The lessons come from the approach of a high standard. In other words, this course teaches how to solve problems and -better yet- how to prevent those problems from developing in the first place. Furthermore, there are many ways to train a police dog. We will repeatedly supply the student with the best ways to accomplish that goal. Your uncle Wilbur may have trained dogs differently than we teach, but be assured the methods taught are literally world-class, up-to-date, and relevant to the times in which we live.
There will be handouts for you to download, videos to view, and notes to be taken while watching the videos. Some videos may not have accompanying handouts; it is therefore your responsibility to take notes of the information therein. There is a Final Exam at the end of the course so these handouts and notes will be extremely valuable for review. The Final exam can be taken here on-site, if you like. Contact us for available dates.
To facilitate hands-on training, online students are invited to visit us here at the College. This is NOT required but certainly encouraged. Be advised that there are prerequisites for your visit. The visit is designed to be towards the end of the course. Therefore, at the time of your visit, you and your dog will need to be on cold trails, past imprinting on target odor, and you should have some decoy/helper experience. Your visit will help to expand the skills of both you and your dog. If you are not far enough along in by one of these dates, you must wait until the next available date. Contact us for available dates.
Course requirements for graduation: complete all course material and homework assignments, Final Exam, send videos to your instructor of you and your dog/s completing K9 skills (what we call the Practicals), or visit on-site to take your Final and Practicals. The final grade will be determined by these Practicals videos as well as the Final Exam. As with all of our other courses, students must at least acquire a final grade of 80% to graduate. Graduates are certified as a K9 Instructor.
The four video requirements are: #1) Off-leash obedience training with you and your dog/s, #2) a detection dog trained/handled by you, #3) a tracking/trailing dog trained/handled by you on cold trails at least 10 minutes old and 1/4 mile long, #4) you acting as a decoy/helper with an apprehension dog, with at least a minimum skill level of puppy sleeve work.
This course emphasizes obedience, trailing, bitework (including decoy work), and detection. These skills are taught from a leading-edge perspective, not low-level, outdated training. Graduates who utilize these methods will operate on a higher tier than many K9 trainers out there. DTC constantly encourages our students to strive for excellence; never settle for mediocre.
A snippet of what the course includes is below:
Training Fundamentals
Conditioning
Phases of Training
Correction vs. Reward
Obedience Training
Basic and Advanced
Proper use of a Prong collar
Proper use of a Remote collar
Canine Health
Canine CPR
Canine First Aid
Kennel Management
Teaching Practical Agility
Confidence Development
Scent Theory
The Trailing Dog
Osphresiology
Narcotics and Explosives Detection
Selection of K9s
Puppy
Adult
Testing necessary drives
Drive Development
Puppy development
Prey Drive
Defense Drive
Hunting Ability
Training the Search (Narcotics & Explosives)
Imprinting Target Odor
Simple Direct Association
Deferred Response
Other Detection Training Methods
Search Methods
Vehicle Searches
Building Searches
Teaching the Alert
Problem Solving
Proofing
Protection Equipment
Bite Sleeves
Bite Suit
Muzzle
Decoying Techniques
Proper Handling Techniques
Agitation
Working the Grip
Target Biting
Channeling Drives
The Trailing Dog
Scent Theory
Variable Surface Trailing
Scent Discrimination Trailing
Problem Solving
Patrol Containment Techniques
Criminal Apprehension
Building Searches
Open Area Searches
K9 Swat Integration
Problem Solving
Law Enforcment K9
Case law
Tactical Insertions
Search & Seizure
History of K9 training
Real-life Scenario training
Final Exam and Certification