Category Archives: Drug Dog Training

Having Realistic Expectations of Dog Training

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We ask the majority of all of our clients this question when they come to our facility to drop their dog off for training. It sounds silly to most clients, they look at you funny, and say of course I’m going to follow through once the dog is home! But we have found that some dog owners have a false since of hope that there dog will come home a push button robot; whether it be a pet dog here for behavior modification, a protection dog, a police dog, or even an autism assistance dog many owner’s must realize the finished results don’t transfer over automatically it’s a gradual thing with consistency and patience. So let’s go over what we mean by expectations of training!

No matter what type of pet dog training you chose, whether it’s in-kennel training, private lessons, in-home training, or even group classes, you have your home work cut out for you! In-kennel clients should understand that just because the dog does all the commands for our dog trainer’s doesn’t mean that will automatically apply to you. Let’s say, for example your dog has had the run of the house the last 2 years, he comes and goes as he pleases, chews up things in your home, lunges at people on a walk, and maybe a little rough when playing with new dogs. You as the pet owner, have allowed that to go on the last 2 years, and that is no big deal, we see it all the time, but when your dog returns home you have to get with the program and apply the rules instantly. This can take several days or even weeks for your dog to realize that “Mom is not putting up with my bad behavior anymore!” And my group class, private lessons, and in-home training clients you are not off the hook either! You will be assigned things to work on between sessions, it’s your job as the pet owner to follow through, and it’s so worth it!

Protection dog clients maybe the worst as far as expectations! They often times purchase a dog that is picked from a vendor in Europe, we ship the dog to our facility, and the owner may or may not even come visit before training begins. We work with the dog for several months in obedience and bite work and deliver the dog to the client’s home. This dog doesn’t know you from Adam; it takes several weeks and sometimes months depending on the dog, for a bond or relationship to take effect. Clients want good social dogs that can do well with kids that perform bite work, then call the first week and say it’s not mean enough! Once the dog understands his home he will guard it to the fullest! This goes back to patience and consistency in training once the dog is in your home! We have a protection dog in the Charlotte area, the owner called after week two and said that his wife has spoiled her so much he didn’t think she would bite a flea! Jason went down to the home did a little decoy work with her and she still had it! Jason explained that she was still settling in to be patient and stick with working obedience daily (this helps with the liability issue that come with a protection dog to work on nice solid obedience). A few weeks later, the owner called and said he had to leave work early and go home, because the cleaning lady had stepped out of the house and their dog would not let her back in! Since then this family has had other positive experiences when the dog performed their job, you just have to give it a chance!

Our Autism Assistance Dog clients probably have the most work do to once the dog arrives. For this simple reason is why we generally stay five days upon delivery of the dog to make sure the transition goes well with the children! Our families already have a tight schedule with school, therapies, and doctor appointments and so on, now they have to learn how to utilize a dog in this chaos! We prepare our clients for the responsibilities that are added with a dog and how they still have to work daily with the child and dog on obedience and structure. Like our protection dog clients we often purchase a dog to fit the family’s needs and they may visit the dog a few times upon delivery, so again it takes a little bit for the dog to settle and bond with your family so be patient it will pay off in the end!

So when asked “What are your expectations of the dogs training?” Your answer should be I understand that your job is to lay the foundation work for my dog, but it’s up to me and my family to properly nurture and mold the finished product with training my dog! Keep expectations realistic, understand that these dogs will not be push button in the beginning, it takes time, with consistency and structure you will get there, and we guarantee it! We are only a phone call away and any of our dog trainer’s will be happy to assist with advice and/or a visit if needed!

Stop Hitting Your Dogs

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I recently had the opportunity to observe some police canine training locally where about 20 handlers were working on some complex detection exercises. There were quite a few handlers waiting their turn to work the detection exercises. Apparently, some of the dogs and handlers were getting anxious about what was ahead, but everyone seemed to be waiting patiently. SWOOSH, and a loud, resounding CRACK was the sound that rang out across the parking lot. One of the handlers had swung their leash all the way around and cracked their Malinois right across the nose with the handle of the leash for not holding the sit and stay position. My first thought was, “What an Idiot!”. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time that I had seen this and I am afraid it won’t be the last.

We commonly work with owners and handlers that consistently hit their dogs on the head or other places in order to correct unwanted behavior. They hit them with everything from their hands, feet, leashes, newspapers, or anything else that they can get their hands on. We recently spoke with the owner of a 6 month old Labradoodle who admitted to hitting it in the head whenever it did anything that they didn’t like. Some of the things it would get hit for would include, jumping, pulling, barking or getting on the furniture.

So, what do these dogs learn from being hit in the head? For one, they learn to stay at least an arms (or leash) reach from their owners at all times. They also learn to be afraid of leashes, hands, newspapers and anything else that they feel may strike them. Equally as important, they often never know why or when they will get hit next. There is often no clear direction from the handler as to what is and is not expected from them. Therefore, the dog experiences “learned helplessness” and feels as though they are trapped as an unwilling participant in a game of “WHACKAMOLE”.

About a year and a half ago, we had the opportunity to work with a dog that had been consistently hit in the head by his owners. After several short months of this, the dog began to bite. The dog would bite the hands of anyone who tried to pet it, feed it or touch it in general. This made it difficult for the owners to have company over, to take the dog to the vet and to work with the dog in general. It took months to rehabilitate this particular dog and teach him to trust people and their hands again.

Let’s just take a quick look at when and how we use our hands with our dogs. We give them treats with our hands. We feed them with our hands and we also pet them with our hands. Therefore, it is important to use our hands properly with the dog so that we don’t create a negative association with our hands in general. When we think about it, we also use a leash for walking, training and other exercises and it is equally as important that we do not create the same association with the leash by whacking the dog in the head or nose with it.

Plain and simple, there is no benefit from hitting a dog with anything, including your hands or a leash. There are much better and more effective ways to train a dog and to correct unwanted behavior in dogs without hitting them. Physically hitting dogs is not a positive punishment techniques that dogs can understand and not beneficial in training or living with a dog.

If you have any questions about our training methods or programs, please feel free to call us at 866.200.2207 or email us at training@highlandcanine.com.

Commercial Drug Detection Services

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Of the 16.6 million illicit drug users aged 18 or older in 2002, 12.4 million (74.6%) were employed either full or part time. These employees are costing American businesses billions of dollars annually in lost productivity and health care costs. Due to higher employment rates and rising substance abuse, the chances that your organization employs one of these 12.4 million workers is greater today than it has been in the past several years. Studies reveal that employees who abuse drugs have a tremendously harmful effect on the workplace—they are more likely to have extended absences from work, show up late, be involved in workplace accidents, and file workers’ compensation claims.

Highland Canine Training, LLC offers private detection services for businesses, schools, and private homes. This service allows private businesses to determine whether their facility has an issue with employees using illegal drugs at their workplace. This service also allows companies the opportunity to take a proactive approach to this increasing problem without the initial presence of local law enforcement. Drug detection services allow the employer to promote a Drug Free Workplace as well as providing an unmatched psychological deterrent.

Highland Canine Training, LLC offers teams that are capable of searching residential and commercial structures as well as motor vehicles. Our top-quality dogs are able to easily search a multitude of areas and objects and can detect the odor of illegal narcotics effortlessly. Our narcotics detection dogs are trained to locate the odor of Marijuana, Methamphetamines, Cocaine HCL, Crack Cocaine, Heroin and derivatives.

Our services can be contracted monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or you can be placed on a “will-call” status. These detection sweeps are coordinated with the appropriate company personnel and can be scheduled to suit your company’s needs.

Our handlers and employees are discreet and are held to the utmost confidentiality. We can assist you in implementing an effective plan for properly conducting these random searches within your business. With proper planning, these searches are often very effective and have little or no impact on the day-to-day workflow of your business. In some cases, these searches can be conducted in a manner that most employees never knew that they occurred.

Cost for our services is calculated based on a number of factors including but not limited to:

Size of facility
Area of facility to be covered
Number of employees
Vehicles to be searched (if any)
Scheduling (recurrent scheduling is at a reduced rate)

Highland Canine Training, LLC welcomes the opportunity to visit your facility and provide you with a detailed quote before services are contracted. Our services are very affordable and can easily fit within your budget. For example, a company with 100 employees would spend an average of $50 per employee to have them randomly drug tested once per year. This comes to a cost of $5,000 per year to drug screen each employee only once.

By utilizing detection dog services, the same company, with 100 employees could have their entire business screened once a month for an average cost of $200 per visit, totaling $2,400 per year. Therefore, the employer could have their employees and business screened twelve times more at a savings of $2,600 per year for the employer.

Some businesses are also eligible for insurance discounts when they initiate a proactive drug free workplace program. Check with your insurance provider for available discounts.

Highland Canine Training strives to offer the most professional and effective detection services available. A majority of our handlers are former or current law enforcement handlers. We provide discreet and confidential services for our clients at reasonable rates. You can learn more about our staff and facilities at our website. If you have questions or need more information, please feel free to contact us toll-free at .866.200.2207 or locally at 704.728.9494.

Update on Vail Police Dog “Star”

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K-9 Star of the Vail Police Department had a really rough start in her life. She was a mix breed female that spent the first six months of her life tied to a tree in someone’s backyard. Star got a shot at becoming more when she was accepted into our Second Chance Program in 2007. Star came to us with some behavioral issues, she was not very good with new dogs or new people. We quicly rehabilitated her behavior and in doing so noticed that she really liked to chase and hunt for her balls and toys.

She had such an interest in her balls and toys that we decided to train her as a narcotics detection and trailing dog. Star was fully trained as a single purpose narcotics dog and was later donated to the Vail, Colorado Police Department, through our Paul LeBlanc Memorial Police Dog Donation Program. Stars’ new handler, Ryan Millbern, came to North Carolina to meet her and attend their handler school together. To sya the least, it was love at first sight. The two got along and worked very well together dring their initial handler training here.

Star

Well, Star has been working for the Vail Police Department for over two years now. In the past two years she has tracked suspected criminals and missing persons, conducted narcotics searches and located evidence during criminal investigations. In the past year, Star and her handler assisted or were involved with 84 arrests for various offenses including drug possession and burglary. Star regularly conducts public demonstrations for school children and other civic organizations.

Since the inception of our police dog donation program in 2006, Highland Canine Training has donated more than 7 dogs trained for single purpose anrcotics detection, police patrol and search and rescue. Highland Canine Training will continue its’ donation program in 2010 and we will post information regarding the program on our website when it becomes available. If you have questions regarding our program, feel free to email us or call at 866.200.2207.

Drug Dog in Buenos Aires

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Recently, we provided a narcotics detection dog to the Policia Seguridad Vial in the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had the opportunity to travel to Argentina to instruct the handler training for Chief Guillermos Rios, the new handler for the dog. The trip was made possible by the 911Fund out of New York, NY.

The dog, a Labrador Retriever, named Jett has been working in Buenos Aires for about three weeks now. He is the first drug detection dog in Buenos Aires and the only one used by the Federal police in Argentina. Jett will work in the Zarate region of Buenos Aires to assist in the drug interdiction efforts in the northern area of Buenos Aires. This area, which borders Brasil and the Missiones area of Argentina contains prime routes for drug traffickers.

Drug Dog in Buenos Aires Argentina

Drug Dog in Buenos Aires Argentina

The trip was a great experience and I had the opportunity to meet alot of great people during my stay in Argentina. Chief Rios and Jett bonded quickly and made a great team. During our handler school and training we had an opportunity to work the dog doing bus and truck interdiction in the field. The dog and handler performed well and this team will undoubtedly be an asset to the drug interdiction efforts in Argentina. Good luck to Chief Rios and K-9 Jett!

Robinho continues to clean up Kingsland, GA

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Recently, K-9 Robinho (a black labrador retriever trained by Highland Canine Training, LLC) and his handler Eric Koenig of the Kingsland Police Department in Georgia nabbed another local drug dealer. The case began with a traffic stop for failure to give a signal. The driver was excessively nervous and upon request would not give consent to a search of their vehicle. Robinho was deployed and sniffed the vehicle intently. He alerted by sticking his head up and into the driver side wheel well compartment near the tire and then he came to a sit. The behavior from the trusty labrador was definitely BAD NEWS for the driver of the car.

68 pounds of marijuana located by K-9 Robinho of Kingsland, GA Police

68 pounds of marijuana located by K-9 Robinho of Kingsland, GA Police

This canine alert led to the immediate opening of the trunk where 68 pounds of marijuana was found bundled with numerous layers of plastic and fabric softener sheets. None of the officers could smell any odor from the marijuana even with their faces literally stuffed inside the trunk. This just to demonstrate how well the driver had concealed the odor of the drugs and how acute Robinho’s nose is at finding odor.

Congratulations to Eric and Robinho for a job well done. Keep up the good work!

Upcoming Dog Trainer School Schedule

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Highland Canine Training offers intensive and highly educational schools for dog trainers. Our programs teach students innovative methods of training dogs and gives our students everything they need to start their own dog training business. We offer training courses for basic dog obedience, advanced dog obedience, a Canine Training and Behavior Modification Professionals Course to teach the student how to train dogs as well as rehabilitate problem behaviors. We also offer working dog programs for the Police Canine Trainer / Instructor, Search and Rescue Trainer, Protection Dog trainer as well as courses to teach narcotics, explosives and human remains detection.

Our schedule for 2010 is listed below:

    January 4th, 2010
    April 5th, 2010
    July 5th, 2010
    October 4th, 2010

We are also offering discounted pricing for all of our courses for the Winter semester beginning on January 4th, 2010. Offers are available to those who register before December 1 , 2009. You can fill out our Dog Trainer Course Application here. For more information on our programs or our discounted prices, email us at training@highlandcanine.com or call toll free at 866.200.2207.

NEW Location in Metro-Atlanta, GA

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We are proud to announce that Highland CanineTraining, LLC has expanded to Atlanta, GA and the surrounding areas. Ray Figueroa will be operating the Metro Atlanta area training programs.

Ray is a police canine trainer and instructor in the Metro Atlanta area where he also serves as a full time police canine handler. Ray will utilize his experience with working dogs as well as pet dogs to help owners better understand and work with their dogs.

The Metro Atlanta location will offer Group Classes, Private Lessons and In-Home Training in basic and advance obedience and behavior modification. He will also provide in-service training for police dogs, protection and Search and Rescue.

To learn more about Ray and our Metro Atlanta programs visit the website www.dogtrainingatlantaga.com or email Ray at rfigueroa@highlandcanine.com.

Do female dogs make good Police Dogs?

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We trained a dual purpose police dog that is now working at a department in Alabama. The dog was trained in narcotics detection, police patrol, handler protection, tracking, article searches, agility and obedience. I trained with the dog almost every day for several months before it was eventually sold and went to Alabama. Now this wasn’t your ordinary German Shepherd. This dog was highly intelligent, extremely athletic and super talented (just check out our gallery and see for yourself). The training went something like this; show the dog what you expect one time…and it’s done. Yes, it was that easy.

As I continued to train with the dog, I had several police departments and “master trainers” come to look at it. They were in the market for a dual purpose German Shepherd and wanted to come by and see this one work. So, time after time, I had departments sending people by to watch the dog work. All of them were impressed with what the saw. However, no one was interested in the purchase. The dialogue usually went something like this: “Man that’s a really nice dog, so how old is he?” My reply was always the same “Well, SHE is about 18 months old.” Apparently the name Kira wasn’t feminine enough to clue these guys in. Or apparently they were dazzled by her work ethic and athleticism so much that they didn’t take the time to notice the undercarriage.

Once the cat was out of the bag about her gender, none of these guys were interested in working with her or giving her a second thought. I even had one handler, who stated that he had years of prior experience handling a dual purpose dog, that said “I can’t work with a B!%*h dog”. So I politely walked them back to their patrol cars and haven’t heard from any of them since.

About a month later and officer called and stated that he was in the market for a dual purpose police dog. He stated that he saw some dogs on our website that he wanted to look at. One of the dogs that we spoke about was in fact Kira. Well, I had been through the drill before and explained to him up front that Kira was a female. The last thing that I wanted was for him to drive 600 plus miles to look at her and later find out that he was a she. He stated that he had not preference as to the gender of the dog and that all that he was concerned with was whether or not the dog would work.

Well, it has been a little less than three months since the handler and Kira completed their training here at Highland Canine Training. The handler called me today to tell me that Kira “did it again” last night. He was referring to a successful track of two suspects in several car break-ins. It appears that Kira tracked the individuals for about ¼ mile and ended up at a house where she alerted to a door. After speaking with the occupants of the house, one of the suspects was found hiding in a closet and another was arrested from the home as well. All of the items that they had taken were recovered and at least four car break-ins were cleared. Great Job Kira! This adds to the other 10 successful tracks that Kira and her handler have completed along with the more than fifty…that’s right 50, felony arrests that this team has had in this short period of time.

I have seen plenty of successful police dog teams over the years. Some of the K9 counterparts were male and some were female. If you have a good quality dog, gender doesn’t matter. So the next time you find yourself in the market for a working dog, take a few minutes to look at the girls that may be available.
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The Pursuit..Dog Training as a Career!

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There is no time like the present to get started on a new career , start your own business, or simply do what you love everyday. Many people adore our four-legged friends and are intersted in pursuing a career in the dog training industry. My advice, is to go for it, there is plenty of business for everyone!

The first step is to decide which area of dog training is most interesting for you; is simply pet dog training (basic obedience and advanced obedience), behavior modification, agility, rally sports, herding, puppy training, therapy dog training, working dogs (police, detection, protection, Search and Rescue). The second area you should work on is deciding how you want to work your schedule or run your business. If you are the person who wants a little more freedom, then private lessons and group classes would be the area to focus on. However if you want the consistency of an everyday schedule, in-kennel training may be a better choice for you as a dog trainer.

Next you should narrow down a few schools that interest you, and go personally visit the site. You can get more out of personal visit than a telephone call; meeting the people you would be working and learning from can help you decide if you are a good fit for that particular school or environment. After a quick visit you can decide how much time you want to put into your career. For example, you could choose a 6 week program or tough it out and sign up for the 12 week program (which will allow you more experience by putting your hands on different breeds of dogs with different behaviors).

At Highland Canine Training we offer teaching for all the above areas of dog training. Students are able to combine classes and learn as much about as many areas of dog training as they can obsorb. Students who are just starting out,often sign up for obedience courses, but are also interested in protection courses; as a student you are able to take the both courses parallel for the length of time you wish to attend (6-12 weeks). Highland Canine also offers custom classes to fit your lifestyle. Many of our students also work full or part-time, have families, layed-off, or simply live out of state; we are able accomadate their schedules to help them earn the certification they are striving for!

Many students ask how they can gain experience after their school is finished and they are building their book of business? The answer is simple, pro-bono work with local shelter and rescue groups is the easiest way to gain experience and give back to your communities and the animals. Now more than ever, family pets are suffering because; people are surrendering their family pets at rescue groups or pounds because they are moving (leaving animals behind), have no time for the dog, or simply don’t like the dogs and will not take the time to place them in a proper home or work on fixing behaivor issues. Rescue groups will return the favor and referr business to you so everyone wins!

Finally, many people want to become dog trainer’s so they don’t have to work with people. That is not the case, the wonderful dogs usually belong to people and you must be able to communicate effectively with the owners to first off, diagnose the problem (if any), then teach dog owner’s how to work with their dogs! At Highland Canine Training we involve our students in the initial drop off of client dogs, what questions to ask the oweners, how to perform at both private lessons and group class settings, and how to teach the pet owner’s to work with their dogs and complete the “Go Home.”

If you think becoming a dog trainer may be in your near future, please give us a call or better yet stop by for a visit ,and we would be happy to introduce you to the wonderful world of dogs!