Police K-9 Magazine - September/October 2010

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The life of a police dog begins in the Center’s maternity hospital, where approximately 150 puppies are born each year. By virtue of consistent work, puppies are selected as young as two months of age for certain service categories, according to their abilities.

The process of dog training in Romania consists mainly of the following steps.

1. The Initiation Course: Taking over a young dog, gaining elementary theoretical knowledge in cynology, and doing initial pre-training exercises with the dog. The dog usually comes from the Center’s nursery, but also may be purchased on the open market or may be donated.

2. Pre-training at the Territorial Units: Pre-training exercises begun during initiation are continued at the various territorial units the handlers belong to. Training takes place under the guidance of a senior trainer. Within the pre-training program, the dog is stimulated to search and retrieve an object. He also becomes accustomed to powerful environmental stimuli and learns several skills in obedience training.

3. Specialization of teams at the Sibiu Dog Training Center: After the dogs reach the age of 12 months, the canine teams return to the Center to attend the specialization course. In order to be admitted to the course, both the handler and the dog must pass several tests specific to the category they are training for. The skills for training are evaluated, as are the dog’s discipline (response to commands, working methods, canine posture); the passion for search and retrieval (the dog’s desire to grip an object that is in the

handler’s hand, the quickness of his movements in following the object, the passion with which he seeks and retrieves); the dog’s temperament and behavior; the level of socialization (the promptness with which the dog responds to the handler’s call); the reaction to powerful environmental stimuli (the dog’s response to aggression — courage or indifference); his response to various powerful, unexpected sounds; and his response to sudden movements made by a person close by.