When Dogs Bark: Pet’s Speaking their Minds and Police K-9’s Alerting to Finds.

During a number of the Raising Your Paws podcast episodes, I’ve been talking about the different types of barking dogs do – how they sound, their meanings and solutions for dealing with the barking. In this last episode, Number 41, I was talking about frustration or boredom barking. (segment 3)  Listen to this episode here. Title: Training And Working with K-9 Police Dogs & Recognizing and Quieting Frustration Barking.

In the podcast, I promised that I’d let you know which episodes you can find the descriptions of the other kinds of barking. You’ll find that list to the episodes, in the resources section below.

But first, as a follow up to last week’s blog, about what dogs hear, one reader wrote in and told me about her dog, Baxter.

Bobbi writes,

“I read your article about noise and how dogs hear more high pitched sounds than humans. This must be why my puppy can’t hear me call him loudly, but can hear the sound of his NutriSource dog food bag being opened from several rooms away and comes running as fast as he can.”

For writing in and sending the photo of Baxter, Bobbi won a few free bags of our new Jerky dog treats. Congrats, Bobbi and thanks for sharing.

You could also be selected to receive some free treats. Let me know what you think of the podcast or the blog. You can leave a comment on any blog article and for sending a photo of your pet, dog or cat,  write me at susan@raisingyourpaws.com.

 

 

 

Do you know about the working Dogs – the K-9’s that help our police officers?

 

In episode 41, I also had a really cool guest, a former police officer and SWAT team commander who worked with K-9 ‘s (the name for patrol, narcotic and explosive, detector dogs ) as his partners over the years. Steve Pearson, now owns Performance Kennels, Inc. a company that selects and trains patrol narcotic and explosive detector dogs for law enforcement.  You’ve got to hear his stories about dogs that search for drugs and explosives, and apprehend people targeted by the police. He also talks about what it takes for a dog to be a K-9 and what its like to work with these special dogs.

Here are some photos of the K-9’s.

A bit about Diesel. 

After over 8 years of service to the Brooklyn Park Police Department, K-9 Diesel is pulling the pin after his last shift tonight. Diesel and his handler, we’ll call him “Jason” did an outstanding job serving the citizens and visitors of Brooklyn Park, MN. Diesel was a certified narcotics detector dog, a certified PD-1 (Patrol) dog, and was one of a few who earned a tracking Exceptional certification through the U.S.P.C.A. Diesel will live out his retired years with his family in their plush gated community that he is so used to. Outstanding job boys. Nothing else that can be said.

 

The two breeds of dogs that Steve Pearson, most commonly  utilizes are German Shepherds and a Belgian Malinois/German Shepherd cross.

To the right, is a Belgian Malinois, one of the Dutch shepherd dogs.

 

 

 

 

 

The dogs and the people who become their handlers go through extensive training to learn their craft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few patrol K-9’s and the jobs they did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see many more photos of the dogs and handlers and the results of the finds the K-9’s made on Performance Kennels, Inc. Facebook page.  Enjoy!  I have. Please leave me a comment below, about the podcast and/or the blog. Thank you.

Resources for this Show:

Here’s where you can learn about the different kinds of barking I’ve covered so far.

Listen to the Raising Your Paws episode to hear the story about:

The Excitement bark – Episode # 11

The Fear bark – Episode # 19

Guard Barking – Episode # 27

The Warning bark – Episode # 12

The Growl – why you don’t want to stop your dog if it feels the needs to do this. – Episode # 15

Easy way to get to these episodes (and subscribe for free if you haven’t already) – scroll back up to top of blog page, see box with links to iTunes or Stitcher or google play.

Full show notes for Episode 41. Title: Training and Working with K-9 Police dogs & Recognizing and Quieting Frustration Barking.

When you take your dog’s photograph or bend over to pet him you might notice that your dog turns its head away from you. Your dog also does this at times when other dogs approach. This is not a random meaningless motion, it’s a signal. I’ll explain what your dog is saying through this gesture.

K-9 Police dogs and their handlers, assist law enforcement by searching for drugs and explosives, locating missing people, finding crime scene evidence, and apprehending people targeted by the police. What does it takes for a dog to become police dog and what is it like to work with a K-9? My guest today, is Steve Pearson, a former police officer and SWAT commander and owner and trainer at Performance Kennels Inc. a company that selects, and trains patrol, narcotic and explosive detector dogs for law enforcement. He tells on-the-job stories, and describes why German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois make such good detection dogs.

Then, how do you identify if your dog’s barking is about boredom or frustration? What can you do to address the problem and stop the barking? I’ll explain this and tell you the story of how my family inadvertently caused my beagle to bark continually.

Additional Resources for the Episode.

Resource for the story about a dog’s head turning: “On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals” by Turid Rugaas.

Performance Kennels, Inc. Website.

Performance Kennels, Inc. Facebook page.

Resource for the story about frustration barking: “Barking, The Sound of a Language” by Turid Rugaas.