Down Time Training Ideas            

                                                                                  
                                                       
By Sgt. Mark Mathis. IPWDA Trainer. Grand Rapids, MI PD.


 Training time. It’s a precious commodity that handlers need to improve their dogs. I know that many handlers are long on problems, and short on department allotted training time. Many handlers are also in a bind to find training partners at a moment’s notice.
The challenge is to figure out productive training handlers can do by themselves in a matter of minutes. I attempt to get my dog out of the car every hour or two for a brief training period. The ideas for these training periods are really only limited by your imagination.
I’ll outline ten ideas for these brief sessions. I’ll give you the basics of the task, what it accomplishes, and the problems that it prevents or address. Keep in mind that these are simply “enhancers” – you still need regular training time.

Obedience. I get my dog out of the car each work day and run through an obedience routine. Change up the obedience tasks daily. One day work on heeling, the next work on a long down stay, the next do positional obedience, etc. Obedience is the building block of many tasks, and without it problems will crop up in all aspects of control work.

“Running out of the car routine”. Find a conducive area without others around. Speed your car up, come to a quick stop, and run out of your car yelling commands. Early on the tendency of your dog will be to follow you. Successive approximation to build up to competency may be needed. Work up to running out of view and your dog staying in the car. Sometimes run out and call your dog to you, have your dog perform an obedience command and reward him. This is excellent street related control work and teaches the dog to listen for your command. It helps the dog in false starts, to focus on the handler, and to remain attentive in the car.

Article searches. As you drive around you’ll see plenty of people that would like to meet your dog. Feel free to stop and say hi. When you find an interested party have them toss an article into a yard and show them how your dog works. School age kids are almost always willing participants. Not only is this great training, it’s great community relations. Also, how many of you have trained on articles that were 1-5 hours old? Toss some stuff out early in your shift and come back hours later for a search.

Exposure to surfaces. Many dogs are a little hesitant about slick surfaces, stairs that you can see through (decks, fire escapes, etc), etc. Have your dog get comfortable on all kinds of surfaces on your down time. If your dog is having problems provide him some time to simply be on and explore these surfaces without playing ball or asking him to perform a task. Eat your lunch in the middle of an expanse of slick floor and let your dog wander the room.

Track a pedestrian you just watched. Watch a pedestrian’s walking path. Get your dog out a few minutes later and have him run the track path. Reward him yourself by tossing his ball past him at a well timed place in the track.

Bark command and quiet command. Some dogs are too quiet, some are too vocal. It helps to get them both on command. The first step to a quiet command is having your dog understand the bark command. After you have taught the pair of commands reinforce them with exercises. Go to a park and play ball, requiring a bark and/or quiet before the ball is tossed.

False starts and recalls while playing ball. Let your dog burn off some steam by playing ball. Mix in some false starts and recalls during your play.

Desensitizing the muzzle. Having a dog that is comfortable in a muzzle opens up all kinds of training opportunities to a handler. The problem frequently is that the dog has limited exposure to a muzzle, or only has one on for aggression work. Muzzles can be worn for periods in the car, while at headquarters, during obedience, etc. Wearing a muzzle for an hour a week will pay huge training dividends later.

Package searches. Package searches have all kinds of street applications, and pay great dividends. Its also an area that many seem to neglect in their training. You can easily obtain some shipping boxes from the post office or shipping companies. Throw a hide into one and toss them out in a parking lot, your headquarters, or anywhere you are at. Work on search technique, proper indications, proofing off of plastic, etc. It’s very similar to early box work, and is a great way to correct little problems.

“All things run through the handler” tasks. Your dog has many environmental things that he wants to do throughout the day – eat, go out, play, etc. A smart handler teaches his dog that access to things the dog wants runs directly through the handler. Prior to allowing your dog something it wants require that the dog perform something for you. (Want to go out? Sit and bark on command.) (Want to eat? Perform a one minute down stay). This is really very basic control work – but every day your dog has many needs that he looks to you to meet. You can use these as training opportunities to establish a foundation in control work. Requiring the performance of a task really sets the foundation that environmental rewards and needs are met by paying attention to the handler.

Every task listed above can be accomplished by any handler, on any shift, on any day, without any help. All the above training ideas are helpful for street applications, and many will reduce problems that handlers may be having. This certainly isn’t an exclusive list of what a handler can do during their down time – its simply a few ideas to get you thinking about the things that you can do.

If you have some other tips or brief training ideas please send them my way at
ipwda@yahoo.com. I’ll try and do a follow up with some additional training ideas from around the police dog world if more ideas are submitted. The worst ideas are those that are not Shared!