By Terry Fleck
There are two very important decisions made by an agency in any K-9 program, the selection of the dog and the selection of the handler. I addressed K-9 handler selection in the last magazine edition.
This article will address the second issue, K-9 (dog) selection (appointment), retention and discipline.
Dog selection is the most important decision an agency will make in their K-9 program, followed closely by the handler selection.
Historically, agencies spend the least amount of effort, time and money on the most important decision in their K-9 program, selection of the dog. That is inherently flawed. Agencies must spend the most amount of effort, time and money on this most important decision.
There are approximately 17,000 K-9 teams in the United States. Based upon my polling of 23,000 K-9 related personnel, I would estimate that 80% to 90% of those teams are cross-trained for at least two K-9 disciplines. The majority of those cross-trained teams are for patrol and contraband detection.
As police K-9's are trained to take as much risk off the human officers and transfer that risk onto the dog, all police K-9's operate under high stress.
In order to handle this high stress, a police K-9 must be both mentally and physically sound. If they are not mentally and physically sound, the dog will fail to perform in stressful situations, exposing the human officers to danger. This obviously results in officer safety issues.
We in law enforcement know that only a small percentage of the human population have the mental / physical abilities and personality to be good officers. The same is true with police K-9's.
That is why the vast majority of K-9's come from established, nationally recognized, K-9 vendors. These vendors are highly experienced in breeding, selection and training of the dogs that will become police K-9's. As all vendors guarantee their product, the dog, the vendor is financially motivated to make sure he produces a great product.
Compare this to the dog pound / shelter. The vast majority of dogs are there because of lack of mental and / or physical soundness. The likelihood of finding a sound dog is very rare. While using dog pound dogs may seem inexpensive, the costs of the evaluators' time and travel to look at dogs, veterinarian screening, which is costly, and boarding the dogs until a suitable position or training program is found, can quickly add up. If the dog fails, which is probable, whatever money has been put into this dog, will be wasted.
As an example of negligent K-9 selection, let me share the experience of an agency in the State of Washington. An agency there needed a police K-9. They found one that was very inexpensive and tested the dog for mental and physical soundness. The dog had mental soundness issues and was overly aggressive. The agency, due to the low price, took the dog anyway. When the inevitable occurred and the dog showed over-aggression to a human, the ultimate result was vicarious liability upon the agency. That liability cost the agency $412,500 in an out-of-court settlement.
Selection of the Dog
Most animal behaviorists agree that dog behavior is initially shaped by:
Let's examine all four components as they apply to selection of the dog.
Mentally sound
The dog must be genetically predisposed to be able to handle stress. In order to insure the dog's stability under stress, I recommend using some form of a K-9 "stress test", sometimes referred to as a K-9 "stake out test".
The K-9 "stress test" / "stake out test" is too lengthy to cover in this article. Therefore, you should read it and study it on your own. The most comprehensive test that I could find on the Internet is at http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/LA/castle1.htm.
Physically sound
Insuring physical soundness is a veterinarian's responsibility. The dog must be taken to a veterinarian that your agency trainer trusts. I highly recommend a veterinarian that has a working dog practice. As that is a specialty field, your agency may not have that luxury.
As the veterinarian process costs an agency money, this process should be conducted at the very end of the selection process. This process is the last step in proper dog selection.
A nationally recognized police working dog veterinarian is Dr. Paul S. McNamara, who I highly respect. Dr. McNamara recommends the following veterinary process to insure the dog is physically sound:
Chemistry is the dog's physical chemistry. As stated above, a veterinarian can check the dog's chemistry. In addition, a veterinarian can sometimes control / change a dog's chemistry through appropriate medication.
As the vast majority of K-9's come from established, nationally recognized, K-9 vendors, it is usually difficult to evaluate the dog's early learning and environment.
This is why thorough evaluation of the dog's mental stability is paramount.
Additional factors to consider in the K-9 selection process are:
Breed of Dog
There are two dog breeds that are responsible for about 95% of police service dogs, serving in a patrol or patrol cross-trained function, in the United States. They are the German Shepherd Dog and the Belgian Malinois Dog. The other 5% is typically a Dutch Shepherd Dog.
As many agencies are insured by an insurance company or insurance group, an agency should check with their insurance, in order to make sure the breeds that they are considering are insurable. The German Shepherd, the Belgian Malinois and the Dutch Shepherd are not on most insurance companies "Vicious Dog" list and are insurable. Self insured agencies do not need to consider this factor.
Vendor Visit, Testing and Selection
The agency should send two people to select the dog. The first person is the K-9 trainer. In my opinion, a K-9 trainer needs at least ten (10) years of K-9 handling / training experience. In addition, he needs a strong education in animal behavior.
The second person is the K-9's handler. Although this handler many be brand new to K-9, the handler must like the dog. This may seem petty, however it is not. I have seen K-9's ruined by handlers that simply never liked the dog.
The agency should start with vendors that they have gotten successful dogs from in the past. However, an agency should never lock into a single vendor. Agencies should set up visits to multiple vendors, not just one.
I have consulted with numerous agencies where they locked into a single vendor. The trainer and handler went to that vendor to select a dog. All the dogs currently at the vendor had some sort of issue(s). The agency was locked into this vendor, so the trainer and handler were forced to pick the dog with the least amount of issue(s). They brought the dog back to the agency and trained it.
The training covered up the deficiencies of the dog. Those deficiencies were still there, however the training "fluffed" the dog up. The dog went on deployment and a few years later, the dog was involved in a critical event. In that stressful situation, the dog either failed to perform or actually shut down. As a result, the handler and / or other officers were injured.
As stated in the K-9 "stress test" / "stake out test", all testing should be done off-site of the vendor at a neutral location. Many dogs use their familiar environment to build their confidence. Obviously, working K-9's never know what their work environment will be.
Behavior Testing
There are many behaviors in a dog. Some important ones for a K-9 are:
Your agency K-9 trainer should be well educated in these areas and have methods to evaluate these behaviors. The K-9 "stress test" / "stake out test" evaluates many of these behaviors.
Vendor Guarantee
As stated above, all vendors guarantee their product, the dog. The vendor is financially motivated to make sure he produces a great product.
Therefore, if a mental or physical soundness issue comes up during the dog's training at the agency, the agency can return the dog and select another dog. I have seen this occur numerous times. The agency identifies a soundness issue after purchasing the dog; they take advantage of the guarantee and return the dog at no cost, and get a replacement dog.
The guarantee should cover a reasonable period of time. I suggest one (1) year, as many conditions, such as hip dysplasia, do not show up until several months of activity.
The vendor guarantee should also cover pre-existing physical fitness issues as well. The agency should be very clear with the vendor on this issue. I have seen numerous situations were the agency veterinarian is in disagreement with the vendor veterinarian on whether the dog's condition was pre-existing. This disagreement ends up being the agency's opinion versus the vendor's opinion, resulting in no guarantee. The agency should carefully address this pre-existing physical fitness issue with the vendor, in the event it occurs. I suggest that a pre-existing condition be guaranteed by the vendor in excess of the one year initial guarantee.
History or Background of the Dog
As the vast majority of K-9's come from established, nationally recognized, K-9 vendors, it is usually difficult to evaluate the dog's history or background.
This is another reason why thorough evaluation of the dog's mental stability is paramount.
Once the K-9 is selected, the agency liability does not stop there. Another area of agency liability is retention of the K-9.
An agency is ultimately liable for, as the Federal Courts have stated, a "misbehaving dog" and "misbehaving handler". Therefore, if the agency is retaining a misbehaving dog, the agency is liable for that action, or failure to act. Negligent retention has also resulted in vicarious liability in out-of-court settlements, paid by agencies.
How does an agency manage this issue? The evaluation of the K-9 is done at the same time as the evaluation of the K-9 handler. Remember, a K-9 team is just that, a handler and a dog. This is done through several ways:
If the agency sees a misbehaving dog, they must act to correct it.
As one Federal Court case stated: "…first, they (supervision) failed adequately to train the municipality's canine unit in the constitutional use of canine force; second, appellees failed adequately to supervise the performance of members of the canine unit to ensure that both misbehaving dogs and officers exhibiting bad judgment in the use of canine force received corrective training."
This requires corrective training of a misbehaving dog. Although rare, this would include removing the dog from K-9 deployment for corrective training, until the dog's deficiencies have been resolved.
The agency is ultimately liable for the K-9 team's actions. As such, progressive agencies take this responsibility very seriously.
The Federal government, who has the largest number of law enforcement K-9's in the United States, has studied the proper selection of the dog issue. They have published several research documents on Federal K-9 programs that specifically address dog selection. Their findings are consistent with this article.
The old expression, "you get what you pay for", has been historically true in law enforcement K-9. Focus on the most important decision in your K-9 program, selection of the dog.