Over the weekend Iattended the Desert Dog Regional Police K-9 Trails and was disapointed. The best part was the handler protecton but that still was just o.k. What made me bored was that k-9s did not follow directions. In the area search there were so many dogs that did not find the decoy hidden in one of the trucks or they were too interested in the toys the judges put out there for destractions. One DPS dog decided he want to hop the gate and go in to the stands but one of the judges stood up yelling and screaming to get his attention. luckily the dog did not make it into the stands, but he did charge the judges table and the same judge had to put on a arm so the dog wouldnt harm him. Other dogs did not out unitl the handler came over and yanked the s*** out of its neck. Some attacked the wrong person while others didnt down when they were sent out on a decoy off in the distance. Luke Air Force Base was also competing. Watching them was sad. Their dogs sucked. Why are these dogs on patrol if they cant even follow simple obidence? The other part of it was alot of the handlers were so out of shape. If the bad guy runs hes not going to be caught by the police officer and damn sure not his dog because he cant search an area. why are police dogs so poorly trained or was it just these dogs?
Ed Frawley, or K. Sheilds your comments would be great as long with the rest.

I can't comment on the civilian dog teams that attended this competition but I will comment on the Air Force teams since I am an Air Force handler.

I believe there are two reasons why Air Force dog teams have dropped in proficiency in the last five years.

First, someone on a different thread came to a conclusion that there was a difference between "dog trainers" and "dog maintainers". The level of training provided to Air Force dog handlers, and all other military branches since we all attend the same school, qualifies them to be "dog maintainers" and provides basic information about "dog training" but there is not enough emphasis on correcting deficiencies or improving performance. Even the course designed to provide you with information about being a "dog trainer" is greatly lacking in information. Military dog training is designed around a cookie cutter approach to getting a dog certified and when a dog doesn't accept this approach it doesn't do well in the field. My comments are not meant to say all military handlers are bad. I've met some that are very exceptional but this was usually because that had an inherent nack for dealing with dogs or went the extra mile to educate themselves.

Second, about seven years ago the USAF changed the way it selected personnel for duty as Military Working Dog Handler. The changes made it much easier for a person to become a handler and also allowed persons less qualified to fill that role. The new process is called "retraining" and those who become handlers under this process are affectionately referred to as "retreads". Many who retrain to become handlers are doing it to get out of their previous job that they are not satisfied with and not because they really want to be dog handlers. This is also not meant to say that all who were selected uner this process are bad handlers but that I've seen more who didn't measure up since this change. I am a "retread".

How old were these dogs? I've seen some of the dogs trained in my area and they have impecable obedeince and tarcking ablity alone with Protection skills.

Some department are wanting hot green dogs with the hope of reforming them into good candiates.

But a trail you would think that each department would only send tehir best. What level of competition was it city, state, reginonal certainly not National!!

I was somewhat disappointed also in the K9 trials... I had hoped for better obedience from these dogs...

Our schutzhund club has much nicer dogs than most of the dogs that competed at this trial.. There were only 4 or 5 really NICE dogs worthy of working the streets..

Just my opinion.

A lot of north american police departments are forgeting the foundation of all training, Obedience. There seems to be a problem here in canada as well. The last demo that i went to had a group of dog that i felt were not street worthy. one dog ran off the field during the obedience exercises and 3 officers had to chase to dog down. I watched the dog that demoed bite work have to be choked out off the sleeve. with dogs outthere on the street like that there are bound to be law suits.

David... you hit it on the head. Obedience training is the base of the entire platform that is the PSD. I've worked with more than one handler who has said, "I don't spend alot of time working my dog in obedience, I like him hard. Obedience will lower his drive". The same handler had a dog that won't out a Kong let alone a sleeve and has never attempted certification because he won't be able to pass.
American police departments as a whole don't know how to select dogs... don't know how to train dogs, and don't know how to maintain dogs. Many of the PSD's on the streets are junk, wash out dogs from Schutzhund programs in Europe, dogs with nerve issues that we as police have no idea how to look for. Police departments as a whole arn't willing to put in the time required to maintain high proficiency in their dogs. Too many handlers look at getting a dog as a perk and arn't willing to go the distance to have the best dog possible on the street.

Matt is really right - at least in the county he lives in...I have seen alot of the K9's in training scenerios at a couple of the groups - most of the dogs could not go out and do a BH pattern...and the bitework is deplorable...shallow frontal bites with dogs with their ears flat against their heads and eyes closed. To be fair, alot of guys I have seen have gone out and bought dogs themselves and then try to certify them. The best dogs I have seen with officers have been from well established people with a track record for supplying good dogs to PD.