Articles

The character of the dog is determined by 2 factors:

1. Genetic traits.

2. The effect of training.

The genetic traits consist of instinct and drive and when examined can assist us to determine whether the dog is "hard" or "weak". Those dogs considered to be hard are not affected by environmental conditions and remain focused. Those considered to be weak are greatly affected and are therefore considered wholly unsuitable for Police work.

Prey Drive

1. Trigger - what triggers prey drive? The movement of prey away from the dog is the greatest stimulator of this drive. However, prey drive can be stimulated through lateral movement also, although to a lesser degree.

2. Instinct - what instincts are aroused in the dog? As a predator, the dog will follow the pattern of focus, attack, shake and hold.

3. Goal - what is the goal of the action? To fulfil the predatory cycle of catch the prey, immobilise and kill.

Defence Drive

1. Trigger - what triggers defensive drive? The increase of pressure through raised threat. The level of threat perceived by a dog is somewhat controlled by the individual strength of character. The "critical zone" or distance between dog and threat (and level of threat) varies from dog to dog.

2. Instinct - what instincts are aroused in the dog? The dog, having triggered defensive drive, will offer aggression starting with visual displays. Heightened posture, raised tail and hackles followed by bared teeth and barking are unmistakable in declaring intent. The drive is fulfilled with the bite which will be reinforced with the aforementioned visual signals.

3. Goal - what is the goal of the action? To diminish the threat and subsequently enforce its removal altogether.

It should be pointed out that closely linked to defensive drive is an alternative called Avoidance Behaviour. It is triggered in the same way as defensive drive and the goal of diminishing the threat remains but the instinct is to avoid the threat. This would generally take the form of flight, in other words the dog is removing itself from danger rather than forcing the threat away. It is therefore down to the character classification of the dog, hard or weak, that determines which course of action it would take.

Fight Drive

1. Trigger - what triggers fight drive? Physical confrontation and violence, in other words, the physical act of fighting.

2. Instinct - what instincts are aroused in the dog? To raise its aggression levels even further to ensure dominance and control of the threat.

3. Goal - what is the goal of the action? To diminish the threat through raised physical aggression.

Defensive and fight drives are very closely linked as we can see from the trigger, instinct and goal breakdown. It is the ability of a good decoy to offer the correct level of resistance during the fight phase that ensures the development of the dog in this phase. The decoy must be able to recognise when to allow the dog to start to dominate the encounter, thus ensuring a successful training experience for the dog.

Initial Training

It is widely accepted that all bite work training, whether with a puppy or adult dog, should be started in prey drive. Because of the mechanics of a prey bite, that is to say, a full and firm bite to gain as much control of the prey as possible, it is desirable to teach the dog to bite in this way from the outset. It promotes one bite site which serves to minimise the chance of escape as there is no movement of the jaws and also to minimise injury to the subject. Shallow bites can be adjusted through allowing the dog to "counter", a natural reaction to an escaping prey. Once the actual bite is consistent and confidence is evident, defensive training can be introduced. Developmental Training The process of introducing defensive training is a relatively simple one and follows a simple routine.

1. Fixing - the art of gaining the dogs attention through suspicion. Decoy posture, eye contact and threat are the tools of the trade and the object is to move the dogs thought process towards that of defence.

2. Pressure - to apply the correct amount of pressure to ensure the dog is controlling the situation. This involves "weakening" as a decoy when the dog shows particularly strong behaviour.

3. Switch - move the dog back into prey drive to momentarily release the pressure of defence work.

4. Pressure - re-apply defensive pressure to raise defensive drive and on gaming defence, allow the bite.

The process of applying and releasing pressure throughout the bite process continues in order to develop fight drive. The dog subsequently always wins the fight and this should not always be as the result of a bite. The dog should recognise that sometimes a defence display is sufficient to repel the attacker. This serves 2 purposes in that confidence increases within the dog and it will be more willing to engage a threat.

Secondly, by readily adopting a defence display the instances of a threat actually engaging the dog are reduced. Police dogs are, after all, primarily used as a show offeree to gain control of a situation. Their deployment to physically engage a threat is secondary in that the threat has not complied.

Graeme Jones (ACPO Inst., MBIPDT, SEC Decoy)