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 our decoy training page 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.