I have a problem with my dual purpose K9 switching from detection to aggression when there are people in the search area. What can I do?

Question

Hi,

    My name is Earl. I have the dept's newest K9. He is a 2 year old GSD. He is dual purpose and for the most part has did very well on the street. I have had success with his tracking abilities. He has only attempted 1 track and it was successful in apprehending a armed robbery suspect. I have also had good success with building search. He has also located someone in a building. He is very obedient to me and I have no control issues with him.

    The problem that i have is with Narc work. My dog has o problems with odors. He knows marijuana, heroin, cocaine and meth. If I have someone place drugs in a room or locker room, he has no problems locating the drugs.

    When I hide drugs at night when I work in a car, he has no problems finding the drugs. The problem that i am having is when I scan a vehicle that has or has recently had people in the car. 2 things, if he sees someone in the car, he will immediately switch from drug mode to aggressive mode. My dog is extremely aggressive, which in my town isn't really a bad thing. The second things is I'm not sure if he is getting the odors mixed up or if he is alerting on people in the car. It is driving me nuts.

    I have tried scanning nothing but blank cars. We had a taxi inspection for the upcoming summer season. We had 15 brand new cars set up in the front lot awaiting inspection, so I went out and scanned each of those cars 5 times each. After scanning the series of cars I would have a drug placed somewhere in one of the vehicle. My dog would alert every single time on the drug and didn't false alert on any other car.

    I would then place someone in a car and the dog would once again go from drug to aggressive. I correct him verbally and I have also now begun correcting him with the lead. I'm at a lose and I don't know what else to do.

    Any suggestions you may have would be greatly appreciated.

    Earl

Accepted Answer

Earl - this is not a detection problem it's an indication problem. There are several things you can do:

Keep a scratch box in your squad and have the dog hit the scratch box before each drug search. This will tell him "HEY STUPID THIS IS A DRUG SEARCH."
Tie the dog to your squad and stimulate the dog with the toy and let him see you hide it on the vehicle which has people in it. Then take him right to the "FIND." Then big play games when he gives even a small indication. If he will not indicate - take him back and repeat on the same "find." Take him right back to the find. Remember this is not drug search training it's "indication training."
Set up training where there is an EASY outside find (not inside the car) and people in the vehicle - use the scratch box and correct the dog with a leash correction for being aggressive. If you have to take the dog right to the find and be ready to do a primary reward.
Repeat this EXACT SAME FIND over and over again.
Gradually make the finds closer and closer to the passenger doors.

When your done training - leave the scene. Don't get the dog out to be re stimulated.