The Corvallis Police K-9 Unit:
Part IV
Selection and Training

Note: This is the fourth of several articles in a series that explores the value of police dogs to a community. Go to Archives to read Parts I - III.

In Part I we learned that communities are investing in police dogs because they are an asset to community livability. Police dogs are greatly more efficient at finding objects, drugs, and people than officers, they enhance officer safety, they often cause criminals to surrender without a struggle, and they reduce a community's liability to law suits.

In Part II, we learned why police dogs are so good at what they do and we also learned what makes a good K-9 handler. In Part III, we met the officers and dogs that have, and are, serving Corvallis. And in this installment we will learn about selecting dogs and training dogs and handlers.

Choose Me! Choose Me!

The most important task for any police dog is to find people (criminals and lost children) and/or to find objects (evidence and illegal substances). So regardless of traits that distinguish breeds and regardless of specialized job applications that different breeds excel at, what ultimately makes all police dogs valuable is that they are highly adept at finding people and objects by their keen sense of smell.

Many other traits make some dogs suitable for one type of police work but not another. These traits include size (large for patrol, small to medium for drugs), temperament (aggressive for patrol, friendly for drugs), voice (deep bark for patrol, quiet for drugs), gender (alpha males for patrol, females for drugs), speed (for patrol) obedience.

And there are traits that are important to all police dogs: an instinct to hunt and protect, a strong drive to play, eagerness and vitality, loyalty, courage, intelligence, and endurance. A good police dog needs to have these traits to be trained and to carry out its assignments. And a dog also needs to have the temperament to be around all kinds of people, individually and in crowds. A dog nervous around people will not make a good police dog for any use.

An ideal patrol dog is a large alpha male with the traits listed above. And though drive is vital in a patrol dog, it is important that the dog is friendly when in public or not working. A good patrol dog candidate will play endlessly. He will engage a suspect without fear, sees it as a game. If commanded to bite, the dog does so from training and his natural drive to play and to hunt. The dog should express drive only on command and then turn it off, instantly, on command. The majority of patrol dogs are pure bred from carefully selected lines of competition champions.

In contrast, a lot of good drug detection dogs are female, mixed breed, and toward the small side. They also need to have the traits listed above except for aggressiveness. In fact, dogs with an indication of aggressive behavior may not selected for drug detection work. This is for two reasons. First, the purpose of a drug detection dog is to find illegal substances, not to capture criminals. And, second, they have frequent, close interactions with people and they often work in places where an intimidating dog would not be welcome, e.g., an airport.

The critical part of selecting a police dog is the testing of its basic qualities: intelligence, personality, physical abilities, and obedience. These tests need to be given by an experienced trainer somewhere other than a place the dog is familiar with. Police dogs work in varied locations and surrounds and testing them in an unfamiliar place will give a more accurate indication of how they will perform on the job.

Training

"It takes hard work to keep your dog proficient. The training and hours can be daunting but it is all worthwhile when you capture a dangerous person."

These words from Detective Mike Wells epitomize the essence of what it is to be a K-9 handler. Training is demanding physically and emotionally. It has its share of drudgery, the mundane, and repetitiveness. And both Mike, a former handler, and the current K-9 Officer, Jason Harvey, talk about the added difficulties of having just one K-9 team in Corvallis. It means there is no one to train with on a daily basis. It also means there is no one with whom to talk over problems and work out solutions. It means having to impose on other officers to act the part of a perpetrator. As well, it means being assigned only to the graveyard shift for the duration of the duty tour. And that is hard on the handler's family as well.

But in spite of these drawbacks, all three of the Corvallis K-9 handlers love(d) the job and all come alive when talking about their dogs and experiences. There is a bond between officer and dog of the kind that can only form when one's safety or life is on the line and there is absolute trust that the other will protect. The bond is unbreakable once that trust is delivered.

Phil Howrey, the Corvallis officer who started the canine program, emphasizes that it takes a team effort -- dog, handler, trainer, department, and community -- to make a good dog and a successful program. With that in mind, he likes to keep up with the current K-9 program and he helps Jason with training Xar just as he did with Mike and Dag.

The constant training and natural abilities of Jason and Xar paid off handsomely in June of this year at the regional police dog competition held in Springfield. For the second consecutive year, Jason and Xar took first place and Xar again trotted away with Top Dog honors. To keep this achievement in perspective, it is important to realize that they were competing against teams from agencies with multiple dogs. And, perhaps more significant, is the fact that Xar won't reach his prime for another two years or so.

Both of Xar's predecessors, Ike and Dag, also won numerous medals and competitions at local and state levels. And Ike won the bronze medal at the Police and Fire World Games held in Calgary.

In that the majority of police patrol dogs are from Europe, one of the first things a handler needs to learn is to give commands in the dog's native language, usually Dutch, German, or Czech. It is easier and less confusing than trying to teach a new language to a dog, especially one that is trying to adapt to a new home, a new handler, and a new job. So Phil learned command words in German and both Mike and Jason learned them in Czech. Though dogs are trained to respond only to their handler, using a foreign language adds an extra layer of control. It is unlikely a given criminal will know foreign command words or that a handler or other officer will give an accidental command.

All police dog training includes handler training, a curriculum that is as important as that for the dog. In fact, successful K-9 programs have great teamwork between trainer, dog, and handler. One of the hardest things for a new handler to learn is to trust the dog's instincts and training. Without such trust, the K-9 team will essentially have the dog on the sidelines doing only what the handler commands it to do rather than the dog doing what it was trained to do.

Handler training includes learning how to deliver commands -- proper cadence, tone, and volume and how to correct the dog properly. Handlers also need to learn how to act consistently in training and on duty. Dogs read and cue on handler emotion so it can be confusing if a handler acts one way in training and another way on patrol. A handler also needs to know how to communicate with the dog by reading its body language.

Scent properties and how scents move and dissipate are important subject for handlers to learn. Handlers are trained to read air currents and understand how scent moves with different kinds of air-handling equipment in buildings. They have to learn how a dog tracks scent so that the dog will be used to its greatest advantage.

And handlers have to learn how to deploy and interact with cover officers. This includes tactical elements as well as teaching cover officers how to perform as a team with the handler and the dog so as to not interfere with the dog. In addition, handlers must learn about the legal aspects of deploying their dogs. They need to ensure that their actions do not violate laws and rights or city and departmental policies and that they will stand up in court.

For patrol dogs, training involves obstacle courses that teach the dogs to deal with both physical and mental aspects of patrol work. Patrol dogs also go through specialized exercises from which they learn to do their jobs while ignoring their surrounds such as other animals, people, or loud noises -- as in shouting or gunfire.

Jason tries to train with Xar for half an hour every shift and from 8pm to 12pm every other Wednesday. They even work on days off. Jason gives Xar a rest on the first day off and then they work or play ball for about half an hour the other days. Jason tries to keep training as real to life as possible. This means that sessions include exercises in searching, agility, speed, apprehension, and handler protection.

Although they are trained to bite and hold, patrol dogs are not trained to be vicious, a significant distinction. In fact, friendliness is an important trait in police dogs today and one that Corvallis Police look for in selecting their dogs. Xar is a good example. When not working and off his leash he is playful like a puppy, especially with children. He loves to play ball or otherwise romp, like a pet, with Jason, his wife, and their Labrador Retriever. And as with Ike and Dag, Xar's friendliness makes him a great ambassador for building community between police and citizens and for building a positive image of police among children when Jason and Xar visit schools.

Up Next

The next installment of this series, Part V, will feature patrol dogs and Part VI, drug detection dogs. Part VII will conclude the series with an illustration of just how efficient police dogs are.

References

Corvallis Police Department
Officer Jason Harvey
Officer Phil Howrey
Detective Mike Wells

Handler Survival. 1991. Boynton, D.C., Police vol. 15, No. 3, p.23
K-9 Selection. 1991. Mackenzie, S.A., Police vol. 15, No.3, p31
The Leash Has Two Ends. 1991. Ward, J., Police vol. 15, No.3, p. 43