In this training article Jerry Bradshaw discusses 5 keys to street readiness, from training the dog to alert to passivity, defense training aspects, control training processes, and the environment in which the handler expects his dog to live. Muzzle work, civil aggression and creating habits in engagement are also discussed.

1. S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 THE JOURNAL 89
• Proper Selection. Too often I see departments
come to test dogs, and they are looking to match a dog with a
particular handler. The problem is, sometimes these handlers
are new to K9, and we don’t even know if they will stay in the
program. Because they are new, selection devolves to picking
a dog suitable to that handler (low experience, not ready for a
strong dog) instead of one suitable for the job at hand. This is
a huge mistake. We must judge the success of a dog selection
on the quality of the dog to be able to do the job. The handler
must be able to rise to the quality of the dog we are selecting,
not lower the potential quality of the dog to suit someone who
probably has never held the leash of a working dog before.
Dogs that are expected to apprehend a violent felon need to
have high horsepower and intensity, often referred to in such
instances as “too much dog” for a new handler. However, the
real issue isn’t the dog, its “too little handler” but that should
be able to be addressed by proper training of the handler and
coaching to be able to handle a dog that is equal to the task.
So the moral of this key is, “don’t select a dog for a particular
handler’s situation, select a dog equal to the task he is going to
perform the rest of his career.”

2. 90 The Journal S U M M E R 2 0 1 9
• Train Self-Loading and a Reliable
Alert. In the beginning stages of protection training
of many K9 sports such as IPG (where a lot of police dogs
originate their early careers) the dogs are taught to react to the
decoy’s agitation and become aggressive as a reaction to the
decoy. Too often this one thing carries over into police dog
training where the dogs are worked by the decoys in the unit
“reactively” rather than teaching the dogs to “load” themselves
based on command (alert command, announcement) or
context (tactical positioning by a building door, engine block,
etc.). Police dogs need to be in the right frame of mind to
apprehend a violent felon who may likely be hiding (tracking
situation, building or area search) and this presents a passive
picture to the K9 upon locating the suspect. The dog must
already be in the frame of mind to execute an apprehension
as the suspect is unlikely to assist the dog with being in the
right frame of mind. A police dog must understand that
passivity, rather than activity on the part of a decoy and thus a
suspect, is the threat. Biting the passive subject will bring them
“alive.” Barking and showing aggression to passivity, and thus
be willing to engage passivity, is a huge key that starts at the
outset of training a green dog. The dog’s barking aggressively
should bring the decoy alive, bring the decoy in for a bite, and
thus the dog is in control of all apprehension situations. The
dog acts now, proactively alerting in situations when they see
a passive subject, and even when they don’t (search situation)
they self-load.
• Train Targeting. Reliable engagement is a
matter of habit. When dogs are not taught how to target
the human form in a reliable and habitual manner, they can
suffer from a choice paralysis in situations where the dog has
to decide where to bite. If we teach them to engage without
having to think, by having them engage the passive human
form in a small number of target areas, we remove the choice
element from the dog. The dogs are taught primary targets
(say, forearms (in and outside), triceps, and biceps) as well
as secondary targets in the legs (shin in front, and calf and
hamstring in the back). We use blocking (fended) strategies
to teach the dog to take the secondary target if the primary is
removed (bathroom stall apprehension) or unavailable. After
practicing these target areas, the dog will not have so many
choices and will make entry without thinking. Dogs that know
their target areas, do not have to slow and gather themselves
before hitting the subject, they run through them violently and
that hard strike which takes them down provides shock value
and allows the dog to secure pain compliance (the target areas
are limbs which can be gripped fully and thus pain compliance
can be achieved). When the dogs in training learn the habit
of engagement in all manner of passive subject encounters, on
both bite suits and hidden bite suits (competition weight suits
covered with street clothing, we reduce the likelihood the dog
is looking for any equipment cue, and get a swift and violent
engagement.

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Jerry Bradshaw is Training Director & President of Tarheel Canine Training, Inc. in Sanford, North Carolina. Jerry has been training dogs for competitive protection sports since
1991, and has competed in National Championship trials in both Schutzhund and PSA, winning the PSA National Championships in 2003 with his dog Ricardo v.d. Natuurzicht PSA
3. Jerry has trained many Belgian Malinois to the highest titles in the sports in which he competed including Arrow of Tigerpaws , SchH 3, BH; Ben von Lowenfels, SchH 2, BH; Rocky
de la Maison Des Lions PSA 3; and Ricardo v.d. Natuurzicht PH 1, PSA 3.
Tarheel Canine Training Inc. is a nationally renowned training facility for police service dogs, and has placed trained police dogs at federal, state and local law enforcement
agencies nationally and internationally since 1993. Jerry is often a featured speaker at national police K9 conferences, and travels extensively giving seminars to police departments,
the US Military, and sport trainers across the United States. Jerry has written a book, Controlled Aggression, which is rapidly becoming the standard text for understanding the
fundamentals of canine aggression training for police service, personal protection, and competitive dog sports. Jerry also maintains a free blog at www.tarheelcanine.com.
Many of the training concepts mentioned in this article are covered in depth in published articles available on the Tarheel Canine website at www.tarheelcanine.com/media-
area/training-articles/
Please feel free to make your handlers, trainers, and training groups aware of this resource.
For more information on this topic as well as other current police dog topics go to Jerry’s podcast website: www.ControlledAggressionPodcast.com .
• Proof with muzzle, civil
aggression and fake limbs. Contrary
to popular thought, muzzle work does not teach dogs to
“bite for real.” In fact muzzle does not teach dogs to bite
at all because a muzzled dog cannot bite! Biting behavior is
taught with equipment that is faded to hidden equipment,
and targeting that creates habits. Good muzzle work also
preserves targeting. Dogs must be encouraged to go to their
target areas as much as possible when being worked in muzzle
(decoying for muzzle fighting is an art in itself). The reason is
that most muzzle work degrades the targeting if it’s not being
worked actively. Dogs that knock decoys to the ground, off
leash, will often migrate around to the head and neck area of
the grounded decoys because that is where the dog gets the
most reaction from unskilled decoys working in muzzle. This
presents a number of issues the least of which is making the
dog unsure about where to go when a real bite situation occurs
and can create hesitation, and worst of all, teaches them to
be careless in targeting vital areas. The real value in muzzle
work is to make the dog reliable to engage the civil human
form. The biting behavior and targeting habits that follows
engagement needs to have been well developed prior to that.
Other techniques such as working the dog in civil aggression
situations that are close to a real bite but end in frustration
and visible commitment (jaw clacking) are very useful for
proofing. Civil aggression must be trained by experienced
decoys who understand proper manipulation of aggression
and drive channeling. Fake limbs are also used by some to
discipline the dog to the civil human form as well. These
have the additional advantage to preserve the target areas of
arm and leg. Remember engagement doesn’t result from any
one magic bullet, it is a layered approach of techniques from
grip development through targeting to hidden equipment to
proofing techniques as just discussed.
• Give proper structure to
handlers. Lastly, handlers need to understand their
dog is being prepared to do a seriously difficult job, engaging
and apprehending violent felons. This means they must be
a little on the “sharp” side to threats. Making the dogs into
a house pet, or allowing them to be petted by community
members when they get out of the vehicle makes the dog softer
to threats because the majority of their interactions when
coming out of the car are friendly encounters. We need our
dogs to be a little edgier, which means proper management of
them as tools of law enforcement rather than as ambassadors
of PR. The dogs should reside in kennels or crates overnight,
not be handled by anyone other than the assigned handler or a
back-up handler (usually another K9 officer), and be “looking
for trouble” when they come out of the vehicle. Handlers who
make their K9 partners into house pets may regret it when
they really need their dog to process a threat quickly, and
without warning.