog enthusiast has a great deal to offer in regards to educating us about helper work, obedience & in some instances, tracking. We are also very grateful to the dog sports people (who generally have more money to spend on dogs than the police) for introducing some excellent GSD bloodlines into the UK that would otherwise never have seen our shores. This has led the police to have the opportunity to purchase puppies of the highest calibre to train as police dogs with my own force (which has some 300 service dogs) breeding 80% of our own dogs many from the bloodlines of the schutzhund imports. We have also realised the skill of the schutzhund helper and now pay schutzhund trainers / helpers to attend the ACPO Instructors courses to demonstrate and instruct our embryo instructors. At the end of the day mutual respect and appreciation for a fellow K9 handler / trainer can only result in everyone benefiting from everyone else’s experience and skills irrespective of why you are training or handling a dog. As in all things, there are schutzhund trainers / competitors that I have little or no time for, but then again, there are police dog trainers I feel the same way about. Conversely there are handlers & trainers from both sides who I hold in the highest regard. After 32 years I retire from the police next Thursday. I wish you all, police K9 & sports dog handlers the very best wishes from the UK. PS we are visiting New York early December for a spot of Christmas Shopping, anyone on the list know of a K9 officer in the New York area who might like to trade a few bits and pieces. Steve Dean There is only one fast way to train a dog.... and that’s slowly.

First, in response to greatestgsd's son, I disagree that police K-9's do not follow routines. Maybe not in the sense of a 6 blind search, a 3 or five leg track with a set # of articles or an obedience pattern, but the foundation for what we do on the street begins with routines. To teach a police K-9 to do any of their work, patterns, discipline and yes, routines are put in place to lay a firm foundation of obedience, protection, tracking, evidence recovery and scent work. In our K-9 Unit we have a saying: " Without obedience, you have no control: Without control, you have NO police K-9!" No matter if you work a patrol dog, a cadaver dog, a scent dog or a Search and rescue dog, there are "routines" put in place to maintain and increase skill level. Can I go to the Schutzhund field and run a "3" Protection "routine"-yes! I can, also,then, put him back in my cruiser and respond to a SWAT call-out and do what I need to from a tactical standpoint. Can I run a Sch 3 track, yes, but I can also run a unknown start track at 3 in the morning in the rain for a burglar(successfully)---his training started with a routine. Schutzhund training, gave him the basis to be a really nice street K-9. It is a matter of building on a firm foundation, having excellent people (yes, schutzhund decoys as well as police decoys) to assist in the building of the foundation and the higher level training, having a department that supports training and maintenance, and having the desire to make a partner the best he/she can be at what they do. Most K-9 guys do not have the money or time to do schutzhund and K-9 both. Many just do not want to. GSDONLINE-- the various footing, buildings, incidents and people we encounter in our work makes our show/fields dogs better rounded individuals. Even though the routines are essentially the same in schutzhund, on certain levels, the surroundings and environment are not the same and the better rounded dog will usually prevail. In our department some handlers own their own dogs and other dogs are purchased by the department. We are fortunate to not only have police decoys (trained ) as well as a few OUTSTANDING schutzhund decoys available to us. I even believe the decoys , as well as the k-9's, better from a combination of the schutzhund world and the police world. A good dog is a good dog no matter what he does, just like a good decoy is a good decoy no matter in what world he catches. This is my 10 cents!

i have know time to sit here and argue my point, i was just throwing in my 2 cents on the topic , i do my training out on the field not on my computer.

There is only one fast way to train a dog.... and that’s slowly!!!! Need to echo this statement.

K1184 well said. I think this topic was productive. I posed this question so as to inform US police K9 trainers of the merits of schutzhund. I believe a titled dog with good nerve and has had good environmental exposure, has a better chance of succeeding in service work. This type of dog may cost more initially but can be converted to street work in a shorter period of time. Time also equals money. Thanks everyone for your input. Kyle