Material for a 1-hour lesson, part of the Basic Police Service Dog Course, developed by the Kosovo Police Service School
The building search is one of the most important functions performed by the patrol dog. The dog is performing the search under conditions that are very dangerous for the handler and is extremely dangerous for non-canine personnel. We will attempt to cover the different aspects of the training and concepts involved, the search system and box searches. We have tried a lot of different ways and have found some to be more proficient than others. We will attempt to explain our reasons for using these methods as opposed to others. Most have involved a trial and error method or variations of existing procedures.
In the introduction portion of this handout we will attempt to cover some general subjects relating to building searches. We will then explore and discuss not only these subjects but also other matters that are important to successful building searches.
Before the building search training is started the dog must be proficient in the following:
We must also be aware that the dog will use whatever sense is most convenient for him when performing any function, including the building search. It is our responsibility to ensure that the dog becomes extremely proficient in the use of his nose to detect people in a building. The nose is used almost exclusively to at least locate the subject in a certain area of the building, and the other senses then may come into play by narrowing the area and helping to find the subject.
Whether we are just starting a dog in training or working with an experienced dog, we must always be aware of the different types of scents that might be present, depending on the type of building we're searching. Also keep in mind that temperature and airflow, in certain areas, will be having an effect on scent and influence the type and strength of the indication. Remember that your general knowledge in these areas will only increase by a trial and error method in training. If your dog has difficulty or cannot locate a subject in certain areas in training, it will make you aware of possible problem locations in a real search.
One of the problems that continually crops up is the dog that has problems with different types of surfaces. We have all seen this type of dog and wonder what we can do to solve this problem. We feel it is important and we have taken steps to see if our new dogs have this problem before we start training. Although we test on these different types of surfaces beforehand, we still find dogs that react differently when under stress. There are different methods to try to correct this problem, which we will try to screen for this behavior, although it is not possible in all situations and cases, yet we cannot emphasize that this type of behavior can rear its head at any time. The possibility of you or another officer being injured has to be considered when making any concessions to this problem.
The goal of this lesson is to provide the students with a better understanding of methods used to train a police service dog to locate and apprehend a suspect hidden inside a building.
At the end of this lesson the students will be able to: