Working Dogs Q&As

Mr. Frawley, my name is Richard. I have a two year old rottweiler who is being considered for police work. Myself and my K-9 have been through a patrol course and a narcotics course. My K-9 Rocco has done rather well for a rottweiler, from what I hear. The problem I have is with off lead obedience. I can recall, have him sit and down voice and hand signals, and put him in a stay. He does these commands quite well, however when I try to get him to heel he shuts down. He'll just stay...

My Sheriff Dept. is considering starting a auxiliary K-9 unit to be staffed by some reserve officers, to be spread into the county areas to assist the regular K-9 unit. Because the reserve officers are routinely called out to back up the zone officers we feel this will greatly enhance our k 9 dept since our k9 unit also work regular zones and not strictly k9. The Sheriff wants the dogs to do tracking and narcotics search and not really specialize in "bite," what type of dogs should we look fo...

My patrol dog will down next to me, however, when I try to down him from a distance (like down a long hallway or while recall or when he's a few feet from me etc.) he runs to my side and just looks at me like a big kid and at times barks at me. He's never liked to down since I got him. It took good hard corrections to get him to lay down for me (when I first got him 7 months ago). Again its only a problem when he's in drive and searching away from me. If you get a chance to give a little ...

Hello Ed, Allow me a little of your time. I am a K9 handler with the Pittsburgh police department, up here in Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers). I started working with dogs in the army in 1976 . I have 15 years experience as a police handler. First off , I want to say, I enjoy your videos ,and have even purchased a few. I am currently on your mailing list. I don?t always agree with you, but always find your videos, and articles, top quality and interesting/thought provoking. I especiall...

Blackie, a 5 yr old German Shp/Belg Mal mix military working dog (MWD) has sever aggression towards firearms. Blackie will stay in the heel or down position while the agitator or handler fires the firearm (.38 or 5.76) with little reaction (minor whining) but intense focus on the shooter. When the handler finishes and lowers the firearm he breaks his position and attacks the firearm. He has not shown aggression toward the handler only the firearm (with near misses of the han...

What is your opinion on Bark & Hold vs. Bite & Hold?

What is your opinion of an officer buying a puppy and trying to raise it with the purpose of ending up with a police service dog?

Good Morning, My name is Jim Apgar and I am a patrol sergeant and K9 handler for the Pennridge Regional Police Dept. in southeastern PA (north of Philadelphia) and have been extremely impressed with all the articles authored by you that I have read. I am writing for some advice, if possible, with a problem I am encountering with my current K9 partner. Niko is a four year old Czech import GSD who is cross-trained and so far has been about the best dog you could ask for. He bites lik...

Ed, It's been quite awhile since I have come to you with a training problem. My first police dog had an issue with his passive alert and your advice was spot on and got us through a problem we couldn't find the answer for. Unfortunately, after a short but great career, my first partner ended up getting cancer and has been retired from service. So as it goes in our business, we tested and found a new dog to replace him. The dog tested well and is showing some great abilities in all ...

Hello Ed, I am looking to get your input and suggestions, I have a female black Lab that is 12 weeks old. I am working with her daily on basic obedience and want to train her to be a drug dog for our department. Can you suggest which of your videos would be best to use, along with how do I know when I can start training her for searches? Alan

I have an narcotic detection dog that been on the force for about 5 months now. I have noticed when I am doing a search with her and there are other people around she becomes distracted. Its almost like she has not confidence. Also I noticed in doing a school parking lot, she gets distracted on different wheels were I believe other animals have left there mark. She was fixed when I first got her from the kennel. What can I do to fix this? Thanks for you time

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...

I work on a k-9 team with the department of corrections and have a question you might can help me with. My partner has a female Mal that will not release her reward when she finds narcotics. He has tried several different things to her pain is not an factor. Any suggestions? Thanks, Matt

My department has a 3 year old malinois who has a problem with plastic bottles. He indicates very well on narcotics until he sees a bottle. When we go to do outside training with other departments we purposely place bottles in the training area. He has no problems with the bottles during these trainings, but when at work if he finds a bottle the search is over? Any help thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated. Scott

My name is Brian and I am a Deputy at a Sherrif's office in Texas. I am currently assigned to the jail division, but hope to train my schnauzer to be a narcotics dog. I have yet to use the scents but have trained him to look for his toy and wait for me to throw it patiently. I am thinking about purchasing some pseudo-scents of course as I don't know how my department feels about this yet. A lot of people look at me like I'm crazy for working with my Schnauzer. Please write me back ...

Hi, first of all, I would like to thank you for a fabulous web site!!!!!!!!! My question to you is this. I have a 2 year old G/S that is working great on dope. The problem I have is this, The dog knows the scents and indicates very well. I walk him around a lot of vehicles and he finds lots of dope. Lately, When taking him around vehicles, he will automatically go to indicate on the door seams. It is getting to the point that I think he is just looking for the reward. I plan on ord...

Hello Ed, I am a out of K9 school for just over 1 year. My dog is a German Shepherd patrol/narc dog. I am having a problem with him alerting, scratching AFTER he locates the narcotics. I am reading him to the point where I know when he locates it. After he locates it, he walks away from it and shows little or no interest in scratching so I do not give him his reward which is a towel. I've heard that putting the towel (reward) in with the find will increase his scratch? What do you think...

Hello, I wrote to you a while ago asking permission to use some of your web site info for a term paper for school ( which by the way I got a B on. So, thank you). My reason for writing you today is, I work for the Oneida Police Department in Wisconsin and our K-9 officer is trying to research if there is any K-9 case law with regards to: Property damage that sometimes occurs when a dog "alerts" on a vehicle ..for example..the dog scratches on the exterior of a vehicle and causes sc...

I was told that you should not train a dog on meth very often because it would burn its nose. Does this caution hold any weight? If so, how often should I work with that scent? Also, I am a new K-9 handler training the pioneer for my department. My Chief is applying for a DEA permit. Once we receive the permit where do you suggest I get the narcotics to train with? Our city is very small we don't see a lot of cocaine, heroin, etc. I do however have all the meth I need. Thank You, Officer ...

I am a deputy. We have two drug dogs already, (Chocolate Lab), (German Shepherd). I am an English Bulldog Nut..... Nut is the right word. I am going to purchase my own English Bulldog not the American Pit bull and would like to know if this breed would work well as a Narcotics Trained Dog or do you have information on what type of training this breed is best suited for when it comes to police work. If this breed is an asset to the Sheriffs Department can you tell me who to c...