GREEN DOGS vs UNTRAINED DOGS

A “Green” dog is an inexperienced/novice canine identified by a vendor as having potential to be a working dog.

An “Untrained” dog is not trained in a particular skill or no attempt has been made to train the dog in any particular skill.

A “Working Dog/Police Canine” must be trained in several specialized skills – article searches; narcotic or explosive detection in vehicles, buildings, wooded and open areas; building searches for apprehension; tracking on multiple surfaces; hunt/apprehension – if applicable canine engages suspect until handler deems situation safe for release. If canine cannot subdue suspect due to location canine alerts at source; must be neutral to gunfire; and obedient in all areas.

In addition, canines should be social to the point of being tolerant with the public in a static setting.

“Above is a long list of credentials for a Working Police Canine. There is a lot more to a potential working dog than bite work. Canine selection should not be solely on the bite”. 

Canines labeled “Green” dogs are often introduced to bite work only (most from a sport dog mentality). Behavior issues that surface are not addressed by the vendor and are left to the buyer to fix. Typically, “Green” dogs are pushed and sold by vendors at 1.5 years – 2yrs of age.

Departments purchasing “Green” or “Untrained” dogs, conduct some in-house training and/or go through a course program with the vendor, push the dogs on the streets and then wonder why they are constantly fighting the dog on basic fundamentals.  Sport dog fundamentals do not relate in the  Working Dog/Police Canine environment. The end result is a dependence on the use of a shock collar for control, or no control in specific areas.

Canine Tactical believes if you purchase a “Green” dog from a vendor, that canine should be a novice in all areas described above, not just in bite work.  Some vendors do train their “Green” dogs to a certain level, but that level is not enough. If its in detection, it should be in all areas and not just boxes.  If it is in bite work, canine should be novice in all areas of bite work i.e. bite release at all times (without electric usage), civil, muzzle, etc…If it is in tracking, should be on all surfaces and greater distances up to a mile.  A 5-week course should be the trainer with a trained canine teaching a new handler how to implement their canine in all areas and how to work and communicate with the canine, as opposed to the trainer teaching the new handler how to train the canine.

Next month newsletter:  Handlers are not trainers