One of the most dangerous tasks that any K9 handler faces
is a felony building search. Training a police service dog to search buildings
is also one of the most difficult jobs that every K9 handler faces.
This police k9 training DVD was done with
the help of Kevin Sheldahl. Kevin is an International Police Dog Judge for
WPO, DPO and PSP.
He is also
a full time K9 handler and head of K9 training for a large Sheriffs
Department in the South West.
The goal of our video is to show new police K9 trainers how
to approach the task of training the building search. We will show handlers
how
to teach
their dogs that the primary tool a dog must learn to use during a building
search is his nose.
1. Too often poorly trained dogs rely on their eyes more
than their nose to search a building.
2. Too often poorly trained dogs find the odor of a hidden
suspect only to leave that odor and then never actually find the suspect.
3. Many police dogs find passive suspects in a building,
but then fail to indicate or engage the suspect.
4. When dogs develop bad habits and miss suspects they expose
their handlers to unnecessary dangers. Our video hopes to show handlers how
to improve their training and reduce their personal risk during a building
search.
This tape is not intended to teach handlers the personal
tactical skills that they must learn to do a safe building search. I have two
training videos that teach handlers how to safely search a building.
New trainers often underestimate the complexities involved
in training their dog to do building searches. They tend to skip training steps
because they assume that their dogs already have the necessary skills to do
the work. Too often they are wrong.