Ford K9

This channel we cover various aspects of Detection Dog training... Ranging from Professional detection dog work to those who compete in sports like Nosework and Scentwork.

Ford K9
In this video I sit down with Chief Instructor Dave Hibbert of the Midlands Police Dog Centre. We talk about his program and more specifically the breeding program for Police Dogs they have there. Many in the United States say how it is impossible to have breeding programs domestically for Police K9s, yet many around the world show ways it can be done. I agree certain models of breeding programs are problematic or previous ones have failed. However if we look at the programs that have been successful as well as learn the lessons from the past… we can have programs in the US that provide viable dogs for detection and Police K9 needs. Www.fordk9.com
Interview with Dave Hibbert (Chief Instructor) West Midlands Police Dog Centre
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This is a video of three of our dogs currently in Bedbug Detection training getting ready for their new handlers that will start in a few more weeks. As you can see from the video the dogs work in environments with plenty of distraction and lots of other smells. It’s also important for us that the dogs have a clear indication that tells you when they have located the bugs. For more information or to have Ford K9 train your next detection dog visit www.FordK9.com 
Bedbug Detection Dog Training
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On this video we discuss some of the Odor containment and storage options we use here at Ford K9 TADDS (Training Aid Delivery Device) www.scik9.com Getxent Tube www.getxent.com 10oz Dredge Shaker can www.websturant.com 32oz Wide mouth Glass jar with metal lid. www.uline.com 50cal Ammo can www.amazon.com To learn more about being a Detection Dog Handler and Trainer go to www.fordk9.com
Odor Containment and Storage options
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At Ford K9 we want to share the value of KNOWING YOUR DOG... and Canine Cognition testing is one of the best ways to know how your dog thinks and learns. Richard Cassens is a SAR K9 Handler and Pet Dog Trainer. This interview gives you his perspective right after he just finished going through the Canine Cognition Seminar by Ford K9. For more information visit www.fordk9.com
Canine Cognition (Richard Cassens) Interview
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Here is an additional overview of the Classes, Seminars and Webinars feature on the NEW www.fordk9.com website.
NEW Fordk9com Classes and Webinars
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We are excited to announce the NEW www.fordk9.com Our new website is packed with new Classes, Seminars, Webinars, ONLINE CLASSES with 14 Instructors and best of all our new MEMBERSHIP packages. Go check out the NEW... FORDK9.COM
NEW Ford K9com
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You guys have asked what is the box we use for Odor Recognition Testing and the details about it. 49inches Long and 6 inches Tall and 6 inches wide. Center point from can to can is 12 inches. For more info go to www.fordk9.com
ORT Line up box
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Training search at NYPD Acadamy
NYPD Ofc. SCHAMBERGER and K9 ZADA
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This video is a complete review sharing my entire time in Switzerland. It covers the seminars I did with EDUCHIEN, the sightseeing I did, and getting to spend time with the Swiss police K9 unit in the region I was in. It was a great trip and I thank Michele Brandenburger for inviting me over and setting this up and Loure Hanouna for translating for me for 6 days!! www.FordK9.com
Ford K9 Seminars in Switzerland
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I get this question many times at seminars… When do I introduce Variable Reward Schedule into my Detection Dog Training? As with many answers in regards to training, this mostly depends on the dog. First there are a few different types of Variable Schedules in training, such as Type or frequency of Reward, next could Variable Time or Duration intervals (search time, indication). For this post we will talk about Variable Reward Type. We need to start off already knowing what our hierarchy of reward is. What I mean is what type of reward toys or types of food have highest value and ones with value but just not as high as that one coveted item. Once we know this this can give us the ability to Jackpot with our dog AND create that strong Dopamine and Gambler type mindset in the dog. This creates strong work from the dog as well. Why? Well because we took away the predictability away of when the Jackpot might happen BUT we create the knowledge of HOPE because it could (and will) happen. See YouTube video from Dr. Sopolsky https://youtu.be/ZIRZu1dRp8Q When should we introduce? We want to ensure we have made it far enough into the training that when we introduce this we have the basics of odor recognition and indication at a reliable level before we start this. So depending on your dogs progress you can begin to introduce the VRS with the various reward items and watch your dog begin to work harder in hopes the Jackpot shows up! Key point is you have to also know is you don’t want to go too many reps before jackpot. I know the next question is how many reps of VRS until Jackpot arrives, and again depends on dog but for sure you can go 2 or 3 no problem before Jackpot arrives. Don’t forget ALWAYS use your Marker signal… just what reinforcement you follow up with is what varies. Hope that helps. www.FordK9.com
Question #10 When to introduce Variable Reward Schedule
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In order to create the sit final response (if that is the behavior you need for a alert/indication to odor) it’s best to compartmentalize your training. What I mean by that is take this behavior teach it separate from odor to avoid errors or confusion when working odor. So a technique that I use is while I’m charging my Mark is I utilize the sit behavior to be the requirement during this training. In addition this also helps with impulse control. So what I require during my marker charging exercises is the dog goes into a sit position I mark and reward. I then increase the criteria requiring the dog to maintain the sit position and focused until released for various amounts of time. Once I see I have a pretty solid behavior with a sit position I will later require this as I increase criteria and behavior at odor. Key is, I must have the dog solid on odor first doing its typical natural behavior and then withholding reinforcement until the dog offers the sit behavior this typically happens faster because I’ve already of course taught this behavior as a answer in relation to marker training when I loaded the mark. So in the absence of reinforcement as the criteria changed the dog will default to a known behavior in order to receive reinforcement in most cases this will be a sit because of past experience. Again as I always tell everybody about any technique…this is just one way it’s not the way :) www.fordk9.com
Question #9 How do I teach a SIT final response with out creating handler depending.
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This is a follow on question to Question #4. Dealing with the FEAR of what I’m really rewarding??? This type of fear should not dictate reducing reinforcement on the real searches which is the actual mission of the K9 team… Nor should doing training to address issues if and when the come up Inadvertent or otherwise dictate the reduction of value to a real search… Don’t let a fear in many cases that you can’t even really prove on real searches dictate a significant risk of devaluation of your real search work. Well rounded training, Training with a plan… that has goals and objectives and never stops doing fundamentals, significantly reduces HANDLER fear when it comes to what your dog is a alerting on in a real search. It’s also important when you are able to you can give reinforcement on the real search keeps the dog highly motivated and not compartmentalizing that real searches are not the same value as training searches. www.fordk9.com
TO pay or NOT to pay… on Real Searches
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Are you dealing with a weak alert or indication to odor? What does your foundation look like? What have you really been reinforcing? www.fordk9.com
Question #8 Problems with the Alert/Indication to odor
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Question #7 Dealing with competing Motivators in Detection searches. Question #7 came in and it was how to deal with competing motivators in Detection. For example a dog who is motivated by searching out other animal smells and due to this motivation is distracted and may not focusing on target odor. If the dog is not very motivated for toy or food what do you do? Answer is bring things down to fundamentals and increase motivation for food with some minor deprivation such as not having the morning meal. Utilizing this hunger motivation and simplifying the search to be simply three objects one object contains target odor the other object is blank and the third object is distracting odor. The only time the dog gets reinforcement is when it pays attention to target odor. Once we have a decent foundation with a dog understands target odor is the only thing that pays and what feeds them this will start to have a higher value intrinsically than the distracting odor. From that point we can then introduce the dog back to more simple yet normal searches and go from there. As with anything else this is just one option but one that focuses it down to fundamentals to solve the problem. #detectionfundamentals #snifferdogs #detectionproblemsolving #odorpays #fordk9 
Question #7 Dealing with competing motivators in Detection.
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Question #1 What are things I look for in a puppy to potentially do Detection? There is no perfect answer and many aspects of a puppy can change as they grow… but here is a overview #fordk9puppies #detectiondogs www.fordk9.com
Question #1 What are things I look for in a puppy for Detection work?
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Question #2 Why does my dog leave odor? What do I do when my dog goes to odor… then leaves odor and searches or sniffs around other areas… then eventually comes back to odor? #detectionfoundations #odorpays #trainingdogs #k9fundamentals #fordk9 Www.fordk9.com
Question #2 Why does my dog leave odor?
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Question #3 What can I do…or how do I go about trying to become detection dog handler for a living? It all starts with Training and Education… Basic Handler school is a starting point. These days with more and more opportunities coming around in various avenues of detection such as, Entomology Detection (Bedbug) or canine conservation and others… you need to at least start off by having attended a bona fide K9 training center with instructors who have education and experience related to the detection skills… and of course there should be course standards required to pass a Basic Handler Class. All handlers Military or Police complete a Basic Handler school. Note: choose wisely as all Basic Handler schools are not created equally. However, just because you attend and pay for a school does not guarantee you a job. There are other aspects such as simply networking, volunteering, and reaching out to potential companies to find out what aspects they look for when hiring people to become Handlers. Additional education on various skills needed for that particular detection job are also critical…. And yes many times companies do seek out prior military or law-enforcement but again these days with the ever expanding market for handlers these requirements are no longer what someone must have to get a job as a detection handler. Dog Handler School www.fordk9.com
Question #3 How to become a Detection Dog Handler
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Question #4 Should you reward your dog on a real search or wait until you can confirm something is there? Also what do you do if the search area may have multiple finds? My answer is this…if your training is sound and you follow the proper principles of training and preparation, such as incorporating proofing Odors distracting odors, Blank searches, single blind and then Double Blind testing then why would you doubt what your dog is telling you when it alerts on a real search. Why would you create a circumstance where reality consistently looks different than training? Why would you open the door for someone to question whether or not you even believe your dog on a real search. Frequently, responses to this are "well I don’t want to inadvertently reward my dog for some other type of odor, or I want to be sure some thing is there before I give reinforcement". We all know there are many circumstances in which the dog will indicate to the odor but no substance can be found, this does not mean the dog was wrong. However, if we keep not reinforcing on real searches because of being unsure… why are we doing real searches?? If you want the legal system or a client to have faith and trust in your dogs ability and your ability to work your dog then your training should prepare you for real searches and you should be able to reinforce the dog when it properly does the trained response because it located the presence of target odor. Of course there are safety considerations, as well as when we are using variable reward schedules but even in those circumstances if you use a conditioned reinforcer (marker signal) you are at least able to signify to the dog that what they did was correct. We also understand there are no perfect dogs and there are no perfect Handlers and if for whatever reason on a real search the dog indicated to something non-target...you utilize this information to address and create corrective action that you need to work on in training. Again, the legal system understands and is not looking for a perfect dog so if in the history of the dog both in training and reality there are errors this is understood if we try to portray that we have a perfect dog they are already going to know we are not being forthcoming with our information. Push yourself in training have a proper training system in place and your training and reality should match up as close as possible so that way you are best prepared when deploying your dog.
Question #4 Should you Reward on Real Searches???
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Question #6 How do I start dogs on Odor, what should or even should I have a Final Response to odor, and what aspect of Detection is most important? There are many ways to get to the end result of a train detection dog. What I look for is clarity of task which means I want the dog to understand target odor is the most important. Using Delayed Conditioning instead of commonly used simultaneous Conditioning helps make this process, and teaches ODOR is the path to Reward not the other way around. When it comes to your final response do what works best for you but also understand the golden rule of you get what you reinforce. Searching is always going to be the most important factor in Detection training without searching Skills Odor Recognition Skills are going to be limited with a dog who doesn’t even want to go out and look for anything to begin with. #odorpays #delayedconditioning #yougetwhatyoureinforce #searchingisakeycomponet #detectiondogs #fordk9
Question #6 How do we start a Detection Dog
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Question #5 Food Reward with Detection dogs?? The question came in on why I even bother with food rewards when I have dogs with strong toy motivation... Why bother with food? Food is a primary reinforcer... Food also allows for more frequency of repetition especially early in the development of a task such as Detection. Many times for dogs food keeps the arousal level in a state where the dog can easily learn and NOT be overstimulated by let's say their favorite toy. Over stimulation and arousal inhibits learning and prevents metal flexibility during new tasks. We see this all the time. The key here is to keep the dog at the highest point of the bell cure... Bored or no motivation which means minimal learning or the other side... Overstimulated and anxiety also minimal learning... We want motivated and focused and clarity of the mind so we can get the most out of our training session. Look, I know many will say TOY IS THE WAY... And it for sure is a great reward... Others will say FOOD IS THE WAY. For me... I use both. We start each session with food as the reward during first few reps, however the session always ends with the JACKPOT reward toy item for the dog. Last thing, the important aspect for every handler is to know what your dogs hierarchy of reward is. Know what your dog‘s favorite toy is and know what the other toys are that also have value but maybe not as much as the favorite. you can also do this with food you can find out which food pieces or types of food really get your dog going and what other pieces of food are interesting but not quite as much as the favorite. Knowing this will definitely help you when applying variable reward schedules. #detectionknowledge #knowyourdog #notonesolutionforeverything #fordk9 
Question #5 Why use food at all in Detection
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K9 Pixel first training search of a hotel room for Bedbug Detection. Www.fordk9.com
K9 Pixel First search of a hotel room for Bedbugs
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This was from the seminar in Albuquerque for the Sandia search and rescue group
Canine Cognition Seminar
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 Here is another (but better) video recap from the training I was doing at the WSPCA seminar in Reno. My classes were “How to avoid Handler Bias” and “The Odor Pays process of training” after that we did practicals on ORTs, K9 independence and Building a stronger Alert. #WSPCA #detectiondogs #policek9 #drugdogs #delayedconditioning #fordk9
WSPCA 2021
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Acclimation to Odor Skinner Box
April 1, 2021
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Developing search and Hunting skills with the Ford K9 Springer pups...
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This is a puppy Skinner box for odor association.
Puppy odor Skinner box
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This is part of our puppy to detection dog process (Puppies Rip and Chip). Here we are building possession and doing things like opposition reflex (gently lifting the dogs and pulling them back by the collar at the same time pulling the toy) this something that can create stronger desire to possess. Also simple chase and retrieve games.
Possession Building with puppies
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