How To Train A Police Dog

All across the country, dogs are strapping on the k9 tactical gear and going to work with the police officer partner. They play an integral part in law enforcement patrol and investigative strategies and, every year, some give their lives for their department. These brave police dogs require intensive training, and most have only one specialty, although some are dual-purpose dogs.

Police K9 Dog Breeds

Of course, not every breed of dog is fit to be a police dog. Here are a couple of the top breeds that law enforcement agencies use as canines, as well as breeds that perform other vital law enforcement related tasks:

• Belgian Malinois
• German Shepherd
• Rottweiler
• Bullmastiff
• Dutch Shepherd
• Bloodhound
• Beagle
• Doberman Pinscher
• Labrador Retriever
• German Shorthaired Pointer
• Giant Schnauzer
• American Pit Bull Terrier
• Boxer

The First Step

Many handlers get a brand-new dog with no experience, and k9 training is intense and long. Plus, both partners attend training monthly while in their assigned positions.

The first training is obedience training. This training is critical because the dog must obey strict commands (that are sometimes in a different language, depending on where the dog is from), for instance, when a dog tracks and finds a suspect and then latches on to them until their partner can catch up. They need to listen when their handler tells them to let go.

It’s also important to train them to deal with distractions. The police dog is going to respond to scenes with other animals involved, like when they are searching through a vehicle for drugs and the vehicle owner has a dog. It’s hard for a canine to focus on its job when another dog is barking.

Obedience training is foundational so that these dogs can go on to learn a specialty. Many times, this is the step where they weed out dogs that have behavioral problems.

Dual Purpose Law Enforcement Dogs

Dual-purpose dogs train in two specialties, usually narcotics and patrol or explosives and patrol. Training one dog for two specialties is a cost-effective option for police departments, especially for smaller ones.

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Patrol Training

Patrol k9s train in the everyday aspects of police work. They learn off-leash obedience, how to track suspects and apprehend them, and how to protect their partner as well as do building and area searches. Training will involve simulated incidents and various training aids.

Bomb Detection Dogs

Bomb detection dogs are great patrol canines with training in detecting explosive materials. Dogs are excellent at detecting certain smells because their sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute as humans. That supersonic sniffer makes them the perfect drug and bomb police officers.

It’s best to train bomb dogs with actual explosive materials because you only want them to alert you to the real thing. Most often, bomb dogs are trained to detect the unique scents of different combinations of materials that make up bombs. After training, these dogs can detect trace or bulk amounts of these materials.

Drug Detection Dogs

Drug detection dogs have all the excellent patrol training while specializing in detecting drugs. This type of training essentially requires the use of real drugs. K9 officers must testify during drug cases in court. They must be able to say that their dog only hits on illegal substances or else they’ll lose all their cases. They never come in contact with the drugs in training; they just use their scent.

When dogs detect drugs, they signal their find with a passive alert. Most drug detection dogs can usually detect heroin, methamphetamines, crack cocaine, cocaine, and marijuana.

Tracking Dogs

Police use scent-tracking police dogs for missing people or suspects. They aren’t necessarily all law enforcement dogs. Search and rescue (SAR) teams train and utilize dogs for finding missing, injured, or deceased people. Think of some of the large-scale searches you see when someone goes missing or there’s an earthquake with collapsed buildings, and most of those are SAR dogs. Bloodhounds are some of the best tracking dogs.

There are different types of scent tracking. There’s air-scent (area-search) or tracking (trailing) dogs. Both types overlap, but there is a distinction between them. Tracking dogs follow a human’s scent trail (usually skin particles) with their nose to the ground. These dogs follow a scent and require the last location someone saw the missing person.

Tracking dogs need to pick up the scent before it disappears, so time is of the essence. They may be used for an escaped inmate or child missing from a playground but must be called immediately to the scene before other people contaminate the missing person’s scent trail.

Air-scent dogs pick up a human scent in the area and don’t need a point where the person was last seen. These dogs work with their noses in the air. They track a specific scent trail carried by air currents and search for its origin or where the scent is at its highest concentration. An air scent canine may be called to find someone missing in a large area. Examples would be a hiker in a national park or the victim of an avalanche buried in snow. Air scent canines can specialize as cadaver, avalanche, water, wilderness, article or evidence, and urban disaster dogs.

How to Train Your Dog

Now that you know the different types of dogs that law enforcement use and the training they receive, here are a few tips on training police dogs.

• Make Training Fun

Training with your dog should be fun, which, in turn, helps your dog perform the training tasks and behaviors. One CIA trainer said “If the dog makes the decision to do a desired behavior on its own, they learn more, rather than the trainer making them do it.”

• Play as Hard as You Work

K9 training is demanding, so make sure to rest and play too. Once you take a break, you feel rested and re-energized.

• Reward Your Dog with Something That Motivates Them

Not all dogs respond well to treats, so use whatever motivates them to succeed, such as pets, playtime, or their favorite toy.

• Consistency Is Critical

Be consistent with training time, rewards, and commands. There’s no need to be militaristic, but consistency is critical for the dog to learn the desired behaviors.

• End Training on a Positive Note

Remember, training is supposed to be fun, and you and your dog should look forward to training, not dread it. Make a command that you’re sure your dog will succeed at. Do this every time, and training will remain fun.

Photo by Jozef Fehér

Police dogs become a member of their handler’s family. These two partners spend more time together than with their family, and the bond they form is strong. They are treated as police officers because they are, and when one dies, they get the full procession of a police officer. Training should be fun to keep your dog actively involved, but it’s serious work for a dangerous job. So, next time you see a police canine, show a little respect for these courageous animals.

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