Hey Howard,

In a word - NO. They don't do anything like that. I'll PM you.

Rob

Saturday we dit something similar with a dog trained for the greek army

scenario was that the dog did an attack
The decoy stopped moving and the dog outed

the handler went to the decoy. did a search and was pushed away (and fell to the ground)
on which the dog was supposed to attack the decoy


In stead he went to look at the handler to play with

Very interesting post in regard to the training. We have done this for years and I have to give Ed credit for waking me up to this even before I was a handler. I actually became a cop in the hope of being a K9 Handler and with luck I got that chance and nearly 18 years later I am still in K9.

The video Ed made was in the mid 80's (I could be wrong about the date) but they showed the exact same exercise and I would say nearly all of the dogs went for the handler when he was down. We actually put this exercise into our initial training class. Howard, I appreciate the post because as K9 handlers we sometimes get into a rut where we go to maintenance training, shoot the bull, tell war stories and then run the same old exercises for the remainder of training. When it comes to training you have to think outside the box and train for the unexpected.

A food for thought in regard to K9 units in pursuits. We have kind of taken a different stance and don't put the k9 unit in the pursuit. There are some varied reasons for this. We have had officers bit at the end of the pursuit when everyone jumps out to chase the fleeing suspect if they run on foot. This is a very normal reaction with the adrenaline flowing from a pursuit. Another reason we have done this is the wear and tear on the dog in being bounced around in the back of the car during a pursuit.

I know this will not work in all jurisdictions. We generally have 30 cars on the streets per shift. Our policy allows for 2 pursuing vehicles and a supervisor, however other area units will be following the pursuit. If the suspect runs generally there will be several officers chasing on foot and others trying to cut off the direction of travel in vehicles. If the pursuing officers loose the suspect a natural perimeter is in place and the dog can arrive shortly as they make the area and quickly begin the search.

As I said this is how we do it. It is not the right way, just one way.

Hi Steven,

I wish I could say I invented this drill but I didn't. It's one of those things I learned a long time ago and kept it in the training regiment as I believe it is as important as any other type of handler protection training. Its a real eye opener when done the first time. It only takes getting cracked in the head or ribs one time to realize how important it is and how much it would hurt had the dog not been muzzled.

The interesting thing is that there Are a lot of handlers out there that have never heard of trying, or proofing this specific exercise. It is very important to me that is why I brought it up. I would love to see some of Ed's vintage 80s video on this drill. Anything that I can pass on, or re-visit that can benefit a handler and save their bacon, I'll do. This exercise isn't reserved for police officers either. Anyone who has a serious PPD should do the same.

Johan, try the car release with a muzzled dog and let us know how it turns out. As Steven said, this is kinda of old news but a lot of times the old ways are still best.

Howard

 Quote:

We have kind of taken a different stance and don't put the k9 unit in the pursuit. There are some varied reasons for this. We have had officers bit at the end of the pursuit when everyone jumps out to chase the fleeing suspect if they run on foot. This is a very normal reaction with the adrenaline flowing from a pursuit. Another reason we have done this is the wear and tear on the dog in being bounced around in the back of the car during a pursuit.

We are the opposite . My department works very well with us K9 units . When they get in behind a felony suspect they follow until a K9 unit shows up then they let us take the #1 spot before we initiate the stop .

Same for pursuits . I've had the occupants of the vehicles pull over when they see squads moving over and a K9 squad pull in behind them . Many didn't know it was a K9 squad they just got intimidated and figured there must be something important about that squad since everyone else let it by .

As for the K9 getting bounced around it may be the rear carrier you have them in. Our dogs dont get bounced around much but I did notice that some other departments dogs got bounced around when they were going redlights and siren somewhere. The carriers that set the dog up higher in the car seem to throw the dog around more . Our K9's sit lower in the squad .

As for accidental bites we remind the squads in the chase that we are a K9 and to stay in their squads if the occupants bail . Plus the handlers are good at desciding if the K9 should be deployed . Sometimes we deploy sometimes we don't.