Over the past few weeks I have received contact from a few prospective K9 handlers. The story is the same. Their department had a dog-handler team, and the handler decided to leave, so the dog was passed to them. They tell me they are a certified handler (because they had a dog at one time in the past, evdently) so they  say they don’t need a full handler course with this new dog, but want a short course and certification. Here are some facts:

1. There are NO CERTIFIED HANDLERS only certified K9 Teams. No dog? You are not a certified handler. New Dog? You need to be certified again, and recertify each year at roughly the same time (doesn;t need to be to the day, but within a month or so annually).

2. The handler course is for the dog team – allowing the team time to learn one another in a structured training environment. No matter how many dogs you have had in the past, you need to train with the new dog for a sufficient time to learn the dog before going on deployments that matter. If you think your experience with one dog carries over automatically to the new dog, you DON’T have enough experience in K9, and you should avail yourself of a full handler course.

Tarheel Canine accepts K9 teams for handler courses, regardless of if TK9 trained the dog initially. We put you through a 4-week handler course (with the trained dog) and do a certification in the last week, all for the price of $3500 including housing. We also include free lifertie in service and annual recertification for that $3500. Contact Jerry at malinois_jb@mindspring.com for more information.