Page 23 - BRAVO3_ISSUE1_MAY_JUN_2018

IfsomeonecomestoourHandlerPerformanceClassorcomestoaseminar,theveryfirstvideotheclass watchesisofmeblowinga1mile,onehourold,doubleblindtrail.IwanteveryonetoknowthatIam not perfect.Iam nota100% guyandwilneverclaim tobe.Alofuswilmakeamistakehereandtherebutwe needtotraintoidentifyandeliminateourweakareasthatcausethemistakes.
Wealsorecordthemajorityofourtraining,trailing,narcoticdetection,buildingsearches,everythingwecan video(Don’thavenightvisionrecordingcapabilities,wel,notyet!).Thisisoneofthemostvaluabletoolsyou canaddtoyourtraining.IprobablywatcheachtrailIrun15-20times.Istop,rewind,andlookforthingsI missedinthedogIwasrunning.IlearnsomuchmorebywatchingthesevideosthatIwouldnotifIhadnot recordedthem.Itakenotes,lotsandlotsofnotesfrom thevideos.UsingthetimecounterIrecordwhat happenedatthatexactpointintime.Iguessthiscanbetracedbacktomycolegefootbaldaysandalthe
sItookfrom myheadcoachatBCduringfilm review.Ifyouarenotrecordingyourtrailsyouneedto start.Ifsomethingstartsgoingsouthonatrainingdon’tyoudareturnthatvideoof!Keepitroling,recover from itandgetbackontask.Thisiswheretherealearningwiltakeplace.Thisisoneareathatitforcesyou tocheckyourego.Thereisnoarguingwithvideo,someactualytrythough.
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For years the police K9 community’s tracking has beenbasedonold,outdated sporttrainingmethods. Iam guiltyofthisinthepast. I folowedtheadviceoftrainers whoshowedmehowtogoout,
freshly laid, single blind trail. TheGSDwouldjusttakeofin the wrong direction, one Bloodhoundwouldstart,kind of,andthenjusturinateona tree,thengoanotherrandom 5 yards,urinate again and
ytoaparkorgolfcourse typearea,laymyowntrackfor myowndog,putabalatthe end,usualy walk back over thetopofthetrackthatIjust laidformyself,thengrabmy dog and guide him down a
ngoabitfurtherandagain. T h e la s t b lo o d h o u n d w a s a litlebeterbutnotmuch.We couldn’tuseanyofthem for the class,where we were teaching a tacticalteam to move with the K9 team
ntrack,inapark,thatis double laid (notalways)and hasabalattheendforthe dogs reward. Here is the problem;in 13 years Ihave neverhadtotrackmyselfwith mydogwhenworking.Ihave
The old footstep-to-footstep sport method does notwork. Now Iknow thereisseveralteamsouttheretrained in the old sportmethod who have multiple finds,butIaccreditmostof them to good containm ent,quick ar rival timing on scentand more ofarea
ly. Every one ofthese dogswasandisbeingusedon the street, to track/trail suspects and used forlost persons in the mountains of NorthCarolina.Notoneofthe three would eversee a long
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hadtotrackinanything butdense cover,woods,or brush. Inalotherareasof police training we preach, “Trainthewayyoufight.”You alhaveheardthisright?Then why in the heck are we stil l
dorharnessifIwastheir supervisor or trainer, other thanintraining. Iwouldbe wilingtobet,ifwelookedat their training records, they haveaveryhighpercentage ofsuccessfultracks/trails in
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way? Why,becauseweare lazyandtheoldadage(which Iabsolutely hate with every boneinmybody)of,“That’s the way it’s always been done.”
. Their tracks are almost always known, or marked and they track the same people overand over again in the same training locations.Iam notsayingthat weneverdomarkedtrails;
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police K9’s in this
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gthentracking/trailing. There has to be a shift to training our tracking/trailing teams in blind and d o u b le b lin d m e th o d s . I s e e it a l l th e timeinseminarsandclassesIteach, teams who are clueless how to work unknown tracks/trails. This stil lblows
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mind;theseteamsusualyhaveno ideawhatitlookslikefortheirdogsto starta track. They always know the tra c k /tra il s o b o o m , o f f th e y g o . I w a s helpingteachatacticaltrackingseminar in North Carolina a few years ago and we had three police K9 teams there.
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e w a s a p a tro l te a m , a G e rm a n Shepherd and the other two were Bloodhounds.Ontheirassessmenttrails notoneofthem couldruna1⁄4 mile,
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