How To Select A Professional K-9 And Police Dog Trainer
As a K-9 Supervisor in charge of future police patrol dogs, bomb detection dogs, narcotics detection dogs and the like, you must be concerned with the stability of the trainer you select. Check also to see if other agencies recognize the police dog instructor in question's certifications. If they do you probably made a good decision. If you choose someone working out of their trunk who is hundreds to thousands of dollars cheaper you are price shopping, plain and simple. And don't think every defense and civil attorney won't bring this to light in any civil or criminal proceedings.
The professional K-9 supervisor should find potential police, bomb, and search and rescue dogs that are genetically bred from parents of working animals. Professionally raised animals selectively chosen by their trainer who have shown the ability to perform the desired work. The next step is assisting the trainer in teaming the selected dog with the department's selected handler. This does not mean you want to hand over the biggest dog to the most petite officer you have. Many trainers make the mistake of giving a handler the dog that they in fact would want if they were a handler themselves. This can often lead to a mismatched pairing of dog and handler.
When ordering dogs, the professional K-9 Supervisor should order and select pure bred dogs (pedigree optional). The dog's age should be under 3 1/2 years. Why? Because if you select a four to five year old dog you are once again undoubtedly price shopping. It's also important that your dog have an excellent temperament. No matter how tough your town is, rest assured that if you get a mean dog you will have more cops bitten than burglars and car thieves. Do not take a dog that was too aggressive for another department and place it on yours because your city is "more active." Imagine the field day a defense attorney would have with that information in a civil or criminal case.
And of course the dog has to have the drive for the desired work you wish it to perform. A good trainer should be able to exhibit this in a dog prior to your accepting it.
Many trainers say they will take a dog back if things don't work out, but do your due diligence because this isn't always the case. Remember, it not only costs your department money to return your handler to training with a new dog, but it also can cause hurt feelings in terms of the handler and his/her family having grown attached to the original dog.
Here at Workdog's International, we fail one in 10 handlers sent to us by police department and security units the world over. Simply put, not everyone, be it dogs or handlers, can do this work. Over the course of the minimum 6-10 weeks of basic training we'll determine exactly who can.
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