KNPV Training Program

By G. Straatman

This book is the first book published in English that features the world renowned Royal Dutch Police Dog, the Koninklijke Nederlands Politiehond Vereniging (KNPV), examination certification program. It describes the very comprehensive KNPV Police Dog certification process and the training techniques that create such highly trained Police Dogs. It also provides information on puppy selection and training, and the breeding philosophy that has, and will continue to, produce dogs "certifiably" capable of modern Police Dog work, for generations to come.

This book is authored by a professional Dutch Police Sergeant, who is responsible for over sixty working canine handlers and their dogs. He has certified many KNPV Police Dogs and has successfully passed and achieved all the available KNPV certifications. He was also the National KNPV Tracking Champion, with his dog, Breston.

The KNPV certified Police Dogs are raised and trained primarily by Dutch civilians. It takes over two years, or more, to create a dog that can perform at an incredible level of obedience (that even includes swimming), search for very small lost articles, or find hidden objects, or persons in a heavily wooded area, and then perform canine protection work that not only can apprehend, but also guard and control a criminal suspect, plus protect his handler under varying conditions of duress.

The KNPV is a Nationally sanctioned Police Dog training and certification organization. It is sponsored by the Dutch Royal family. It provides a very well organized National (Dutch) governing body, that helps and assists its members, in achieving their dog training goals, administers the certification, examination processes, and provides a comprehensive and very credible (Dutch) national canine training program, that has no peers world-wide.

The challenge for these KNPV trainers is to train a Police Dog that will pass and ultimately achieve the highest possible score on the Police Dog certification examination. Once the dog has passed the examination and is certified, the KNPV trainer may then sell his certified dog to the Dutch Police, or Security, or Military organizations. The trainer then acquires another puppy and again begins the process of training another KNPV certifiable Police Dog.

Due to both the credibility and success of the KNPV training programs, more and, more of these KNPV certified Police Dogs are being exported from Holland. For example, the U.S. Military, U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and many U.S. Police Departments buy a considerable number of these dogs every year.