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The
Bark and Hold
and its Use in Police Service Dog Training
Kevin
R. Sheldahl
The bark and hold
or Revier as practiced for sport is of the utmost importance in evaluating
the temperament and character of the dog in the areas of courage and fighting
drive. The sport judge views the dog intently during this phase of the
sport trial to determine character flaws or strengths. Because of the
scrutiny that is given to this exercise, a tremendous amount of the training
in the protection phase focuses on this point. All sport enthusiasts appreciate
a spectacular dog demonstrating a clean but intense bark at the blind.
The clean but pushy dog with continuous strong barking, who positions
himself as close as possible to the helper without interfering with him,
is always a crowd pleaser as well as appreciated in the judging. An educated
decoy knows the strong dog the moment he arrives at the blind by his presence,
attitude, and confidence in the face of the helper. The bark and hold
has an analogous technique among service dogs. How does this translate
to street performance or does it? Is the technique the same for the Service
dog as it is for the Sport dog? In the Sport work, the standard for performance
is that the when the dog arrives at the helper, he should immediately
and continuously bark without bothering the helper. The closer and more
intense the challenge to the helper, the more the Judge will be impressed
from the outset. This is most usually produced during training by teaching
the dog that a bark results in action, either an immediate fight or flight
by the helper. The dog learns to bait the helper into action. The moment
the helper changes position from the stereotyped behavior, the dog is
free to grip the sleeve and initiate a strong fight. Admittedly, this
may be somewhat over simplified but, in general, describes the training
and how the standard is obtained through it.
The Service Dog standard
varies throughout the world even within the confines of the DPO type of
programs which are utilized in approximately 50 Countries. When posing
the question of to what level and purpose should the bark and hold be
performed, there will probably be just as many answers. The level of performance
which pertains to this writing can be defined as; when the service dog
locates a suspect who is not actively resisting or fleeing, it will not
engage that individual unless it's handler makes the determination that
it should. In making the attempt at approaching this standard with great
reliability, the Service Dog must be trained in a fashion which provides
consistent behavior under very complex and changing situations. To train
a Service Dog as one would train a Sport Dog will produce a limited function
bark and hold in many circumstances in street deployments. Methodology
in the training must provide a reliable performance in the Service Dogs'
environment as well as be practical from a training standpoint (ease of
use as well as a means which can be applied during deployment exercises).
To understand how
the Service Dog must function the problems encountered with the bark and
hold must be identified and a solution forwarded to be addressed through
training. The first problem is that very few people act like decoys, stand
like decoys, and have the presence of a good decoy. The second problem
is that most subjects that the Service Dog encounters are at a point of
indecision. Should they fight, flee, or give up, and if they choose a
behavior, what will happen to them? If the Service Dog performs his skill
as a Sport Dog, the suspect may believe that he has no choice in the matter
and that fleeing or fighting become his only solution to the problem at
hand. Thus the Service Dog is performing to the Sport standard of be pushy,
bait the helper into action with resultant fight or flight behavior. In
the varied environments which the Service Dog performs his pushiness escalates
to interfering with the decoy in his attempts to bait the person into
action. It is not uncommon to see a Service Dog who is clean under the
educated decoy or under the direct influence of it's handler yet have
experiences which cause an altogether different response under uncontrolled
circumstances.
The solution to these
variables, lies in the hands of the Service Dog handlers and instructors
to find training techniques suited to their deployment needs. One of the
most common methodologies is to utilize helper corrections. This is also
a common beginning for sport dogs as well but there are different goals
with the Service Dog than with the Sport Dogs, generally speaking. In
sport, the decoy corrections are utilized to provide the initiation of
barking aggressively at the decoy and once this is achieved, most commonly,
the dog is polished with a long line, back tie, or other approaches. The
Service Dog helper will also utilize the helper corrections to build intensity
in barking from fight drive, yet at the same time, will show the dog that
to engage or encroach upon a suspect too closely can be dangerous and
that the dog must maintain a safe distance. The dog learns that a passively
behaving suspect shall not be engaged. To further this approach, the dog
must also tolerate movement, voice inflections ranging from fear to anger
and commands from the handler and others who might be working in the environment.
From the beginning, the helper must be creative and change positions and
attitudes routinely. When the dog is expected to engage, will be upon
attack by the suspect during the majority of the training (pursuits will
be worked as an entirely different exercise being separated from the bark
and hold technique and only added later as reliability becomes very high
in the bark and hold). The dog must also learn to relinquish control of
the suspect when told to by the handler. Most commonly, the dog is placed
in a down position but standing and returning to the handler are also
practiced. The picture that is often presented by the Service Dog is that
of a dog keeping his distance (6-8 feet) and with a broken but strong
bark born of his fight drive. Depending on the philosophy, the Service
dog may either be trained to take a position or to not stop moving in
the face of the suspect. The down position has been forwarded as being
a very stable position for the Service Dog while performing this skill
but many dogs stand or sit as well. One of the oldest philosophies is
that the Service Dogs should never cease moving in the face of the suspect.
This provides a moving distraction to the suspect as well as teaching
the dog to avoid the possibility of being struck by a weapon by the suspect.
In taking this later philosophy to the extreme, the dog may be taught
to avoid being struck and even drop off the grip during a fight and then
immediately returning after avoiding the strike. We see the acceptance
of these wide variety of behaviors in the rules set forth by the International
Congress on Service Dogs rules for International Competition the WPO.
In these rules, the dog may drop off the grip during the attack on handler
from the rear transport in which the decoy strikes the dog. Another approach
to applying remote corrections, which has become common to Service Dog
training, is the use of remote electrical devices. Though often deemed
in a negative light, the proper use of mild electrical stimulation is
a harmless and effective enforcement tool which has the advantage of being
completely mobile. When remote training is occurring, it is often most
effective for the training decoy to handle the transmitter since his timing
will invariably be better than the handler's timing. The simplest and
probably most effective approach to the use of the electrical stimulation
equipment is to enforce a position such as down or sit upon the dog. In
order to do this effectively, it is important that the skill be well understood
by the dog prior to initial application and that the enforcement tool
is utilized initially in a controlled situation, such as a back tie with
a long line to guide the dog into the correct behavior and receive immediate
reinforcement for the behavior. Using the approach of enforcement with
the training collar usually means teaching only one skill at a time with
the equipment and working with it until it is very correct. Another approach
to the use of the training collar is through escape training with the
collar and would require an entire article as simply an introduction to
the skill. Though seen in sport dog circles as a non-acceptable device
(though quite commonly used away from the scrutiny of those who might
care), the modern collars actually present an alternative to physical
punishment of a dog while training and enforcing skills.
Early training of
the Service Dog to bark at a non-aggressive subject upon locating him
must first focus on reliability. The work must come from a searching endeavor
by the dog so that it learns searching results in a barking exercise.
To set this up for the dog, begin by starting the skill quite early, prior
to strong work in the handler protection phase and strong engagement work
with the dog. In doing this, decoy corrections are more effective and
the pattern of barking is established prior to the possibility of simply
engaging the suspect ever develops. Instead of consistently making the
end result of a barking exercise always an engagement, a large portion
of the exercises should end with the handler approaching the situation
and taking control. This can be done by either coming to the dog and praising
him for finding the suspect and barking at him, having the dog take a
position, or calling the dog back to the handler. To keep the dog stimulated,
the suspect may run with the handler/dog team in pursuit leashed, or the
dog may be sent in pursuit of the suspect after there has been a break
in the barking exercise. For example, the dog locates the suspect and
barks, the handler approaches and pats the dog praising him for his efforts
(timing of the praise with the dogs barks and only approaching while the
dog barks will encourage strong barking at this point), any attempt at
encroaching upon the suspect is met with a decoy correction (effectiveness
of this technique is enhanced since the dog is very new to apprehension
work at this point) as well as admonishment from the handler. The handler
then gives the dog a position such as heel or sit and commands the suspect
to move away. Then the suspect, after at first doing exactly as he was
told, turns and begins to quietly move off. The handler then gives an
announcement to the suspect who begins to flee. From a stable position,
such as a sit and surveillance position, the dog is sent to apprehend
the fleeing suspect. Several variations on this theme must be made to
prevent the dog from anticipating the pursuit and apprehension. The more
creative the better. It is quite important that the handler begin to prepare
the dog for events as they may occur in deployments. The handler may choose
to recall his dog to a position of cover prior to the pursuit to acclimate
the dog to returning to numerous areas of cover/concealment. It should
be noted that at this point there have been no engagements/pursuits from
the down position even though the dog should be placed in this position
when the handler chooses to approach the suspect. We must prevent anticipation
of engagement from this position so that we have a position where the
dog understands that he is relinquishing control of the situation to the
handler. On some dogs, it may be important to build guarding vigilance
from the down and exercises which include engagements from the down may
have to be included.
While training the
above exercises, the dog can be built in his apprehension work once he
is showing reliability in the searching exercises. Muzzle work and suit
work can both be integrated at this point into the searching exercises.
During the apprehension work, it is necessary that the dog be encouraged
with a fighting command such as fass or pack him so that during the search
work, if the handler feels that it is necessary to have the dog engage
the passive suspect, he can do so through the same encouragements given
in apprehension work. Once the dog is at full steam in the search work
and reliably performs his barking upon locating the suspect, this procedure
can be integrated into the search work. These techniques work very well
with the inexperienced dog who is correctly selection tested. Often, the
titled sport dog has some problems which must be addressed on an individual
basis since this dog's initial training revolves around baiting the decoy.
Often, while discussing
the performance of Service Dogs, there is a great emphasis on the dogs
willingness to engage the suspect. Certainly, in times of need, this attribute
is a necessity. I have often spoke with people who believe that the difficult
to control and/or rank dog is an appropriate dog for use as a Service
Dog. This may be acceptable in some circumstances but for the average
American Service Dog handler control is the greatest issue since responsibility
for the use of force lies on his/her shoulders.
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