Semper Fi, Always Faithful
Un Ab Alto, One Above All
Ad Serviendum ac Protegendum, To Serve and Protect
These words are all too familiar for the men and women of our Marine Corps, Air Force, Police Force, and other Military Forces around the US. However, they are also apparent in the attitude, loyalty, and drive in the K-9 units trained by these men and women.
Recently, I had an amazing opportunity to photograph Air Force, Marine, and Police dog trainers in action at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
The three main breeds used by the military and the police are the German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, and Dutch Shepherd. These dogs are used because of their herding skills, which transfers well to law enforcement. Some other breeds may be intimidating, like the Rottweiler or Doberman Pinscher, but they don't do as well as the preferred breeds at detection work. These breeds are well balanced dogs that can do the detection work (explosives, drugs, people, etc), protection work, and have the agility needed for extreme obedience. These breeds are also great at adapting to the different environments they are subjected to, so they are able to be deployed when duty calls.
One of the interesting things that I noticed while photographing the handlers and dogs, is that they don't use food for motivation, they use toys. Brice Cavanaugh, owner and trainer for Total Dog and former Marine and Police K-9 officer, says, "The reason we use toys rather than treats, is because these dogs are prey-driven animals. They are more motivated by visual stimulus than through their stomachs." He adds, "food is also messy to deal with on a long shift." "However, if we identify a dog that is more motivated by food, then we will train accordingly."
Below, a police officer is practicing his tactical advances. In this situation, the officer is looking for a safe way to get from one position to another. Once safety is established, the handler will call, with the quiet snap of a finger, the dog to him. Brice reminds me, "If the officer is running toward a position, then has to drastically change direction, the dog is not right there. Misfires can happen, as well as injury and worse. This is why the officer makes sure all is clear before calling the dog to him."
Here, Brice and Monk are practicing the 'place' command. Brice teaches 'place' to help the dog learn about full body coordination and to focus them. Monk, Brice's dog, "is a very driven and crazy (for the toy) dog, so I need to bring him to a point of focus sometimes...an intricate PLACE takes concentration and discipline." 'PLACE' is kind of like target training, where dogs are taught to go to a target. Later in the dog's training, the 'place' command will be used to teach the dog to move left, right, forward, and back. Below, Monk follows hand signals from a great distance. "It is because he learned to go to a target. We started out close, then increased the distance." Once dogs understand the 'place' command Brice is able to teach them precise heeling and other commands that require the dog to be in a specific location.
I know this is serious, but come on Monk, now you're just showing off!
Here, the handlers are teaching the dog to go after a 'bad guy'. Sometimes, when officers train a dog to take down a suspect, they use a bite sleeve, or bite suite. But today, they practiced both the muzzle and the bite sleeve techniques. The reason they train the dogs to attack with a muzzle, is because the dogs can become conditioned to only bite the armored target, which is bad, because bad guys aren't usually running around with bite armor! To teach the dogs to not associate the bite armor with attack, they are muzzled and taught to take down the subject with their bodies as well.
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