This is an interesting article on what people call 911 for.....

http://www.foxcharlotte.com/dpp/news/dpgo-Teen-Calls-911-After-Parents-Take-Xbox-200911191258660837378

Here are new seminars were working on scheduling:

January- US Virgin Islands PD, 18-29

February- FT. Benning GA Patrol/Detection (tentative)

March - OLEKA Dayton OH,Decoy Seminar, 3rd - 5th

April - Portland PD ME-High Risk Deployments, 19th - 21st

May - New Orleans LA - High Risk Deployments - Tentative

May - Maryland - advanced problem solving - TBA

June - Pennyrile Narc Task Force KY-Advanced Detecion Sem/competition, Week of 14th - 18th

July - Newport News Sheriff Office VA - Decoy Seminar TBA

Call Jerry to schedule a seminar in your area 919-244-8044 - narc, explosives,SAR Cadaver, trailing,patrol, decoy...

I recently was asked this question: "Using the Reward from Source device in boxes, I'm on my 3rd or 4th session, and I'm afraid the dog will become conditioned to respond on boxes, should I vary the context in which I use the device, and get away from boxes?"

This question highlights an important issue in dog training. That issue being discrimination in training. In other words, when we teach a dog to respond on drugs, say, in a box using the reward from Source device (RFSD) there is a chance that the dog will associate the reward with the object - the box. However, if our training is set up properly, there is little chance this will happen.

The blank boxes are critical in this training, because it is through use of blank boxes and placing other distractor odors (fresh, uncontaminated plastic baggies, kongs, PVC pipe, etc) in them that the dog learns to ignore the associated objects and their odors, and respond only on the drug odor. We must be careful to realize that during this process the dog may try to respond on these other odors/objects that are associated with drug training, but the trainer must realize this is a natural part of the training progression.

The trainer must be patient, and withold rewards for incorrect responses (negative punishment), in order for the dog to make the leap of understanding that it is only a final response while in the drug odor that will bring his reward. Trainers get too impatient, and then choose to avoid the issue altogether. However, by failing to do this extinction training, you almost guarantee that your dog will respond on toys, boxes or any other odor that might be associated with his detection training.

Have patience and understand how to properly work the dog through these issues, and you will end up with a dog that is TRAINED to ignore distractors.

Issue: In detection work, the dog's drive is over the top, and he spins and barks during the search pattern, and it distracts him from good searching. What should I do?

You may need to change your context cues for his searching. Most handlers show the toy and get the dog in drive, before sending the dog to search. You might want to work on a long down, and put him in a down for a minute or two before quietly starting the search. Whisper his search command. Don’t talk to him while he is searching, and wean off a lot of presentation (movement in the search area by you can kick him into higher drive) and let him work it out on his own. He needs to learn that barking and spinning doesn’t win him the toy. As his handler you need to complement his temperament. You need to be quiet and calm to counter act his over the top drivey behavior.

Imagine you had the opposite problem, where the dog didn’t show enough passion for the searching, what would you do? You would give him easier finds, and quick rewards, and lots of very vocal praise, and probably more handler assistance to build interest. In this case you need to do the exact opposite. You need to make the hides more challenging, and as well, do a very large proportion of blank areas to non-blank areas. The dog needs to realize his searching will go on for a while. Dogs that have this problem are usually being worked in their in-service training with short problems and quick finds, so the dog comes to anticipate his reward is coming very fast, adding to the anticipation of the outcome. If the dog has tons of energy, giving him his Kong at the beginning usually will not result in getting him calmed down, but rather more excited, because you give him what he wants right out of the gate as you have found out.

Many Malinois are very impatient and impulsive dogs and must be taught to work their scent detection and tracking in a lower than normal gear, as they are often wont to work in “sprint” mode as opposed to “distance” mode. Making the problem more complex, demanding more concentration, with rewards spaced out longer, will over time, teach the dog to work longer at a good level of concentration. Make the rewards a little more variable, and don’t reward every find with his toy. Sometimes just praise him off of it, and start another search.

Unfortunately, by virtue of the limited training time available to most officers, scenarios are often set up and worked rather quickly, with fast results, and while for some dogs this works, for other dogs this makes for very impulsive behavior.

One of the green dogs we sold to New Castle DE PD was shot during an apprehension.......

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20091112_Del__police_dog_wounded_on_duty.html

Our best to the K9 and his handler for a speedy and full recovery!

Here is his profile in the St. Lucian Star Online.....

http://stluciastar.com/content/archives/8661

Congratulations Daron!

K9 Jimi at Griffin GA PD was murdered, his body dumped in a ditch. Our thoughts are with his handler, Chad Moxon, and former handler Josh Oxford, now with the Bureau of Reclamation Hoover Dam.

Here is the link. We hope the people responsible for this heinous act are brought to Justice. Clearly Jimi was killed for doing his job a little too well.

http://www.ajc.com/news/reward-up-to-6-188514.html