Dog Selection

There are many trainers out there who work with kennel dogs but have never utilized one of their animals for the real thing. I’m not one of those trainers. I have worked with dogs in mine fields and police searches, prisons and bomb threat sites. I know the kind of dog it takes to have success in the pressure of real-world situations.

When I am selecting a dog for detection work I look for focused obsession to consistently chase and hunt for a toy. I then manipulate this toy obsession and link it to whatever search subject odour I want the animal to detect. When I’ve finished training an animal, I want him to have the same level of focus when seeking out the search subject as he has when searching for his toy. With other training methods you often see a reduction in drive when the dog transitions from his reward to the search subject. Using my methods will ensure that your dog’s drive remains equally high in both cases, and that your dog’s toy obsession transfers completely to your search subject.

The term “Obsession,” in this case, is not hyperbole. A good detection dog candidate should be driven to find his toy in a manner that consistently overrides other distractions like food or strange objects. The dog should hunt for the toy relentlessly even when it’s thrown out of sight.

With these qualities, you can easily manipulate and train a dog.

Important things to remember during selection:

• Consistent focus translates into a hunt and retrieval drive.
• Once consistent focus on a toy has been established, DO NOT change the toy. If consistency is a problem, your dog may not be suited for detection work.
• Don’t talk the dog into finding the toy. Don’t guide the dog through physical contact. The dog should work on his own especially during the selection process.
• Be honest with yourself. The dog must be consistently focused, not just occasionally focused.