Do not go to people for your training or to buy dogs unless they are in the industry, licensed if necessary and have access to the correct facilities and all necessary equipment. So argues Richard Timmis, Director of industry body the National Training Inspectorate for Professional Dog Users (NTIPDU), and proprietor of County Guard Dogs UK.
Thirty years ago when the Guard Dog Act was issued, but unfortunately never finished, we were promised some sort of legislation to regulate the industry, little did we know it would take this long to rid ourselves of the bad image given to us.
Handlers and dogs were pretty much left to their own devices, training has been offered, but left a lot to be desired. Certain elements of the course being taught were both wrong and illegal, but still taught today.
Handlers were taught that their dogs were allowed one bite and as they were being taught by ex-police or services and civilians that they would be allowed to get away with it. Good, hard-earned money was changing hands with people spouting "when I was a policeman-serviceman" and civilians talking about how many trials they had entered (not won), we were then told that we weren’t good enough to handle a patrol dog, that we would never be able to handle the dogs they used to use, let me publicly say now; ‘we never wanted to’.
All the handlers wanted was help, guidance and so-called expert knowledge in how to handle a patrol dog. It may seem that I am against the police, servicemen or civilian trainers, on the contrary I am all for them, what I am against is the fact that some trainers are continually ripping people off.
Myself, as well as a lot of others thought we were being offered expert tuition, but we were wrong. I am still seeing handler and dog teams that have been accredited which are either fear biters, over-aggressive or weak dogs; these are already in the system due to the greed of certain individuals. A lot of the training is being carried out under threat, some dogs can not be worked in the vicinity of the general public due to the dogs ‘becoming horses’ by rearing up, constantly barking and acting in a totally aggressive manner. We were taught to locate a hidden intruder, who then threatened and attacked the handler, finally the dog was encouraged to attack the intruder and bite the sleeve, more sleeve orientated dogs.
The end result of this was, out of 22 I had several dogs that had trouble coming off the sleeve, the training had turned them into sleeve-crazy canines, due to all of the man work being carried out under threat. This procedure is unnecessary, if you have created a good bond with your canine, the dog will instinctively protect you.
All of my handlers and dogs receive continuation training on site (live venues) and at our training centre in Wales, this has proved to be invaluable when they have been in potentially dangerous situations, by using their knowledge and training to resolve any problems that arise. In over 20 years of both working in the industry, and owning one of the largest K9 companies in the UK, there has never been a claim made against my insurers.
Some trainers are very limited in their knowledge of both prey and defence drive, if they cannot rag the dog or it won’t play with a ball or toy they tell us the dog is no good and it must be replaced, some even tell you to re-home or destroy the dog and to purchase another from them. Don’t change your dog, change your trainer. In my experience you can still have a good patrol dog with a high defence drive, but it needs to be trained in a different way and if possible handled by a more experienced handler. The correct pairing of the dog and handler is paramount. Novice and experienced handlers are told by ‘trainers’ to carry sleeves in their vehicles, where the continual scent of the sleeve encourages the dog to always be ready for a bite. They are even told to practice by putting the sleeve on them selves and have their own dog bite them; bad advice! Training centres create other problems; too many dogs are being trained solely on a field or in a garden, not in the real world. Handlers are then being charged for a dog that could fail the first time it enters a construction site, trading estate or public place.
Different venues
Experienced and knowledgeable trainers would take dogs and handlers to different venues, day or night to ensure the dog and handler team are capable of carrying out their duties. Too many handlers have had to work hard to train with their dogs only to fall at the first hurdle. For example, I know of one handler who worked and trained for 12 months only to have his dog escape from him and bite a pensioner.
No emergency stop training
We as handlers are fed up of being ripped off by unscrupulous people who are too numerous to mention. The accreditations available are either 12 months or three years, how you can carry out your duties as a security dog handler (SDH) if you haven’t had any continuation training is incomprehensible. What happens if you have to appear in court because of an incident with your dog whilst working, surely the prosecutor will want to know when you had your last continuation training day and the records to prove it, you are going to look very silly and unprofessional if you tell him you were accredited either three years or 12 months ago and have done nothing since.
About NTIPDU
The National Training Inspectorate for Professional Dog Users (NTIPDU) give you the best of both worlds, all the directors have worked in the security industry for many years, all the trainers/instructors have a manned guarding qualification and to become an accredited handler you also have to be in possession of a security guarding qualification. The trainers are shown exactly what is required of them, from the end product of a trained dog and handler team to centre inspections, the availability of ‘pool dogs’ for members who may be under threat of loosing a contract because their dog is taken ill. After gaining accreditation the NTIPDU are with you all the way, on hand for advice and support. Recorded continuation training of at least one hour a month, minimum, more if required depending on your needs, addressing any problems that may have arisen since your last training session.
Passive and Proactive Drug Dogs
Over the past several years the amount of drug dog trainers that have come out of the woodwork is unbelievable. You now have every Tom, Dick and Harry who thinks he can train a dog, jumping on the bandwagon. There is nothing hard about dog training it’s not rocket science, a dog can be taught to find anything with a scent, the art is to teach the dog high, low and medium finds, search patterns, how to search vehicles inside and out, the engine (when cold), premises, residential, commercial, pubs clubs etc, in other words ‘live’ venues. Some ‘trainers’ are teaching in fields, gardens and around the family vehicle with friends, the dogs are getting used to certain people around them when training, and may only work when in their presence. Some passive (searching people) dogs are even being taught on clothing hung from chairs and then sold as a passive drug dog.
Passive and proactive
They forget, when teaching these animals to search people entering entertainment venues, that a lot of them have heaters above the doors, smoke machines, slippery floors, open doors, food on sale and people smoking etc, a percentage of these dogs come straight from kennels (failed gun dogs), they have never even seen the inside of a building let alone a night club, these are then sold with a supposed 80 per cent success rate. As a trainer and handler who has carried out many of these searches at live venues, I can tell you that these figures are totally false.
Handlers are being advised to buy one passive dog and one proactive dog and then being told they can work on a nightclub door safely and professionally. Rubbish, if you are being paid to work three hours on a door of a club or public house you are relying on the environment to dictate how long your dog will work, you cannot charge a client for a three hours work and then work the dog for a maximum of 15 minutes and then rest him, leaving a loophole for the drug users and dealers who’ll wait until the dog is off the door. The client will soon get wise and realise there’s no point having you there. To be able to work as a professional drug dog handler and have two proactive and two passive dogs would be the ideal but as we know this is the real world and a self- employed dog handler couldn’t afford such a luxury. But, it is possible to work with another company as a team and give the client a service he has paid for. All this should be explained to you by your trainer/instructor, together with health and safety procedure, risk assessment, correct signage, understanding the dog’s indication, legal aspects, and your challenge when acting on the dog’s indication etc.
Proofing the dogs
If a potential drug dog has been trained on psuedo it should be proofed on ‘live’ drugs before it is sold to the handler, thus ensuring that the dog can indicate on the real thing. You should also make sure that you find out how long the trainer has had the batch of psuedo, the scent may have weakened if it has not been correctly stored. Unfortunately, some trainers cannot give you the required support as they have never done the job in the civilian world.
Explosive dogs
As stated before there are a lot of people out there who claim to be able to train dogs for explosive detection, most of these people do not have a licence or knowledge in holding or using explosives. To prove my point, three men are at present still being held by the police for offences relating to the illegal possession and use of explosives. This is just the tip of the iceberg, more people are advertising this, as well as drug detection without licences. I strongly recommend that explosive detection dogs should only be sourced from trainers who hold a licence and a full range of live explosives. Don’t pay people a fortune that are advertising on the internet and in magazines as licensed trainers unless you check them out first.
