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K-9 Units or Patrols

Dogs (K9’s) have been used by people to help protect themselves and their property since ancient times. Trained dogs have been used by most of the world’s military forces since the first military units were organized. From these ancient beginnings, dog training has been continuously refined to produce highly sophisticated and versatile extensions of law enforcement.

The K9s unique capabilities are used by the military and police organizations to:

• Secure installations and property
• Apprehension of suspects
• Assist in search and rescue missions
• Drug enforcement
• Bomb detection
• Community relations programs

K9’s Senses and Training

A dog can be trained to respond consistently to certain sensory stimuli (odors, scents, sounds, movement, and so forth) to alert the handler. If the dog’s reaction to selected stimuli is always rewarded by the handler, the reward reinforces the dog’s behavior, motivating the dog to repeat the actions. A properly trained handler learns to recognize the dog’s reactions and to recognize the source because of the characteristics of the reaction learned during training.

Under almost any set of circumstances, a properly trained dog can smell, hear, and visually detect movement better than a person. Trained dogs respond to selected stimuli and alert their handlers to that which they have been trained to detect. The dogs’ detection abilities can be inconsistent; however, some variance is normal and must be considered when evaluating a dog’s performance.

K9’s Handler

Each handler is personally responsible for their assigned dog. The handler trains, employs, feeds, cares for, and otherwise maintains his or her assigned dog in every way. The dog depends directly on the handler and, in keeping with the principle of one dog—one handler, the dog should never have to depend on anyone other than the assigned handler. The handler is responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the dog’s environment, as well as operation, maintenance, and cleaning of the kennels, kennel support building, training area, exercise area, obedience course, and any other areas or equipment that are included in the kennel facility. The handler is also responsible for maintaining accurate, complete, and current training and utilization records of the service dog.