Does Your K-9’s Alert Lack
Confidence
There is no doubt it is very amusing to watch an aggressive
alert narcotic dog rip the dash out of a car, or to watch the
paint chips fly off of a fifty thousand dollar vehicle to locate
a stash. This is confidence. With the passive alert trained
dog, there is little question in the handlers mind when his dog
plants it’s tail end on the ground in an enthusiastic manner,
and focuses on the location of the contraband, that they do this
with confidence. This confidence passes on to the handler.
But, what
if your aggressive alert is not so aggressive anymore or your
passive dog no longer plants it on the ground with enthusiasm
like he used to? Do you find you are questioning yourself?
We are taught as a beginning handler to always “trust your
dog”. But when the given alert lacks confidence, so do we. We
start second guessing our dog’s ability, and this only compounds
the problem.
When a
narcotic dog is first trained on odor usually on a sent box, or
scratch box, it does not progress past that point until it is
giving a good indication, either by a proper set, or an
aggressive scratch. This indication is aided by proper
enthusiasm and voice inflection by the handler. Remember it’s
just a game, and if you don’t continue to make it a game, you
will start to see your dog’s indication lacking confidence.
You have
to stay focused so your dog can stay focused. How many times
have you gotten your dog out of the squad car thinking about
something other than the task of finding drugs? We have all
heard the phrase, “your thoughts, and feelings run down the
leash to the dog.” We would be naive to think that our dogs are
receiving some kind of electric impulse running down the leash.
Just like when we watch the involuntary body movements of a
suspected drug courier while asking clarifying questions, your
dog watches you’re every movement. When we get frustrated, or
are doing something that we really may not want to be doing our
body language changes and your dog picks up on these changes.
Often this is a distraction for your dog.
This also
holds true for training. If you are training your dog, and all
you have on your mind is getting the training over with so you
can get to something that you really want to be doing, your dog
is picking this up through your body language, and/or negative
voice inflections. You are distracting your dog. Make it a
game, make it fun for you and your dog, and not only will you
have a better training session, but the time will seem to go
faster so you can get to whatever else you want to be doing.
So get
those training boxes, or cans loaded and with as much focus,
enthusiasm, and praise that you can muster and go back to the
beginning, make it fun, and get that alert back to where it
should be.
Douglas Daugherty
APCA Trainer
07/21/2007
