Making a Drug Detector Dog Team
Inside the training of HM Customs dogs and handlers
Step back to 1987 to discover how drug detector dogs and their handlers were selected, trained and prepared for operational work.
In this recorded webinar, I take you back to the beginning of my career as an HM Customs Drug Detector Dog Handler, when I arrived at RAF Newton to begin training with the RAF Police.
I went there to learn how to become a dog handler. But the dogs were learning too.
This is the story of how we were trained together.
Inside the webinar
You'll hear about:
- What trainers were looking for in potential drug detector dogs
- Why play was so important
- How we introduced dogs to the target scents
- The three-step method I learned then and still use today
- Why our dogs gave active indications rather than passive indications
- How completely inexperienced handlers learned alongside their dogs
- What happened when a dog didn't make the grade
- How we moved from training exercises into real working environments
- What we had to do to qualify as operational dog handlers
- How four very different dogs each played a part in my own training
You'll also hear some of the questions people asked during the original live webinar, including questions about indications, missed finds, maintaining motivation and what happened when things didn't go according to plan.
This isn't about how to train your dog
This webinar is a first-hand account of how we were trained in 1987, not a description of current HMRC dog training or a claim that professional detection work is carried out in exactly the same way today.
Much of what I learned nearly 40 years ago still influences the way I train and teach scentwork now. Other things belong very firmly to a particular time, organisation and job.
That's part of what makes looking back at it so interesting.
"WOW !!! Pam, that was a wonderful talk, really, really enjoyed every minute of your presentation"
Michelle Roberts
About me
I'm Pam Mackinnon, founder of Talking Dogs Scentwork®.
Before I began teaching companion dog scentwork, I worked as an HM Customs Drug Detector Dog Handler. I trained with the RAF Police and worked with a number of detector dogs, eventually qualifying with Ben before later being teamed with Ash.
This webinar grew out of the questions I've been asked over the years about that part of my life, particularly how the dogs were trained and how I learned to work with them.
For the first time, I've brought the whole story together.