Could your energetic, smart dog be ready for training?
Understanding how a police dog is able to locate illicit drugs may build an appreciation for the work they are seen performing on TV and in news reports. Although there is no one way to train a dog to effectively detect illicit drugs, there are guidelines followed by national accrediting associations. If you think your dog is smart, energetic and motivated, you may attempt to train your dog yourself, but realize that only dogs used by actual police officers can be officially certified to detect drugs.
Instructions
1. Practice general obedience commands with your dog before moving on to drug-sniffing training. Teach your dog walk at a normal pace, fast page and slow pace on your command. Decide what words you will use to command your dog to walk at various paces and to sit as well as stay. Use those command words consistently. Reward your dog with a treat and verbal praise during training whenever it performs correctly.
2. Train your dog to locate specific items as this is what a dog must do to pass an official drug-detection certification test. Choose items such as a credit card, wallet, shotgun shell and wooden handled screwdriver that are made of various materials to train your dog to locate different types of items. Show each item to your dog and associate it with a specific word such as "plastic," "leather," "metal" or "wood." Hide the items in various places in a room of your house or backyard. Use specific commands for each item such as "find plastic" for the credit card, "find leather" for the wallet, "find metal" for the shotgun shell and "find wood" for the screwdriver. Reward your dog as it finds each item. Ensure that your dog can consistently locate three items before moving on to drug-detection training.
3. Purchase pseudo narcotic scents to test your dog's ability to locate narcotics such as marijuana, cocaine, heroine and other illicit drugs. Present no more than five pseudo scents to the dog and associate each with a name.
4. Hide the pseudo scents in and around your garage, including at least one that is hidden inside a parked and nonrunning car. Vary the heights of the pseudo-scented items so that some are placed high (about 4 feet off the ground) and others are placed low along the ground.
5. Command your dog to find the items you have hidden. Reward the dog with a treat and verbal praise when your dog finds each item.
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