make for a more realistic search. Not
knowing when you were going to get
zapped certainly helped to get my
adrenaline flowing.
Mike Colton responds: I have
my doubts about this being an enhanced odor issue and believe it is
more likely an energy issue. This is
a two-part concern — one part is a
lack of energy during routine training and the other part is an overabundance of hectic energy during
street deployments. Whether you
realize it or not, your actions and
energy during training days are
likely also very different. We all
tend to get into the same rut in
training and our dogs do too. They
are masters of perception and seem
to know when you are at threat
level green as is typical in a controlled setting during training, or
when you suddenly escalate to
threat level red as in an actual deployment. This can be difficult to
re-create but it can be done.
I would recommend that you
dedicate one half of each training
day to the more mundane, but necessary topics like control work,
while the other half should be scenario-based. Try to train with others
so they can develop scenarios that
neither you nor your dog have encountered before. Incorporate
blanks, paint-marking cartridges or
airsoft guns to amp your awareness
levels. In much the way we do during repeated firearms training, your
dog will likely begin to respond in a
more consistent manner.
Be cautious not to overdo the
stimulus so as to create unwanted
behaviors displayed by your dog.
Always incorporate impulse control
work into your training to maintain
a calm focused K- 9 partner. This
leads to subduing some of the extra
energy displayed by your partner so
