Fort Rucker Canines' nose power helps keep peace

By Kyle Ford, Public Affairs SpecialistJuly 8, 2010

Fort Rucker Canines' nose power helps keep peace
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Fort Rucker Canines' nose power helps keep peace
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(Editor's note: This is the first of three articles on the Fort Rucker military working dog section.)

FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- To the Army, they're just more instruments that help save lives and keep the peace.

But to the Soldiers who work with them, these instruments are partners - with four feet, a keen sense of smell and sharp teeth - and according to Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Timmins, 6th Military Police Detachment's K-9 Section Kennel Master, they wouldn't trade their military working dogs for anything.

MWDs have served in the Army's K-9 Corps since March 1942. Today, MWD teams here patrol the installation, deter criminal actions by their presence, and detect narcotics and explosives on a regular basis, according to their handlers.

It takes time and patience to make a proficient military working dog team, said Sgt. James Black, primary narcotics custodian and working dog handler.

Each dog is required to conduct four hours of detection and four hours of patrol work training per week, he said. Once certified, the dog must perform 24 hours of work per week, which includes law enforcement duties and patrols, as well as their ongoing training.

"Which may not sound like much until you multiply that training time by six to eight dogs daily," Black said.

"When we get the dogs, they have a baseline knowledge of obedience and search," said Sgt. Stephen Rose, dog handler, who just returned from a five-month deployment in Afghanistan. "We bring them up to get them trained to go downrange and support the garrison mission. We expose them to gunfire, helicopters and to be tolerant of other animals."

The dogs aren't the only ones training during these sessions.

"The handler is training as well to know his or her dog, so the handler will know if the dog is 'on to something,' or in distress," Rose said.

During and after a recent morning obedience and patrol training session, Timmins coached his handlers.

"Always end on a good note," he called out to newest member of the K-9 force, Spc. Sean Deardon. "Have a plan for training."

The handlers are trained to teach the dogs in the most effective manner, they said. In order to do this they have to take notice of the way their dogs think and figure out the best way to get good responses.

"We are always looking at the training value for the dog," Timmins said. "If something doesn't work we'll change it. We constantly have to think about, 'When you do X, what does that make the dog think''"

Dogs perform various obedience training tasks through what's called "Four Corners," Black said, noting at each corner there's a different task the dog has to perform. In a long distance stay, the dog has to stay 3 minutes, roughly 50 feet away from its handler. During a halfway recall, a handler calls the dog and halfway to its handler, the dog is commanded to sit or stay and the handler then calls the dog back to himself or herself. Also part of the obedience training is navigating an obstacle course featuring two tunnels, stairs, jumping hurdles, running over an A-frame and more.

After four corners, the teams work on patrol training. The Soldiers work off the dogs' natural instincts for training and enhance those instincts to a desired response.

"For example, the prey drive for aggression training, is like chasing rabbits to a dog," Staff Sgt. Jonathan Rose, senior dog handler, said. "In this situation, the reward for the dog is 'I get to bite my toy.'"

The dogs here are trained as Patrol Explosives Detection Dogs or Patrol Narcotics Detection Dogs. They are natural trackers and will follow a scent, Jonathan said. The dogs learn when they find a certain smell and react a certain way, then they will get rewarded. After patrol and obedience training, dogs usually perform detection training.

Handlers set up a "problem" for the detection dogs, Jonathan said. This consists of planting training aids in realistic settings and having the dogs "seek" them. When a dog finds the plant it is rewarded with a toy and a couple minutes of playtime.

"We do varied training. We don't train in the same area all the time and we don't place the training aids in the same spot," Jonathan said. "That way the dog won't learn to expect to find the aid in the same spot to get rewarded."

When a dog finds a training aid, it will "alert" its handler with a passive response. Some dogs will sit and stay, and get rewarded when the handler arrives, said Sgt. Adam Kusnerick, a dog handler.

"Other dogs are trained in a new way where the dog will stare intently at the plant or device until it is rewarded, usually by tossing the reward over the animal's head so it thinks the reward is coming from the device or aid," he said.

It is always a passive response because handlers don't want their dogs to paw at a device and set it off, Stephen said.

Handlers always maintain control of their four-legged partners, Timmins said.

"We don't let the dogs take anything, " he said. "We give (it to them)."

Once a dog is certified, a handler can train it to jump through car doors and more, "or we'll plant a huge amount of drugs or explosive material in order to see how the dog will react," Jonathan said.

"With all that training, comes a lot of affection and bonding," Stephen said. "That bonding instills loyalty and makes the dog really want to work for you."