I'm looking to see what a "normal" amount of training time is out there! I work close hand with one of our two dogs and we are currently trying to figure out how much we need. The dog I'm with now, is a 2yr old GSD and will be on the street a month now in a few days. I've heard the number of 16hrs a month but I feel that might be fine for a 2 or 3yr street experience dog.

We (dept) have done good with sticking to 1 or 2 decoys that have taken many bites. I'm thankfully one of them. I like most everyone else in the field, don't settle for the minimum nor would I watch a program fail.

Any input would be appreciated.

Sixteen hours is what is considered the "industry standard". You have to remember to balance the fact that; yes, dogs need inservice training, with the fact, the department needs you out there working. Good training records will tell you where you need to concentrate your training.

DFrost

Doubling the standard still wouldn't be considered too much. When you have 6 or 7 different areas that need work, not to mention problem solving, that time gets burned up fast.

IMO, the 16 hrs would be for maintenance training only. If you want your dog to excel then you have to do more. Do as much during duty hours as you can. A lot of departments don't use the team as regular call takers so there is plenty of training time available.

It comes down to what you want out of your dog, how you want to be viewed by fellow officers, your work ethic and ultimately deciding that when the chips are down you'd rather have a badass helping you out instead of just a "Maintained" dog who may not not be there when it gets really ugly.

Getting an additional 16 hours over a month is pretty easy. All you gotta do is get out of the car. I took every opportunity to do OB, articles and tracks just during the times the dog would take his potty breaks throughout the night. Its not hard. There's nothing to it but to do it.

In contrast...the dog was NEVER worked while at home. That was his recuperating time.

Howard

Howard makes an excellant point. I think most good dog teams do exactly that. I was really referring to actual scheduled training time. There are certainly many opportunities when on duty to do some training. You know police work, some days you have more time than others.

DFrost

Industry standards are always listed as minimum standards. I for one think 16 hours a month isn't enough. My students are told 6-8 hours a week. If you have a problem that is put on top of that number.
The newer the dog the more training is necessary. In the first year I will guess that I put around 40 plus a month into the training.
Now, lets look at what that means. It doesn't mean I am not available at work for that many hours. We do dedicate one shift a week (for us that is 7 hours) for group training. We are still subject to being called for K-9 related needs or the exceptional emergency of special operation where we are pulled from training. during the week I use some of the butt time we have (instead of standing around complaining about the administration, and everything else us cops can find to whine about at some convenience store drinking coffee or a soda) and I am doing obedience, evidence search or ED or I am with another handler doing searches or a quick track. I simply design it to be able to break away. It is not that hard to accomplish.
It irritates me to no end to hear cops bitch about not being given all the time in the world to train when they waste more time than they need. Just a personal soap box i guess and probably a bit of the resentment I still carry from my days in the private sector where if you aren't always busy then you must not be needed or productive in either case you can count on being fired, replaced, reassigned, layed off, or something so that you aren't a waste of resources.

I always looked at the 16 hours recommendation as the number of hours a department should schedule for designated training days. On top of that like others have said every shift if possible the handler should find time to train. For me it was also on my days off.

I was always that way. Always something to work on and improve. I backed off on my training while going through a divorce and I noticed the results , I'm ashamed to say. It also wasn't fair to the dog who lives to work.

As for decoying for that dog . I know it's an honor to do that and I'm sure the handler appreciates it. But try to let others help and teach them how also. As many good decoys the better .

Our department allots 20 hrs a month. Even though it meets standards, its still anemic in my book. The first two years of my dogs' careers I doubled that and when working a DP EDD, sometimes had to triple it. Just the minimum standard for explosives detection training ate up the 16 hours. Then I had to work on the patrol stuff. The minute your dogs' performance falls off you can bet you'll be called on it. Don't even try to use the excuse that there isn't enough training time cause you wont hear any violin music.

The training burden is put upon the handler. It's even written in our K9 SOPs that sufficient on duty training will be conducted to keep the dog at optimum level. There's only so much you can do on your own so it's kind of a catch 22. Basically that policy reduces the handlers in the unit to compete and not be the worst dog...much like musical chairs. :-)

Howard

Our single purpose detector dogs get 16 hours, dual purpose get 24. Those are dedicated scheduled hours. Handlers should of course take opportunities when they present themselves during duty time.

DFrost