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Dogs have been part of police forces since the end of the 19th century, and they continue to be an integral part of assisting cases around the world. A police K9 is crucial in finding both evidence and missing persons.
But have you ever thought about how a K9 dog is trained? What are some different strategies to train police dogs?
That’s what we’re here to look at today. Read on to find out how dog training is done for modern K9 units.
Different Training for Different Units
K9 units are comprised of K9 officers who work with dogs to find drugs, locate and rescue missing persons, and assist in investigations. Dogs are usually taken in at age one or two, and go through specific training programs.
Because K9 units have a handful of duties, there are different strategies for each one. For example, a dog might be assigned to become an explosive sniffer.
In those cases, they’ll be trained to sniff out specific chemical compounds like water gel, powders, and dynamite. There’s a lot of repetition and reward associated with this task.
K9 units assigned to finding missing persons might have dogs that are trained to track airborne scents and can effectively bark to alert their handlers. They become heavily trained in both tracking and trailing scents.
Length of Police K9 Training Programs
Most K9 training programs take about six to eight weeks to complete. A lot of them differ based on the specifications. For example, a training program for multipurpose dogs may take shorter or longer than other courses.
Dogs are often paired with a kennel trainer for about six weeks, but they also have to work with specific handlers. They’ll then have to work with said handler for an additional six to eight weeks to build a rapport.
Example of K9 Training
Now that you know some different types of police K9 dog training, let’s dive deeper into a specific type of training and how it all works. For this instance, we’ll be looking at drug sniffing dogs.
Training drug sniffing dogs starts with helping them associate the scent of drugs with something they like. A white towel is often used to build that framework, as trainers play tug-of-war with a towel to get them to like it.
The trainer then rolls up different illicit substances in the towel, continues to play with the dog, and often hides the towel so the dog goes after it. This means they’ll associate these scents with playtime, or reward.
This is a similar tactic to training bomb-detection dogs. They’ll associate a smell with some kind of reward, allowing them to put those skills into action whenever there’s a bomb threat or a drug bust.
Understanding K9 Training
There’s a reason why police K9 units have been around for so long. The training methods used to train these dogs create excellent results for police units. Use this guide to help you understand how these units are trained.
For more informative articles on K9s and other topics, check out the rest of our site!
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