“Panning for Gold” Theory of Police Canine Use
(*From Fall 2005 IPWDA Journal*)
By Sgt. Mark Mathis. IPWDA Trainer. Grand Rapids, MI PD.
Introduction
The amount of success that you will have as a canine team depends to a large
extent upon the number of chances you get to perform. More opportunities for
your dog will directly translate into more success for your team. Looking at
your potential for success like “panning for gold” can make a big difference in
how you handle failure, and the way you work with others.
When you search 3 cars for narcotics one month, but increase your searches to 30
cars the next month, the results will probably be different. The greater your
number of chances, the greater your chances of finding something great.
Good Canine Handlers recognize that when handling an incident you have a certain
percentage chance of a good outcome. Assume you find drugs in 30% of your
searches and find a large amount of drugs in 5% of your searches.
One way to increase success is to increase your total number of applications.
How often you use your dog, how well scenes are set up, and tactics used are
largely tied to your communication with your fellow officers. Most importantly,
convey a positive attitude, be appreciative of other officer’s efforts, and
share the credit when things go well.
Your dog is a very special tool. If you decide to wait for others to call for
your services, you’ll do a lot of waiting.
Officers who work where the Canine Team won’t respond unless called will rarely
call for the dog. Officers who work at a department where the dog car is
visible, active, and responds without request, will begin to request the dog
much more often.
In service training is an excellent way to place Canine use in the front of
everyone’s mind. In upcoming issues of the IPWDA Journal we will discuss cover
officer tactics and possible roll call training topics. You can explain the
“panning for gold” theory and ask for other officers help in increasing your
calls.
Share the information you get with others at your department. If officers are
not clear on when they should call or what they should do after you arrive –
they simply won’t call. Remember that you are the expert at your department
regarding canine use. If you want to succeed you have to train those that will
work with you. We have seen dramatic increases in canine calls after in service
and inter-agency training concerning canine use.
Handling the “bad” dog call
If others get the feeling that you are not happy with responding to a call it
will be a long time before they call you again. We’ve all been to “crappy” dog
calls, where the dog stands no chance for success. We’ve all been called to
incidents where other officers have done everything wrong in setting up the
scene. While difficult, it is very important that you project the proper
attitude at these scenes.
Unless there is exceptional circumstances you should get your dog out of your
car and attempt to perform. There are times that it may feel like you are there
as a “dog and pony show” for a crime victim. Frankly, if it makes a crime victim
feel better, then the show is worthwhile. You should be appreciative of the call
and express thanks to the requesting officer. Later, in private, you may wish to
tactfully address things that may help you in the future.
After you finish your tracking attempt say something like,
“Hey, I know it is really hard, but if you can wait until I
get there to check backyards my dog will have a lot better chance at tracking.
If we try the track and come up empty I promise next time I’ll help you check
the yards when we finish.”
This approach will win you many more fans, and better scene set up, than the
current method used by many. Too frequently we show up, display obvious
displeasure, yet say nothing to correct the problem. The officers that called
usually have no idea what went wrong, but know not to call you again!
The downside to additional calls
The downside to additional calls is that some of the calls may be confusing to
your dog. It is important to provide additional training reinforcement for your
dog if street calls, and also failures, increase. If your dog searches several
empty buildings in a row you may need to toss in a couple training building
searches. If your dog gets several very old or very contaminated tracks in a row
you should toss him an easy one in training as soon as possible. Increased
street calls may very well also dictate increased problems that you observe. The
problems should be quickly addressed in training.
The flip side, and the psyche of the handler
Take a look at the funnel on the right. A lot more opportunities are tossed in
the top than there are successes shooting out of the bottom. Graphically, the
funnel illustrates that the dogs fail, and fail frequently. A great tracking dog
may find something 20-30% of the time in street applications. A great drug dog
may find narcotics 50% of the time in street applications. That means that even
the best teams must deal with failure 50-70% of the time.
How do you handle coming up empty? Many take it very personally. It often may
feel as if you are on stage, with several others watching your performance.
Often you have to walk off the stage empty handed. It is important to recognize
that coming up empty handed is an element of the job, and of the panning for
gold theory. Unless you can accept the fact that you will often come up empty,
dog calls can cause you to cringe — instead of looking at them as golden
opportunities.
You will come up empty, and if you increase your attempts you will come up empty
even MORE OFTEN. Recognize that without frequent failure you’ll never have
success! While ironic, the simple truth is that the most successful canine teams
are the ones who are not afraid to fail the most often!
Conclusion
An important element of your success is to view your job as a Canine Team much
like panning for gold. Increase your opportunities and you will increase your
success. A handler can do specific things to increase his/her opportunities.
Additional calls may mean an increased commitment to training and problem
solving. Understanding the nature of the funnel can greatly help a handler to
deal with coming up empty at a call. The most successful handlers are positive,
willing to be proactive, lead others, and understand failure.
Down Time Training Ideas
(*From Spring 2006 IPWDA Journal*)
By Sgt. Mark Mathis. IPWDA Trainer. Grand Rapids, MI PD.
Training time. It’s a precious commodity that handlers need to
improve their dogs. I know that many handlers are long on problems, and
short on department allotted training time. Many handlers are also in a bind
to find training partners at a moment’s notice.
The challenge is to figure out productive training handlers can do by themselves
in a matter of minutes. I attempt to get my dog out of the car every hour or two
for a brief training period. The ideas for these training periods are really
only limited by your imagination.
I’ll outline ten ideas for these brief sessions. I’ll give you the basics of the
task, what it accomplishes, and the problems that it prevents or address. Keep
in mind that these are simply “enhancers” – you still need regular training
time.
Obedience. I get my dog out of the car each work day and run
through an obedience routine. Change up the obedience tasks daily. One day work
on heeling, the next work on a long down stay, the next do positional obedience,
etc. Obedience is the building block of many tasks, and without it problems will
crop up in all aspects of control work.
“Running out of the car routine”. Find a conducive area without
others around. Speed your car up, come to a quick stop, and run out of your car
yelling commands. Early on the tendency of your dog will be to follow you.
Successive approximation to build up to competency may be needed. Work up to
running out of view and your dog staying in the car. Sometimes run out and call
your dog to you, have your dog perform an obedience command and reward him. This
is excellent street related control work and teaches the dog to listen for your
command. It helps the dog in false starts, to focus on the handler, and to
remain attentive in the car.
Article searches. As you drive around you’ll see plenty of people
that would like to meet your dog. Feel free to stop and say hi. When you find an
interested party have them toss an article into a yard and show them how your
dog works. School age kids are almost always willing participants. Not only is
this great training, it’s great community relations. Also, how many of you have
trained on articles that were 1-5 hours old? Toss some stuff out early in your
shift and come back hours later for a search.
Exposure to surfaces. Many dogs are a little hesitant about slick
surfaces, stairs that you can see through (decks, fire escapes, etc), etc. Have
your dog get comfortable on all kinds of surfaces on your down time. If your dog
is having problems provide him some time to simply be on and explore these
surfaces without playing ball or asking him to perform a task. Eat your lunch in
the middle of an expanse of slick floor and let your dog wander the room.
Track a pedestrian you just watched. Watch a pedestrian’s walking
path. Get your dog out a few minutes later and have him run the track path.
Reward him yourself by tossing his ball past him at a well timed place in the
track.
Bark command and quiet command. Some dogs are too quiet, some are
too vocal. It helps to get them both on command. The first step to a quiet
command is having your dog understand the bark command. After you have taught
the pair of commands reinforce them with exercises. Go to a park and play ball,
requiring a bark and/or quiet before the ball is tossed.
False starts and recalls while playing ball. Let your dog burn off
some steam by playing ball. Mix in some false starts and recalls during your
play.
Desensitizing the muzzle. Having a dog that is comfortable in a
muzzle opens up all kinds of training opportunities to a handler. The problem
frequently is that the dog has limited exposure to a muzzle, or only has one on
for aggression work. Muzzles can be worn for periods in the car, while at
headquarters, during obedience, etc. Wearing a muzzle for an hour a week will
pay huge training dividends later.
Package searches. Package searches have all kinds of street
applications, and pay great dividends. Its also an area that many seem to
neglect in their training. You can easily obtain some shipping boxes from the
post office or shipping companies. Throw a hide into one and toss them out in a
parking lot, your headquarters, or anywhere you are at. Work on search
technique, proper indications, proofing off of plastic, etc. It’s very similar
to early box work, and is a great way to correct little problems.
“All things run through the handler” tasks. Your dog has many
environmental things that he wants to do throughout the day – eat, go out, play,
etc. A smart handler teaches his dog that access to things the dog wants runs
directly through the handler. Prior to allowing your dog something it wants
require that the dog perform something for you. (Want to go out? Sit and bark on
command.) (Want to eat? Perform a one minute down stay). This is really very
basic control work – but every day your dog has many needs that he looks to you
to meet. You can use these as training opportunities to establish a foundation
in control work. Requiring the performance of a task really sets the foundation
that environmental rewards and needs are met by paying attention to the handler.
Every task listed above can be accomplished by any handler, on any shift, on any
day, without any help. All the above training ideas are helpful for street
applications, and many will reduce problems that handlers may be having. This
certainly isn’t an exclusive list of what a handler can do during their down
time – its simply a few ideas to get you thinking about the things that you can
do.
If you have some other tips or brief training ideas please send them my way at
ipwda@yahoo.com. I’ll try and do a follow up with some additional training ideas
from around the police dog world if more ideas are submitted. The worst ideas
are those that are not Shared!
*The IPWDA Journal retains interest in all material published in the IPWDA
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rights. The material may not be reproduced in whole or part without express
written permission, except as outlined below.
All articles contained in the IPWDA Journal are authored by Mark Mathis, unless
otherwise noted. Submitted material may be edited for ease of reading or space
requirements. Material may not always reflect the opinions of IPWDA.
The IPWDA Journal, and material contained herein, may be used in whole or part
by law enforcement agencies or correctional institutions, within the following
expressed limits. The use must be for training, staff development, or
establishing policy. Any other use requires a written waiver. Use may not be for
commercial publishing or for profit.
Material published in the IPWDA Journal shall be used at the readers own risk.
Dog training, use, and law enforcement incident response are all dangerous
undertakings. Training, use, and application can not be made risk-free. There
may be strong disagreement between experts on some of the included material.
Readers should carefully consider the material prior to implementation. The
advice and oversight of a professional trainer and competent legal counsel are
strongly encouraged by the IPWDA Journal.
Information contained shall in no way be used to infer that a law enforcement
agency, correctional institution, or canine handler involved in litigation
performed in error or failed to exercise proper diligence or care. Often the
information contained may not be an “industry standard” practice, and there are
numerous legally acceptable ways to perform the task in question. The journal is
filled with forward thinking ideas regarding canine training, use, and
application — it is not written from the perspective of the very broad
discretion that case law and statutes give to agencies and handlers.
All material © 2006 by the IPWDA Journal.