More than 12 military working dog teams received specialized detection training this week during a week-long course at Fort Leonard Wood.
Hosted by the 180th Military Police Detachment, the purpose of the course, referred to as “Nose Knows,” was to increase the MWD’s abilities in substance detection problem solving, that focused on enhancing their target odor detection capability.
To help facilitate the course, Kennel Master Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Spears of the 180th MP Detachment worked with the team to bring in two outside instructors to hone one of the “most critical aspects for MWDs:” detection skills.
“Between the two trainers, they have over 40 years of experience (in the K-9 field) compared to just my 10 years in the 31K (MWD handler military occupation specialty) program,” he said. “They have a wide variety of different programs that they have worked in, different careers within K-9, so their spectrum within the K-9 community is immense.”
Throughout the course, instructors emphasized the scientific knowledge of detection, such as “how the dogs search and utilize their noses as far as their abilities to search within buildings and all of the different components that go into it,” Spears said.
One way the scientific knowledge of detection was emphasized, according to course instructor Antonio Rodriguez, was by training the dogs to discriminate between the odors they are trained to detect and those they might find interesting, such as “a novel odor that puts off a high odor signature such as nail polish or things that are enticing like dog food.”
“We are working on having (MWDs) disregard these things and assigning value to what their job is, which is looking for the target odor, whether it’s explosives or narcotics that they are trained to detect,” Rodriguez said.
Sgt. Justin Nash with the 94th Engineer Mine Dog Detachment here, said the course helped with the creativity of how MWD teams set up and to “get out of that inside-the-box thinking.”
“A lot of our training is traditional, more like how things were in Afghanistan and Iraq with route clearance, but the way things are going, our searches are adapting so we need to start adapting with it,” he said. “Creativity for a handler is their biggest weapon.”
He also said he sees real value in the training.
“This (training) brings a more independent minded dog, and it enhances the team as far as we can go out and confidently trust that when we go back to the unit and we continue to train with the things that we have learned, I can validate and tell my kennel master that I trust the dogs to go out and identify the appropriate odors,” Nash said.
Spc. Hannah French, a MWD handler with the 180th MP DET, said the training was important to have at this point in her Army career and it would carry over to real-world scenarios.
“This whole class has been eye opening. I’m new to the MOS so I think it’s better to get this training now, rather than later on,” Hannah said.
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