Thread: Suitable Breeds to use for Detection Roles in Public?

Nobody has an opinion?

Im gunna be upfront i have no experience in this field but i think a dual purpose dog would be a better option one that can apphend suspect and detect substance

Now im not sure if a single purpose dog will have a higher sucess rate?? from more hours training just purely scent detection

but if the detection is for drug In my personal experience if someone is for example selling drugs they deal with a higher ratio of unsavoury characters and have alot more "balls" or attitude than your average joe so there a higher probility of them making a drastic decision whilst under pressure like running or fighting back when they know they have illegal substance on there persons

I think the mals and dutchies arnt as visually intimidating to the public are would be a better choice than a large dog only reason is that when i had a large Black working GSD people would give me a wide berth this may reduce the possible of a find and you might dismiss the behaviour as normal of the general public while while if your use to people just casually walking past you will pick up if someone changes there tragetery as soon as they notice you but the people giving you a wide berth allows the scent cone to take a extra couple second to be detected by the dog and that’s all they may need to evade detection im having trouble explaing my point of view via written text so I hope you know what I mean

on a side note LOL i dunno if the mals and dutchie will be able to passive indicate hahah

I don't think in public detection to have an intimidating dog is a good thing in the perception that someone uniformed with a dog resembling a GSD is seen by most as an animal to fear which is not ideal in that role. If the dog is protection trained mingling amounst the public sniffing them, it doesn't take much action for the dog to possibly mount an attack if someone was to act in a threatening manner towards the dog or handler and for that reason I wouldn't multi task a protection trained dog. I have used a defence K9 in search and rescue but only as a matter of having the closest tracker to deploy at the time, but with a dog trained to track and apprehend, I sure needed to keep good control on the dog and would have been easier on the mind with a dog tracking trained only when searching for non offenders.

Personally, I don't think protection training and public detection is a safe combination.

Cheers
Nev

Hi Chris,
It does depend on the purpose and job at hand.
But for the majority, I definately would not cross / dual train, such as protection and detection.
As Neville and Mark stated this scenario could get completely out of hand, and become your worst nightmare.
For our industry's perception and reputation we can not afford to tarnish our public credibility
and image, instead we need to work more proactively to enhance our collective public perception and image.
Unfortunately, therefore I do not personally consider that Dobs, Rotties, Gsds or Mals have a place in detection, in say
a international airport lounge, they just create a fear reaction in the average person.
All things aside- just consider the public liability insurance premiums in having these breeds within public areas- they would likely to be prohitive.

So I guess we are stuck with the lower drive breeds, Beagles, Bloodhounds, Spaniels, Labs, etc to meet this niche.
But the must keep in mind that, these breeds have been selected and bred for a specialised portion of the prey drive response. ( which occurs in 5 parts).

Cheers,
Owen Baxter

As a matter of fact the term “low drive breeds” in regards to breeds not specifically used for bitework in inaccurate. Springer Spaniels of the working variety are in fact extremely high in prey/hunt drive that is why they are used for drug detection/explosive and trained for passive indication. Beagles on the other hand are just as scent driven but less manic on their search which suits airport type environments. Dual Purpose Dogs haven been used in the past but not in a public environment, drug raids specifically on drug houses used to be operationally suitable. Dual Purpose was in fact a cost cutting system to save using/training/feeding/kennelling two dogs.