Working Dogs Q&As

Ed, I work for a Sheriff's Office in Utah as a K9 handler and I have great Malinois with plenty of drive. My problem with him is he tends to be handler sensitive and at times I struggle with getting him to range out and search without coming right back. Do you have any books, video, dvd, articles, etc.. that deal with this problem. I looked on your website, but I was unable to find what I was looking for. Thanks, Shawn

Mr. Frawley, I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at your web site and reading the articles... I have been selected to our department's K9 unit, and have been a handler for approximately 3 months. I have been given a 3 1/2 year old Malinois that has been KNPV trained and is PH1 titled. My issue is this, our department supplies the food for our dogs, but since I got him approximately 3 months ago, it has been an all out fight to get him to eat. I'm not sure if he is still adjusting or just pic...

I'm a police officer new to the K-9 unit with a new dog. I am having difficulty in getting my dog to feel comfortable in buildings, although it would be nice to say I'm still in patrol school, unfortunately I'm on patrol with a "work in progress" in this area. I am seeking all the help I can get; references, articles, etc. please. I have watched your tracking videos and found them to be very informative. I work in urban areas and have doubts as to a dog's ability under adverse conditions;...

I have a 2 year old non neutered belgian malinois. He is 95 pounds and is very over aggressive. He is 75% narcotic trained. He just bit a child, not a sight I would ever want to have seen. Luckily he didn't break any skin, however he has become aggressive to a maximum. I don't want to get rid of him, but I have no choice. The only other option I have is to send him to some doggy boot camp. He follows my commands all the time, except we he is aggressive. The only way I would keep him is if...

My question is if you mate a black German Shepard ( female ) and a white German Shepard both AKC would there be any negative results? Also Some shows do not allow white shephard's and why?.... In my order to you I also wanted to know if you could give me some advice on how to prepare my 8 week shepard for police/patrol duty as I am in LEO school now and in three years I would like to be a K9 Deputy. Our Department does not have K9s as of now, however as our county grows maybe in three yea...

I am a police officer in South Carolina. I am in the early stages of training my K-9 with the assistance of an experienced K-9 handler. My question is, can I work my dog on the street before he is certified by a certified instructor. The reason I ask is I was told the state of SC does not require the dog to be certified. Also, could you email me a list of German commands for training my younger 4 month old pup. Thanks, PFC. Gerrald

Mr. Frawley, I am a five year K-9 handler and just started working my second police k-9. I received my first K-9 when he was three years old and he never had an outing problem. I received my second K-9 when he was 18 months old. He is now two and I am having an outing problem with him. Sometimes he will out clean and quickly, and sometimes he will not. I have tried to stay on top of this problem and not let him get away with it. During training when I see that he is being difficult...

Is there a certain age where you should stop allowing people to approach and pet your puppy if you want this dog for police work or personal protection. My puppy just turned 6 months. I am not sure if you should continue to allow people to pet him and play with him. Thank you very much for your time. I have purchased 6 or 7 videos from you and they are very educational.

Dear Mr Frawley, I am quite disturbed about a training technique that my police K-9 unit is using with their K-9's. To fairly evaluate my decision I attempted to search for articles regarding this but have found none so I am writing to ask for your opinion. I learned that the agitator will regularly use a cattle prod or shock stick on the dog's testicles to increase agitation or get him to out/off the sleeve. I am not an Officer but work with the police Dept. and have watched some ...

We have a police dog in our small town. My question is: Every time the police car drives around the corner of the intersection or is waiting for the red light to change the police dog is barking furiously at cars or people around him. Also we walk our two little dogs. One day the police car was parked across the street from where we were walking and the police dog started barking aggressively. Is this proper behavior in any of the cases? Just curious, Kathy

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 in...

I'm a deputy in a small town in Kansas. Just this last week we found a suspect under a trailer house. The K-9 failed to bark and hold on command on a passive suspect. He recalled on command but made me feel unsure of if I sent him to bite if he would. Any suggestions? I am doing muzzle with Tom at this time. Troy Haskell County S. O.

Hi Ed! I'm having problems stimulating my current work dog on "passive attack." Once the stimulus is there no problem, just he does not seem to understand that "command" means action before the stimulus from the perp. Any thoughts that may help on this? Regards, Nick

Mr. Frawley, Let me start by saying "Great job" on the police tactical deployment and muzzle fighting videos. These were both great, and helped our unit a lot. I am a police K9 handler and trainer in Fl. I am a big fan of your site and your videos. I have been involved in police K9 for 6 years, and have prior Schutzhund experience. I have been handling a very tough german shepherd for the last three years. He has very high drives and is very hard. He was almost washed out of...

I am a canine handler in a large metropolitan police agency. My patrol dog is a 4 yr old Malinois from Holland. The dog is a complex one to say the least. He is extremely high drive during training, very civil and willing to engage humans absent any equipment, however during real deployments his drive level drops, especially during yard-to-yard searches. In our part of the country (Southern California) we do not practice tracking and air scent from yard to yard. The environment we search ...

We have a New Hope Borough officer who has been in K-9 training in Bucks County, PA for drug detection. The program is reimbursed by the County (drug forfeiture funds). The dog completed his training, and goes for monthly refresher courses. Our borough Council has yet to approve the dog for active drug detection, citing that they have found that there can be serious "liability problems" with having a K-9 program. No further explanation is given. There are many citizens who f...

My name is Nick I am a handler from a NJ Police Department. I've been working with my partner on the street for about a year and a half; we have been working together since 99. I would describe myself as a typical new police handler, I've made my share of success and I've learned lessons the hard way. All in all, I love what I'm doing, and I learn something new everyday as well at training. My partner is a 3 1/2 year Czech import, cross-trained patrol/narcotics. In patrol school, w...

I wasn't able to find where you may have addressed this question on your web page, but I may have missed it. Anyway, I'm training a puppy for police work and someone asked me if I had or will sensitize my dog for pepper spray. It got me thinking (yes, this is a dangerous thing) and this makes a lot of sense to me. During the course of my duties I've pepper sprayed many dogs (even a horse one time - it doesn't do anything to them! It was trying to eat my leather duty gear!!) with varying r...

I have a question that you might be able to help me with. My name is Sgt. Brian Rudick and I am the K9 Unit Supervisor for the Hartsville Police Department, (SC). We have two crossed trained (partol/narcotics) GSD. One of our dogs goes nuts when he hears fireworks. Our dogs have received training around gunfire and the dog in question responds just as you would expect. At certain times of year when the general public likes to use fireworks (Christmas, New Years, and the 4th of July) he become...

A friend of mine has a 2 year old shepherd that is stuck in prey drive. He bites nice and full but just doesn?t have the fight. He has always been worked in prey, would you suggest trying defense on him and trying to get him more serious? Thank you in advance, Officer Ammerman