How would you train a PPD to alert by sitting & smiling when someone is carrying a "smellable" firearm? Would it be adviseable?

The dog would need to do this without a command.

You want my honest opinion. . .


It would be nearly freaking impossible to train and utterly impossible in application.

Why bring a dog to a gunfight.
JMO
Mark Connolly

Letting a PPD close enough to a person to smell for firearms is a lawsuit waiting to happen if there is an unjustified bite.

Shucks, I didn't know you guys would like the idea so much!

Van Camp, Mark, and Howard, I value your opinions quite a bit. I'm thinking of a well socialized, well mannered protection dog, not alerted, in a situation with strangers in which violence is not threatened. For instance, a beach barbecue where some of the guests are imbibing, or visitors at a campsite, or a breakdown on a lonely highway where someone stopped to help, etc. All of these are definitely situations I could find myself in. If someone had a concealed firearm, and I learned of it, I think I would want to make my departure a little earlier than previously planned. No gunfight scenario, and no danger at all of an uncommanded bite; I just want to be able to leave the scene. A kind of "preventive protection."

Van Camp, I can certainly see that this could be hard to train for-- but it seems to this newbie that it could be done, with considerable care. Scent pads, food rewards, maybe even the dreaded clicker. (Don't shoot! I'm just trying to learn some things here.) And although I said this would be without command, possibly the training could be combined with a command like "Say hello!" used in situations such as those mentioned.

Implementing it-- I don't know enough about scent detection to have a clue. Would you mind expanding on your remark? (If you don't think it deserves time on the board, a private e mail??)

I know that some questions of this sort will seem or be amateurish. But it seems to me that this would be valuable, if it can be done. There are areas of this country and of Mexico, where I travel often, where appreciable (sometimes remarkable) numbers of people carry concealed firearms; and unless they're off duty cops, it makes me nervous as hell. I appreciate your patience, help, and advice.

Dog have already been trained to detect firearms. It has been tested in airports, bus stations, and other areas where there are large concentrations of people. One, believe it or not, was a standard poodle, handled by a very attractive woman handler. Who would object to her standard poodle, sniffing you. At any rate, it's been done, worked well, and the dog had a very high proficiency rate.

DFrost

Dogs have already been trained to detect firearms. It has been tested in airports, bus stations, and other areas where there were large concentrations of people. One, believe it or not, was a standard poodle, handled by a very attractive woman handler. Who would object to her standard poodle, sniffing you. At any rate, it's been done, worked well, and the dog had a very high proficiency rate. The dog's were trained for a federal agency.

DFrost

Only problem I see is if your getting a ride from this guy and your dog detects he has a firearm and you say no thanks and he leaves,,, Well he might have been an off duty police officer you just turned down a ride from. Also there are many states with the right to carry law, so you might find your dog running around in circles.

A dog can be trained to detect ANY scent Frost.


What I'm saying is impossible is training the dog in a way and then using the dog in a way where he could detect the firearms on people without walking up to them and sniffing the crap out of them. . .and then sitting to indicate in a "sneaky" (not) way.


How does that work in a PPD atmosphere? Unless you wanted to stop guests at a checkpoint and have the dog go over them, or something similar, it is impossible in application for a PPD in almost any situation.

To have the dog catch a scent from any distance whatsoever and then indicate with a sit. . .hows that going to work?

It isn't.


Guy walks up to you to "help" fix your flat tire. The dog is going to have to run over there sniff him up and down, then indicate. I guess if that is what you want. . .fine. Good luck. The same dog is bite trained for protection from bad guys and strangers. . .what training is going to take over when he runs up to the guy? What drives are going to be lit up? Is the dog going to be released off lead to go sniff him? Is the dog off lead to begin with? (bad idea) Is the handler going to walk up to the person with the dog on lead and let him take a whiff or two or three or four?


Proove me wrong. . .I can eat crow with the best of them.

Wayne, don't be offended please. It was a decent question, I just don't think it is possible to do in a PPD.