Franco Angelini - K9 Bite Dr.

Class: Decoy & Bite work

This course is designed for handlers or officers, young and old, experienced or not experienced. The Decoy Seminar is specifically designed to teach decoy techniques as it applies to law enforcement and military communities.  This is not sport training!  Ground fighting, civil agitation, and frontal body grip work are the key skills emphasized and needed in training reliable working dogs. A working knowledge of animal behavior and canine communication is also needed and covered.

 

Brian Burdette

Class: Basic Training Introduction and E-Collar Basics

Discuss basic commands, escape training versus avoidance training.
Covers the three action introduction which properly prepares a dog to understand electrical stimulation in training.

 

Mark Carr - Tydewater Strategic Services LLC 

 

Class: Officer Involved Shootings and Dealing with PTSD

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This class will explore the personal and professional stressors of being involved in Law Enforcement Critical Incidents and dealing with the lasting effects after the incident is all over and forgotten by others.

Scott Clark - High Drive K-9

Class: “Building Search Deployments: Building a Street Beasts”

High Drive K-9 has created an honest, explosive, disciplined class dealing solely with K-9 engagement issues, relating to K-9 Bite Building and Problem-Solving strategies dealing with building search deployments.

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Ricky Farley - Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Training Center

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Class: Muzzle Fighting

 

This class will start from the beginning on how to enhance your canine’s genetic fight drive through muzzle training.  Teaching your dog that the fight is with the man and not the equipment will make for a much more reliable street ready partner. 

 

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION:  Why muzzle train?

Advantages to muzzle training are …

1. Combats equipment fixations

2. Enhances genetic fight drive

3. Safely re-enact any street scenario

4. Picture training – Showing the dogs different situations that are normal to us but abnormal to him.  Once your canine learns to not question what the agitator or agitators are doing or what they are wearing but is only to go do his job then we have a K-9 that will perform on the street.

 

This is a highly sought-after class for specialized K-9 Units throughout the world

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Daniel Gumm - Wichita Police Department

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Class: K9 Rooster – A Critical Incident Debriefing

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On 3-17-2017 Officer Gumm was involved in a K9 apprehension that led to both the suspect and the K9 being killed. Gumm will discuss the event from start to finish, including 911 audio and body worn camera footage. Gumm will also cover the incident from the point of view of other officers involved, and lessons learned.

 

Paul Hammond - Vapor Wake K9

 

Class: Operational Based Explosive Dog Training & Importance of Search Intel

A 2yr Advanced EDD study was conducted at VWK9 Academy, in which 100+ Police, Military and Private Sector EDD dog teams were tested on an operational based training and Intel gathering exercise.  This is a must attend speaker session, where the results of the study are presented. This result of the study will not only surprise you but reinforce the significance of properly executed operational based training,  and how the use of task intelligence to prioritize the search is the number one factor for EDD team success during operational tasks.

Class: Body-Worn Explosive Detection Canines

Understanding the difference between Traditional Explosive Detection Dogs, People Screening Dogs and Mass Pedestrian Screening. The threat of a body-worn explosive attack is current & real. The key is understanding the types of EDD used for body-worn detection, potential training shortfalls, and why their capabilities are imperative to determine effective use and deployment for their detection success. This informative presentation takes a detailed look at the various types of EDD’s, history and current industry advancements in body-worn explosive detection and provides a detailed look at Vapor Wake® detection canines, and their 18 month training process.

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Randy Hare - Randy Hare School for Dog Trainers

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Class: Common Scents

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Ray Herndon - Diamondback Training LLC

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Class: Commercial Vehicles 

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This course is designed to give the attendees a basic overview of how the trucking/transportation industry operates and provide them with the basic knowledge and confidence necessary to identify, apprehend and successfully prosecute those that exploit the industry for criminal gain.  It will primarily focus on commercial motor vehicle concealments, how to search by operating systems and the most efficient use of the K9 regarding CMV’s.

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Travis Hicks - Flatline K9

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Class: Breaking the Silence: Mental Health in Law Enforcement

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Law Enforcement Officers are not immune to the stresses of life. We feel and we hurt the same as everyone else. Many times we feel as though we aren’t able to discuss the difficulties we are going through for fear of appearing weak, or even being afraid of losing our jobs. So what do we do? We become actors. We become professionals at hiding our feelings and pretending that everything is perfect. But what happens when we reach a point that we are no longer able to hide it? This happened to me and the result was almost catastrophic. I lost nearly everything that was important to me and was at the lowest point in my life. But I was able to fight back from that low point to now being the best version of myself!

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The goal of this course is to bring awareness to the topic of mental health in Law Enforcement. This course will be motivational as well as educational. If you are interested in learning not only how to help yourself but also your coworkers this course is for you!

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Mike Kmiecik - Sheepdog Guardian Consulting

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Canine Legal Updates:  Patrol Dogs

 

This block of instruction will focus on criminal and civil litigation related to police service patrol apprehension dogs.  Specific attention will be placed on use of force and current trends throughout the United States Court of Appeals.

 

Canine Legal Updates:  Narcotic-contraband Detection Dogs

 

This block of instruction will focus on criminal and civil litigation related to narcotic-contraband detection dogs.  Specific attention will be placed on current trends throughout The Supreme Court and The United States Court of Appeals.

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Robin Greubel - K9Sensus Foundation

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Class: Fine Tuning the Trained Final Response

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Leave this talk with an understanding of the dance between timing, criteria and rate of reinforcement and how your observation and mechanical skills are crucial to getting the behavior you want.

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Danny Parker - Vohne Liche Kennels

Class: Obedience to Odor

This class will take handlers deeper into why detection dogs do what they do. Ken will delve into what “drives” are and how they are utilized. The term obedient to odor refers to the dog understanding that odor drives the reward, not the handler. This fast pace class will cover everything from odor imprintation, to reward, to search patterns and the why’s behind each of these components of detection dog training.  Not only is this class highly entertaining, but most of all, it is highly informative.

 

James Ljunggren​

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Class: Explosives Odor Imprinting and Post Blast Operations for the K9 Handler

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This training program is designed to provide participants with the knowledge of explosive odor imprinting of detection canines with the correct energetic materials to enhance the effectiveness and capabilities of their canine teams. The training allows the handlers to understand the science involved and the ability to locate target odors during a canine search operation. This program also enhances the canine handler’s knowledge of how to search for and locate secondary devices in the post-blast area.

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Michele N Maughan CTR US ARMY CCDC CBC

 

Weird Science: A 12-Step Program

 

Class Description:

This class will cover the basic science of canine olfaction as it relates to detection work, what we've learned about maintaining training aids, and ways to enhance your training and operations. Handlers will learn specifically about:

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• Odor basics & K9 Olfaction

• Factors that Affect Odor Availability and Odor Profiles

• The balance between generalization and discrimination

• Training aid handling, care, and contamination

• Outcomes of Department of Defense K9 Studies

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Cory Nordin - Eukanuba

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Class: Performance Health and Nutrition

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Maximizing your K9’s ability to do their job now and in the future. Includes one on one consultations as well as Q&A for your specific needs.

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Jim O’Brien - NC K9 LLC 

 

Class: Clear Communication without Conflict

 

Communicating with our canine partners properly in the foundational stages of training will help ensure we are limiting conflict in training and the relationship as a team. Jim will discuss many ways to work this into your training regimes from obedience, detection, and bite work.

 

Jason Purgason - Highland Canine Training

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Class: Detection for the 21st Century: A Modern Approach to Training Detection Dog Teams

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Much has evolved in the way of training, handling and deploying detection dog teams in the 21st century. Over the years new training and handling methods have been explored and developed with varying degrees of success.  Developing proven systems for training detection dogs and their handlers require us to take an objective look at the current methods and techniques that are being used and create effective plans for improving upon them. This class will explore ways in which we will improve in both our handling and training of detection dogs.

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JC Richardson - Delmarva K9 

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Class: Patrol Mechanics

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Learn how to identify the needs for your patrol teams

Learn techniques on how to train for your geographical area

Learn training techniques to train the outs and recalls.

Learn when and when not to utilize the power of reward for patrol

Learn how adding stress into training will help you on the street

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Class: Scent Theory for Tracking, Trailing and Detection

 

What is Scent

Where did it come from

Understanding how scent moves

Understanding scent vs environments

Learn and understand how each dog is different in relation to Scent

Learn the capabilities of different dog breeds when trying to locate scent

Learn how to maximize the teams performance when it comes to tracking trailing and detection

 

Justin Rigney - K9 Services Unlimited

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Class: Powerbiting 

 

“Power Biting” is a combination of training techniques which has been systematically designed to enhance your K-9 partner’s bite, while greatly reducing the risk of injury during intense training for the dog as well as the decoy. There are many benefits to employing this system such as; increased depth and bite pressure, reduction/elimination of handler conflict, stops transfer bites, greater speed of entry, reflex response to pressure, improved targeting and tremendous cardiovascular conditioning.
 

Paul Shaughnessy - Excel K-9 Services, Inc.

Class: K-9 Selection, Imprinting, Search Patterns, Communications & Full Overview of Starting & Finishing a Detection K-9   
   
This class will include teaching the dog to conduct a productive search pattern during each deployment through the use of training aid placement. We cover the use of different, leashes, equipment, distractor odors / negative training aids. This is set up as an interactive powerpoint with videos, a question / answer time and a seven page handout.

 

Don Slavik - Executive Director - United States Police Canine Association

 

Class: Air movement and its effects on Scent and Odor

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Law Enforcement Officers using canines as a locating tool should understand how air movement can affect human scent or odor from illicit drugs and explosives emanating from their source. This presentation discusses buildings, open areas, tracks, vehicles, and planes as examples of causes and effects of air influencing a canine search — with examples of behavior changes in dogs that are usually disregarded by handlers that are the scent or odor.

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It is essential to understand the causes of air to move and how to adjust your search strategy for success.

 

Aaron Taylor - Ridgeside K9, LLC

Class: “Monetize your passion and skill set”

How to turn your lifetime of service into revenue. Do you have a plan B? Are you prepared to leave law enforcement? Could you survive being kicked out of law enforcement? Do you have a side hustle? Do you know how to monetize and create revenue? 

 

Mark Wynn - Boulder Creek Performance K9 LLC 

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Class: Common Mistakes in Manhunting - Training to Find the Man, Not Excuses

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Learn how to increase your street find percentages by adjusting your and your units training to start making the street finds that you have been missing. This class will cover the most common mistakes that we all have made and still make at times. Also learn how applying semi-known and unknown training tracks/trails can help, along with understanding the suspects scent at the end of the track/trail, how to work through that to the end making the apprehension/find.

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Howard Young - White Beard K9 Inc.

Class: Building Your Dog in Order to Reach Maximum Potential

 

This course will cover everything from selection to tailoring your dog’s training to best meet the

high demands placed on law enforcement K9 teams. Every handler has specific strengths and

weaknesses, as do their K9 partners. Course includes discussions regarding a variety of training arrangements and exercises to enhance your dog’s working ability. Hard work and sustained effort are essential ingredients and but are fruitless if training is poorly designed or not practiced to fidelity. This course takes a deeper look into what makes some teams more

successful than others and aims to identify those elements and provide practical training

recommendations for the dual-purpose K9.

John Howard & Dave Dourson - Kinetic Performance Dog Food

Class: Feeding the Working K9 Overview
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Feeding the Working K9 is a fast paced, interactive class that teaches the student how to read a nutritional label, what to look for in key ingredients, how to tell a good working dog food from a bargain brand, how do minerals and vitamins get depleted in a K9, replenishing and recovery needs of a performance.

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Eric Stanbro and Ted Summers - VanEssK9 & Torchlight K9

Class: Building the Street Dog Through Scenarios
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The importance of doing various training scenarios to make your K9 partner street ready

Scott Dunlap & Brent Schoenfeldt - Medic

Class: K9 First Aid & More ⠀

Program participants will learn how to assess their K9 partner and basic K9 first aid. Basic assessments, bleeding control based on TCCC Guidelines, transporting the injured K9 and additional training considerations to take home to your department will be covered. K9 IFAKs and other needed materials will also be reviewed. The goal of this program is to make sure your K9 partner can be cared for in the field.

 

Todd Wilber & Paul Orcutt - Precision Explosives

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Class: Primary explosives and HME explosive compounds and related safety.

This will include peroxide based threats and compositions.  We will cover past, present and future threats, the means of building the explosives and the safe handling of the materials for training. ⠀

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Marty Mahon & Chris Devan - Trident K9

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Class: K9 Management & Supervisor Course

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This is a course involving the administrative and supervision side of effectively running a K9 Unit. The course will cover Handler and K9 Selection and purchasing K9s from Vendors. The cover will also discuss K9 Unit Policies and Procedures, Fair Labor Standards Act and Record Keeping. Whether you are a direct supervisor, a trainer or an administrator, effective K9 supervision is a must for a productive K9 Unit.

 

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