KNOW YOUR TACTICAL LIMITATIONS

Sgt. Denny Kunkel, APCA Master Trainer

Sometime ago while working a detail I jotted down this article. Although at the time I was not completely satisfied with its content, I now feel that it is very applicable and worth considerable contemplation. Have you ever taken the time to face up to your preoperational limitations before you deploy your canine partner into a situation to “just see” what he will do. Or, allowed colleague pear pressure to compel you into placing your canine into conditions that permits him to trot right into the eyes of a death sentence. When you are called to assist with a high level tactical incident on the street, you must be able to honestly weigh the probability of your canine’s capacity to resolve the situation against your own training limitations. Without taking the time to consider the consequences of failure you could very well jeopardize the safety of your canine, other officers at the scene, innocent bystanders, or put your department’s financial deep pocket on the line.

When we initially go through basic training with our new canine partners much of the focus is devoted to fundamental obedience, scent, and control work. Furthermore, most of the training scenarios are scripted so the canine always wins; likewise allowing the team to build confidence in their basic skills. Very little is concentrated on advanced tactical work for a number of reasons including, training time restraints, equipment availability, manpower, or departmental budgetary funding. In essence, this gives the handler a false sense of security in the team’s capabilities to handle any, and all, situations once he/she is own their own. Trust me, I have been there; things have not changed that much from when I intended my first basic canine class. Don’t get me wrong, what you learn in basic training is essential to your success as a canine team, however never place yourself, or your canine; into an uncharted situation that you have not prepared for, this could be a recipe for disaster.

For instance, a neighboring agency calls for a mutual aid assist with your canine partner. Upon arrival, you are advised that an intoxicated male subject is walking in the area, or barricaded, making threats to harm himself or hostages if approached by officers. Although officers at the scene have the distressed individual contained and have now began to negotiate, on scene supervisors are requesting that you utilize your canine partner to bring an end to this volatile situation. At this point, I hope your first thoughts are contemplating if this situation truly is a canine mission, or at least, giving consideration to the fact that it may not be a canine task, as of yet. Next, you must ask yourself, “How will my partner respond to this agitated individual when actual physical engagement is made? Can my canine approach the subject swiftly and stealth enough without giving away his tactical advantage? Will he maintain focus and remain in the fight if the aggressor takes aggressive physical action against him? How will my canine work if back-up officers approach to assist or chemical munitions are deployed? Or most importantly, will my canine be able to remain focused on the task at hand in the company of gunfire if less-lethal munitions or lethal force is necessary?” Although this situation is hypothetical, without being confidently prepared for a high-risk street situation, too many unknowns may very well surface.

To prepare your canine to perform under stressful conditions, you must first dissect the “what ifs” of as many realistic situations as possible in training and introduce different elements that may create distractions. Such as, introduce your partner to tactical obedience and control work on different surfaces, within different environments, under different situations, or while working in a team situation. This will foster handler control at a higher level plus allow the canine to maintain focus without being effected by the distractions that he may encounter while performing synchronized team movement or squaring off with an aggressive assailant. You should also continually familiarize your canine partner into different disciplines that may be utilized under tactical conditions, such as chemical or smoke environments, gas mask training, distraction devices, and tactical firearms drills just to name a few. However, you must always remember to work into each discipline, one step at a time, or you will undoubtedly drive your canine into crisis (fight or flight) or confusion; likewise doing more harm than good.

For example, working under stressful conditions while wearing a gas mask can be very unfamiliar territory for your canine, not only for the visual aspect but also the change in the handler’s voice when verbal commands are given. To work into this area you should first allow the canine to be acclimated into mask use while practicing low stress obedience; likewise allowing the canine the opportunity to become accustom to the handler wearing the mask and hearing verbal commands through a muffled tone of voice. Through repetitive training the canine will spend less focus on the chemical mask and more focus on the task that necessitates its use. After the canine is comfortable functioning while a mask is being utilized, he will next be ready to slowly work into a gas, or simulated gas, environment. As I said earlier, you must dissect each task or environment if you do not want to bring about a negative reaction from your canine under a stressful situation.

While on the topic of conditions that may alter the handler’s voice, I would like to touch on how giving verbal commands, under stress, can also affect your canine’s behavior if you do not plan and prepare. Throughout basic training I am sure that everyone has heard their trainer explaining, over and over, the “do’s and don’ts” of voice inflection and modulation when giving commands to his/her canine. However, no one can dispute the fact that this has been challenged by every handler who panicked on occasion, for one reason or another, during a training scenario. Case in point, when the “out” or “release” command is given during control work and your canine refuses to cooperate off of a bite suit or agitation sleeve during control work. Likewise, creating an unintentional situation where you responded with countless, high-pitched commands in an attempt to gain canine compliance. When this occurred, how did the canine react? Did he forget you existed and stayed on task of bite and hold? Did he seem confused with your loud multiple commands or appear to be telegraphing on the bite while keeping you in view? How did you respond? Did your voice become louder, or elevate in tone? Did you repeat, or add commands, that had no relevance to the original verbal request? Or, after this had no affect, how did your canine react when he saw you heading his way for the purpose of initiating a compulsive correction to gain control? Did he immediately release and obey, or did he maneuver his position to keep the decoy between you and himself to narrow the possibility of physical compliance? So, after considering these common slip-ups in training, what happens on the street when you get excited and your voice becomes louder and elevated due to the exhilaration of the real-life situation? Does your canine adjust and bring a picture perfect end to the situation as planned? Or, does he loose focus on the immediate task because he mentally revisits the imbedded bad memory experience he encountered earlier during training when your loud verbal excitement ended in a negative or compulsion action toward himself. Bear in mind canines are masters of recognition; they have no reasoning skills. These are just a few of the questions that you must keep in mind and mentally prepare for through training to eliminate the unexpected, especially when real-life street situations become tense.

As a final note just remember that if you have not tried it in training, do not try it in a real situation to “just see” what will happen. This will only lead to chaos or catastrophe. Know you limitations, train hard and keep your training realistic. For more information, you may contact me at dkunkel@newhavenin.org.