The ability to read your dog and know what he is communicating is essential when you have a difficult hide and he has to use his nose extensively. Too often I have seen handlers pulling their dog off a scent that would have led to the hide. There has to be a balance between control and allowing your dog to work. Your willingness to allow him to free hunt to find the scent will depend on how much you trust your dog. Your level of trust depends on how well you have come to know him through training. If you have done your training well and the partnership is strong, then the adage is always “Trust your Dog!” His nose and abilities to find the odor (drugs, explosives, cell phones or the suspect) are better than your own.You'll get info on our upcoming K9 handler courses, detection seminars, and more.
The responsibilities of the decoy are vastly underestimated by most K9 Units. Southern Coast K9 understands the key element to developing a well- trained patrol dog is to not only understand the drive of a canine but to ensure a highly skilled decoy is being utilized to train the dog.
When it comes to police K9 decoy work, handlers need to know there is a true art to showing proper decoy skills. These skills need to be understood and taught to all individuals that assist you in the bite work. Developing proper skills for this work is critical.
Decoy training is the most important component of a patrol K9’s effectiveness in the field and takes a skilled decoy trainer to gain desired results in the field.
The decoy is the reward mechanism for your dog's patrol training, and so you need a decoy that can read the dog, and reward him with a grip appropriately, to increase the likelihood of all the critical behaviors the dog must master in the patrol phase.
Every training session should include continual behavioral feedback to the dog. The decoy is the one in control of that feedback. Ask yourself, would you allow an untrained person to work your dog in obedience or handle him in detection work? If you use an unskilled decoy to train your dog, you are doing exactly that.
Proper timing, mechanics of catching the dog to ensure safety while working the dogs to avoid injuries, body suit technique, muzzle agitation, building and channeling the dog's drive, “OUT” strategies - these are some of the skills the decoy must learn.
An opportunity to develop or hone your decoy skills
Southern Coast K9 is offering specialized decoy training at their annual seminar which is being held May 14 – 17, 2012. This four-day seminar includes both classroom and practical instruction each day. We will have specialized instruction lead by expert decoy trainers with extensive experience in training and in the field.
Visit www.southerncoastk9.com/decoy-training-class to register and find out all the details or call 1-877-903-3647 for further information.
Don’t miss this opportunity to gain knowledge and experience from specialized instructors in the art of Decoy Training.
