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K-9 Handler
Trains and works alongside police or military dogs for detection, search, and apprehension.
Did you know?
Police dogs have roughly 125 to 300 million smell receptors, about 40 times more than a human nose.
How subjects help
- Biology: Understand how a dog's nose picks up scents and keep your dog healthy and rested.
- Law: Know the rules for when a dog is allowed to search people, bags or cars.
- Physical Education: Keep up with a dog running through fields, woods and rubble during a search.
- Psychology: Train a dog with rewards and read its body language when it finds something.
A famous name
James Symington: Canadian police dog handler whose dog Trakr found the last survivor at the World Trade Center in 2001.
Try it yourself: Play the reward training game
- You are the trainer. Your friend doesn't know the task. You can't talk: you may only say "yes!" when they move closer to it.
- Keep saying "yes!" for every small step in the right direction, and stay quiet otherwise.
- How long did it take? What made it faster?
- Swap roles. How did it feel to learn only from rewards?
Dog handlers train with rewards for the right steps, never punishment, which builds a dog that loves to work.
Also try: Watch an animal for ten minutes.
Known for it in
USA, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Australia