There is no hidden secret in the processes of training a canine to work as a police K9.  It is simply teaching the canine a series of behaviors we need the canine to do for us.  The behaviors are area searching, building searching, tracking, obedience, obstacles, narcotic/explosive detection and article searching.  The following is some of the procedures our detail goes through to fully train a canine to work the streets of Sacramento County.

Selection
This is undoubtedly the most important part of the process of preparing to train a police canine.  We go through the exhaustive measures of locating acceptable canines for our department a couple times a year.  We purchase our canines from several different vendors from California, Arizona and North Carolina.  All of the canines we look at are imported from the Czeh Republic, Holland, Germany or Austria.  We use German Shepherds and Belgian Malinious.  We prefer the canines to be under two years old with no or a low level of training.  We do all of the canine training with trainers within our department.  Purchasing a young canine with no training allows us to teach the canine just what we them to do without being burdened with a pre taught potentially undesirable behavior.

When we go to a vendor to look for a canine prospect we like to test as many canines as possible.  If we are looking for one canine we would like to test four or more canines.  When testing several canines you feel more comfortable in the selection you make. 

When we test canines we are looking at the canines natural abilities in the areas of drive or motivation to search, high play drive for the ball, sociability, environmentally sound and civil reaction (reaction to suspicious persons). 

Our training program is based on the ball reward.  All of our dogs are “ball crazy”.  The canines are rewarded for search behavior with the ball.  So, during the testing process we look at the canine’s ball drive.  A canine with a high ball drive most commonly has a very high search drive.  The ball is used to test the canines in an environmentally challenging area.  We look for a canine that is willing to search for the ball for an extended period of time and not give up.  We want the canine not to be affected by obstacles such as slick floors, stacked up debris and open stairs.  Canines with a high ball drive make excellent narcotic canines

We take the canines on an environmental walk.  We look for challenging obstacles, within reason for the canine to overcome.  Slick wide-open floors, open stairs, open grates and tunnels are just some of the challenges we put the canine through.  We are not always looking for the perfect canine that has no difficulties with a variety of environments, but we are looking a canine who is willing to try something new.  If the canine is uneasy with the challenge we look at the canines “recovery” time.  This is the amount of time it takes the canine to settle down and overcome the challenge.  Obviously the shorter amount of time the better.

We want our canines to be friendly and approachable.  When testing a canine we have people walk up to the canine and touch the canine from different angles.  We are looking for the canine to be comfortable and not jumpy around people.  Some of the European raised canines have not been socialized outside of their handlers group and are uneasy with strangers.  Again, we are looking for a canine that will accept being touched even though it may not be comfortable at first. 

The civil test is a test for the canine to show its ability to respond to suspicious persons.  To show it has the ability to stand up and hold it’s ground. The canine is posted out on a pole or a tree and left alone for a while.  After a short period a person approaches from a distance.  This is usually done from working behind concealment.  Some noises are made to draw the canine’s attention.  What we are looking for is for the canine to bark towards the attraction.  The canine should keep a watchful eye on the person’s movements and stand solid and hold it’s ground.  It is undesirable for the canine to move away form the threat or show evidence that they would run if they were not restrained.  This can be demanding on a young canine.  The test is normally completed with the tester moving in close to the canine with a bite jacket or exposed protection and seeing if the canine will engage with a bite. 

The canine that we feel has the best reaction in these series of tests is the canine we select.  The department pays $5000.00 to $5,500.00 dollars a piece for the new canines. 

The first couple of weeks of training
The first couple of weeks are pivotal.  It is when the foundation of the training is established. This is the period when the canines start to understand what we are expecting from them.  Canines are trained using signal- pressure-praise method.  The signal is what the behavior we ask the canine to complete, the pressure is what compels the canine to do the behavior and praise lets the canine know what they have accomplished is what we were looking for.  The canines learn through repetition.  In the first couple weeks the canine may have completed 50 to 60 motivated searches.  We start the canine with short on-line searches with high attraction rewarding them with a ball when they find the helper and bark at him/her.  This is the time we introduce the distance we want to the canine to maintain while alerting on a helper.

Searching is the biggest portion of the training, however, we also work on introducing other behaviors such as obedience, obstacles tracking and man work.  We like to keep the training energetic and always positive for the canine.  We want them to think they are one of the toughest animals walking.  It is with positive reinforcements we get the canines to eagerly accomplish what we ask of them.

Completing the training
Throughout the training process we repeat all of the behaviors time and time again.  We make the exercises more difficult as time passes.  The canine sets the pace of difficulty.  Towards the end of the training we train the canines through some more realistic street scenarios.  We try to recreate situations the canine may face when dealing with a real suspect. Theses exercises come from real life experiences other canine teams have been faced with. 

After approximately two to three months of training the canine is put through the certification test.  The certification test is a series of tests that have been established by the California Police Officers Standards and Testing (POST). 

A POST evaluator who is not an employee of the Sheriff’s Department evaluates the canines. The canines are evaluated in the areas searching (area and building), obedience, obstacles, car retention, suspect apprehension, handler protection and call off.  During the suspect apprehension the canine must display controllability with releasing its bite when commanded by the handler.  During the running call off the canine must stop before making contact with the fleeing suspect. 

Once the canine has passed the certification test they are allowed to work as a police canine in California. 

The canines’ training is maintained through weekly departmental training days.  Every Wednesday our detail trains together to strive to better ourselves so we may better serve the citizens of Sacramento County, California.