sad successor to a once-brilliant initiative: using shelter dogs as cop-k9s & detection-k9s

[leashedForLife]

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Before 9/11, the Border Patrol in the U-S used exclusively shelter dogs to search for contraband - that might be drugs, explosives, big cash, weapons, or other smuggled goods, such as exotic wildlife [living or dead], wildlife PARTS, poached game, etc.

the U-S Fish & Wildlife, a Federal dept, also used dogs sprung from shelters - they searched boats, shipping containers, airplanes, luggage, cargo, vehicles, & persons for smuggled or hidden banned foods [which might transport pests or pathogenic microbes], live plants in soil, fresh fruits & veg, dead or living exotic species, wildlife parts, poached game or illegal fish / shellfish, & more.

Shelter employees or volunteers would nominate dogs who were too antsy & active to be good pets, but who would be perfect working dogs - active, enthusiastic, hard to discourage, never-quit dogs.
They'd be tested by a rep, who would take dogs that met their search criteria - having witnessed one such "test", I think at least some of their testing-reps were sadists who enjoyed torturing both dogs & humans, but that's a different topic.
Suffice to say, lots of good dogs with unknown or unhappy histories performed fantastic jobs, stopping millions of dollars in narcotics alone at heavily-trafficked border gates, bridges, & seaports around the USA.

When 9/11 fueled insane levels of paranoia in D.C., the shelter-dog programs were scrapped, & E.U.-imported, bred for the purpose, hotshot BSD-Malinois became the flavor of the month for all k9-jobs. These dogs are on average, 9 to 18-MO, & cost an average of $1,500 to 2K, green-trained. They are also overkill - they bite on minimal or even zero provocation. U don't need bite-trained dogs to search a vehicle or a boat or a shipping container, & U don't WANT a bite-trained dog to search airline passengers!
Inevitably, bad things happened & continue to happen - innocent ppl get badly bitten.

Customs Dog Attacks 4-Year-Old Girl @ IAD - FlyerTalk Forums
FlyerTalk - The world's most popular frequent flyer community - FlyerTalk is a living, growing community where frequent travelers around the world come to exchange knowledge and experiences about everything miles and points related. › ... ›
Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate,
Feb 19, 2010 - 15 posts - ‎12 authors
Poor kid. I hope that she wasn't badly hurt and isn't afraid of dogs in the future...

Boy with autism bit by Henderson K-9 while police were searching for ...
abc11.com/boy-with-autism-bit-by-henderson-k-9-while...searching.../3301821/
Apr 5, 2018 -
A Henderson teen with disabilities is in the hospital after his family says a police dog bit him.

'There's An Infant In The Car!' Says Cop As Police Dog Bites Toddler ...
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../k9-attacks-toddler_us_56840804e4b06fa68881a4...
Dec 30, 2015 -
The video quickly spirals into the Belgian Malinois biting a 17-month-old child's arm, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports with the video's ...


Police dog mistakenly bites child - News - Shelby Star - Shelby, NC
www.shelbystar.com/news/20180317/police-dog-mistakenly-bites-child
Mar 17, 2018 -
A little girl was bitten when a police dog chased a suspect through a neighborhood Friday afternoon. ... "A K9 unit is a great tool for us, from apprehensions to searching for missing persons, ..."

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Now, a new person is promoting the "shelter to K9" concept - but I can't promote him, or his methods, sadly. He's "saving" shelter dogs, but he's using old-fashioned yank-n-yell or shock-collars, choke-chains, etc, as training tools.

- terry

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[leashedForLife]

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I first heard about the program via RadioPetLady -
http://www.radiopetlady.com/radio-p...ogs-from-shelters-not-from-european-breeders/

... but when i investigated further, this is one sample of their training gear -

It's hard to see, U have to stop the video to get a good look at an opportune moment, but Wilson is wearing 3 collars: a dangling choke-chain [a useless hazard to the dog, while working, & a bad training-tool, in any case], a shock-collar, & a wide martingale being used with the leash.
Wilson is a black pitbull-type, so the black martingale isn't obvious, but the white block-letters screenprinted on it can be seen on his left; the choke-chain hanging above it is chromed; the shock-collar appears to be pewter-grey & can be seen above the black wide-web at 1:42. // The battery-pack makes a large stand-off under the collar, to his left side.

I'm all for using shelter-dogs vs needlessly killing them, but i'm not at all enthused about punitive training using aversive tools - for people OR for dogs, as this program also "trains trainers & handlers", which IMO is disastrous.
Pos-R training was just beginning to get a solid foothold among the ultra-conservative police in the USA, whether small-town, megacity, state, or Federales, & this wrong-headed approach fits the former old-fashioned concept of training dogs perfectly.
I'm very unhappy. A huge step backward.

- terry

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[leashedForLife]

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a fellow USA-apdt member & buddy, who was a long-time trainer with Border Patrol, told me in 2009 that she was just trying to make it to her retirement date; she was bitterly disillusioned by the new wave of "dominance" training, harsh handling, punitive tools, & a macho attitude that said Labs, pitbulls, & any other dogs that weren't BSD-Mals were sissy dogs.
They wanted rough, tough, he-man dogs, ready & willing to use their teeth at any moment - even on impulse, un-cued. // She was heartsick over the sea-change in her job; the atmosphere was stifling & combative, & the new dogs were twitchy & untrustworthy. They might find the dope, but they frequently bit handlers, trainers, vets, & passersby.

In Feb-2010, a Customs / BP k9-in-training bit a 4-YO girl at Dulles Airport savagely - even after her mother, holding the child's hand, asked the officer to move the dog away, please. // The 60# Mal bit her midsection deeply, & refused to let go, even after the handler cued him to out, then hit him repeatedly; the child's mother was also bitten, when she tried to pry the dog's mouth off her dotter.
It took over 20-stitches to close the wounds. // The dog had no provocation whatever.

WARNING - the 2-inch wide by 1-inch deep slash in her belly is clearly shown, as is her shredded t-shirt with multiple punctures.

Dogs who work in public, like every other dog, need motivational pos-R training - & bite training should NOT be given to every dog, just as every handler is not qualified to handle a bite-trained dog, nor do most jobs require it.
Bite-training every dog is expensive, superfluous, & creates an unjustifiable hazard - to the handler as much as anyone else.

- terry

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[Flobo]

Why do we seem to be going back in time?? I just don't get it If it ain't broke why 'fix' it..? The rescue dogs and positive training worked before, it makes no sense.. and makes me really sad.. Though it seems to be a sign of the the times, ' we've new and improved this product/service/whatever, for your benefit, convenience, for the better of mankind etc' and it generally is just a bigger pile of poo than it was before, sorry..