K-9 DETECTION FORCE
INTERNATIONAL

THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE JULY 1999

The purpose of the following article is to address the importance of Decoy Work to Police k-9 personnel.  By no means should this be considered exclusive to the Police K-9 community. Furthermore, I hope everyone who reads this article is able to find some information of value. Enjoy.

    When the subject of training Police Service Dogs (PSD’s) is discussed, many topics come to mind.  One topic which is probably the most overlooked, yet among the most important is Decoy Work.  Many reasons may be cited for the lack of importance placed on this subject.  Perhaps the most common reason for this is a lack of understanding European dog sport programs such as Schutzhund, IPO, Ring Sport and KNPV. Each program places great emphasis on proper Decoy Work and the role it plays in the training of the dog(s). Many of our PSD’s come from Europe and clubs or kennels there that train the dogs toward a sport title. Realizing this it makes sense to learn about the way the dog(s) were trained prior to being imported.

        It is not essential that a K-9 handler make a life study of mentioned programs, but obtaining a basic understanding of the program goals and fundamentals will demonstrate the importance of proper Decoy Work. This type of approach will also help the handler understand why his/her K-9 partner may behave in certain ways in training or on the street.

        Before we go further, let’s for the purpose of our discussion, define a Decoy and his/her role. Next to the dog, the Decoy is perhaps the most essential factor in the overall success of a K-9 training program.  A good Decoy is usually a dog trainer of sorts who has a good understanding of the basics of dog training. He/she should be in decent physical condition have good communication skills, work well with others and above all else know how to read dogs.

        The role of the Decoy is to work in conjunction with the handler and sometimes with a third person like a training director. His/her mindset should be to improve the performance of the dog. This should help enhance the effectiveness of the K-9 Team.  The Decoy is there to help the dog and is a valuable training tool.

        Good Decoy Work is much more than just putting on an old fashioned barrel sleeve and running around ‘taking bites’. It entails the application of various skills. We will discuss some decoy skills and some bite work problems developed by poor decoy work. Techniques that may help fix or avoid these bite work problems will then be discussed.

        The scenario we will start with is quite common. We are a newly selected K-9 officer. Along with an experienced member of our unit, we go to select a dog. The ‘salesman’ shows us a K-9 prospect that fly’s into the bite and has a deep full grip dead center on the sleeve. We are impressed and start a school with our new K-9 partner.

        During the school others compliment on our dog’s performance. We hear things like “what a bite” and “he hits hard”. Near the end of school, however, we notice that our dog is slowing on the entry, seems to target the end of the sleeve and doesn’t always bite full and deep anymore.

        Well, these problems more often than not stem from poor decoy work. In fact, in many K-9 schools the proper use of the sleeve and/or bite suit is never even addressed.  This is not to say that the entire Police K-9 world is lacking in this area or that poor decoy work is the norm. In fact some of the more open-minded and progressive instructors are careful about whom they allow to work the dogs. None the less, the mentioned problems can be directly attributed to improper decoy work.

        Let’s start with the slowed entry of the dog for this article and save the other two identified problems for future articles. It is true that some trainers don’t want the dog to fly into the bite fully committed. They want the dog to slow down and not miss the decoy. Say this is not the case with our example. Our dog doesn’t fly hard into the bite anymore and we wish it still did.

        Well these are some possible reasons why our dog’s entry has slowed.    First, some people allowed to catch the dogs take sort of a macho attitude of “this dog isn’t gonna knock me down” and stand fully braced against the incoming force of the dog. The dog comes in hard and fast, and there is a tremendous impact. In this formula there is a lot of energy and it all goes somewhere, mostly into the dog in an adverse manner.

        Now let’s look at second possible cause, the decoy you are using doesn’t mean any harm, but no one has schooled him/her in basic decoy skills.  If this is the case, then the fault doesn’t rest with the decoy, but with a lack of knowledge. He/she is enthusiastic about helping, but doesn’t understand the principles of yielding to the in coming force of the dog and absorbing the hit upon entry. If you have someone like this assisting you and they really want help, get him/her some quality instruction it will be worth the investment.

        Thirdly, and sadly enough it is true, some people out there with experience in Decoy Work will try to harm our dog on purpose. This often is done by jamming the dog upon entry. As you learn more about decoy work and see more good decoys at work, you’ll be able to spot the bad guys. I don’t have much more to say about this other than try to stay away from these situations.

        Now that we have identified three potential reasons for a slowed entry, let’s discuss a basic exercise I call the ‘Trail and Release Exercise’ It requires handler/decoy coordination. This exercise should be done using a harness or an agitation collar and a long line. It is simple, but the timing is critical.

        First of all, handler and decoy must get on the same page by discussing what exactly is to be done. I have found that a ‘dry run’ helps. Let’s start with the dog on the long line 7-10 ft behind the decoy and the dog having no more than 6 ft of line out. The decoy begins to jog slowly (I prefer using a bite suit, but a sleeve is ok). The handler follows with the dog pulling towards the bite maintaining the distance between dog and decoy.

        On a signal from the handler, the decoy sprints and the dog is released almost immediately. This requires the dog to launch into the bite. The decoy should allow the impact of the dog to push him into his/her next few steps to help absorb the impact. The distance between decoy and dog can be adjusted until the best launch is developed and/or maintained.

        This is a very basic exercise, but there is much more to it than can be described in a short paragraph. Also, different aspects of bite work training can be worked into this exercise such as targeting and bite adjustment. We will discuss some of these in future articles.  Feedback is more than welcome. Happy training!

The author is a Police Officer for the Aventura Police Department in Miami-Dade County, Florida. He owns and operates K-9 Detection Force International, Inc.,  is a Certified Police Instructor and a Certified Defensive Tactics Instructor. He has attended the State K-9 Instructors Course, and a Narcotics Detection Dog Trainers Course. Additionally, he is cross designated as a US Customs Officer (Blue Lightning Strike Force), and a Regional Certifying Representative for The International Canine Narcotics Detection Foundation (ICNDF).