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Editorial #14
The K-9 Today
Today's world is to say the least, fast paced. We have "drive throughs" for everything,
from hamburgers to pharmaceutical needs, overnight delivery and short-term investments.
We place our children in school younger and younger.
No sooner do we begin our work than we look towards our holiday time.
This fast paced attitude has affected every part of our lives including our training and handling of our dogs. If we faced the truth, which we as humans avoid doing at all
cost, we would realize our training methods although fast, are incomplete and turning out ineffective, ill-prepared dogs and handlers.
The good old boy clubs of law enforcement showing off on a training field are soon found ineffective in the real world. In the world of terrorism they are in fact nothing but"cannon fodder."
It is o.k. "to talk the talk", but only if you can "walk the walk."
How many of us have cringed at the sight of K-9's pulling up on a call and wondering if
an officer was going to get bit or not. The very fact doubt and fear are present, is proof enough there is a serious problem in training tactics.
To realize where we are, we must first look at where we were.
Not so long ago, a mere 47 years, the World was at war. The United States of America launched what was called the million-dollar dog program. This program was started to combat the strong German use of dogs in the war effort. The fact this program was even conceived shows how serious a problem these units were in the field.
The War ended and so did the program before it could produce any value. It was not needed. The question is how were the dogs bred and trained by the German Military Machine?
After the war the dog business boomed as American soldiers again told stories of these noble brave German dogs. Just as after the First World War, anything that resembled a German Shepherds dog was sold for great sums of money for the USA.
Along with the imports came a sport. This sport was perceived as the ultimate judge of a dog's genetic makeup. Unfortunately it was a scam. Very much though, it became the multi Billion Dollar scam.
Like a cancer, Law Enforcement gobbled up the training methods and imported thousands of dogs over the years.
Most of these dogs proved worthless on the street. Fortunately, the counter measures community has not fallen as deeply into the abyss as has Law Enforcement.
In all actuality the U.S. is behind in its use of Tactical K-9 units in its elite response teams.
They have not stepped into the world of tactical dogs because of the ineffective dogs they have seen on the street. This, however, is changing.
Countries in the east and in Europe are showing more and more the use of dogs in their counter terrorist tactics. Hostage extraction, multiple target, long-range contact and elite bodyguards know the use of these dogs.
It stands to reason that if today, the majority of dogs in service cause fear or disappointment in the hearts of those they work with, and that in the 1940's our country saw need for this program, something negative has happened between then and now. The training and breeding methods have changed to accommodate the weak and in a job where weakness is too visible, we must change our habits.
Most Law Enforcement agencies look at K-9 as just a dog. They train in and around the same abandoned building time after time or do runaways across the same lot or open field. In actuality chases usually happen in populated areas and most dogs are not released for fear of public safety. This in itself should point to a major weakness.
How many of us as handlers can say we have 100% confidence in our dogs and ourselves on the street?
How many times have we seen demonstrations go bad when our dogs could not be safe around the public?
No matter what the reason there is no excuse for ineffective training. This type of training takes dedicated personnel.
As we get deeper into the millennium, we will be faced with much more demanding tasks. Twenty years ago terrorism was not an everyday word to law Enforcement. Now it is a known threat.
We have at our disposal a creature that is more than capable of answering this call. We must be able to train honestly and effectively or we will reap our own bad habits.
As the world changes and the demands are greater on our K-9 friends, we can find comfort in the fact that all we have to do is return to the old ways of training.
There is no substitute for discipline and hard work.
Nor is there any substitute for truth.
Written by Mike McConnery, Taken From the Working Service Archives 06/25/86
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