May 17, 2011
We paid $8000.00 for my patrol dog. In a real life situation the dog ran away last week. What should I do?
Full Question:
I have a three year old black German Shepherd. He came from Belgium Germany to a trainer in the states. I am a new handler and have been assigned this K-9 for about a year. He has a excellent temperament and does great in bite training. He shows no sign of any fear during training and has a good bite.The problem I have been experiencing is during real life scenarios on the street. During one instance I was backing up a fellow officer in the middle of the roadway taking a person into custody who was resisting arrest and trying to flee. I exited my patrol unit with K-9 and approached the suspect.At this point I had decided to down my K-9 on the road and make physical contact with the suspect to place under arrest. As I took hold of the suspect and wrestled him to the ground my K-9 got up and ran away with his tail between his legs. He ran in circles around us as I commanded his to come to me with no success. He then seen the patrol car door was still open and fled to the car and got inside and stayed there. During this I'm calling him to return and also trying to handcuff and fight the suspect at the same time.
This made me very frustrated with him and I'm not sure what to do with him.(more training or take him out of service)We paid $8,000.00 for him and I am very attached to him and would like to keep him and correct the problem. Is this a correctable problem? Would should I do? Any advise would be GREATLY appreciated .Thanks.
Greg
Ed's Answer:
Well this certainly does not sound good.
While it could be a training issue it sounds like it may be a selection testing problem.
Without knowing anything about this (other than what you have written here) it would only be speculation to guess at what is going on. I know one thing – I would start by talking to the vendor that sold you the dog. Then I would be setting up different real life scenarios and testing the dog to see how he does. Your training has not been good. If it were you would not be learning things like this on the street when the shit hits the fan. This is something that should have come up in training.
While training may help – it will not make up for weak genetics.
I understand that people become emotionally attached to their dogs but unfortunately if your dog cannot do the job it has to go be a pet or a sport dog someplace. Your life may depend on this someday.
While it could be a training issue it sounds like it may be a selection testing problem.
Without knowing anything about this (other than what you have written here) it would only be speculation to guess at what is going on. I know one thing – I would start by talking to the vendor that sold you the dog. Then I would be setting up different real life scenarios and testing the dog to see how he does. Your training has not been good. If it were you would not be learning things like this on the street when the shit hits the fan. This is something that should have come up in training.
While training may help – it will not make up for weak genetics.
I understand that people become emotionally attached to their dogs but unfortunately if your dog cannot do the job it has to go be a pet or a sport dog someplace. Your life may depend on this someday.
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