Drug Search Training

The first stage of training

Developing initial skills

The experience of using dogs to search for drugs has shown that the most acceptable warning signal is (barking and scratching with paws). To start training, we need to prepare containers for the drug simulator. Containers include rubber tubes, plastic vials, wooden pencil cases, narrow thick bags, etc. Small holes are drilled in the walls of the containers to allow odor particles to escape. One of the main rules is to avoid direct contact of drugs with the dog's mouth. It is necessary to start training dogs without distracting stimuli (especially smell). Training begins with exercise, sniffing a container with a narcotic substance. After careful sniffing, the dog begins to excite this object, during the game, allowing you to grab this container from the hands of the trainer. This is how the dog is familiarized with the narcotic smell and “tied” it to this smell, ie. interest in drug search and discovery is aroused. The trainer in every possible way "warms up" the dog's interest in playing with various containers that are convenient for gripping with the mouth. Containers are used only when they are free of dog saliva. After classes, each container, freed from flaps with a narcotic smell, is washed, dried and prepared again for the next lesson. To avoid the dog getting used to the search for a container, which, together with the narcotic smell, has its own smell and the trainer's smell, the trainer uses rubber gloves to grip the object, and the containers are constantly replaced with new ones. The structure of the lessons is as follows. The trainer excites the dog with the object and throws it in full view of the dog into dense grass or a place where the container is hardly noticeable. For a second, the dog is turned away and the assistant quickly throws the container to another point. The dog immediately goes to search with the command “search” and gesture of the right hand forward. With an interest in grabbing and a good sense of smell, the dog quickly finds the container and is encouraged by the "good" voice and play. The trainer does 5 - 6 repetitions in a row, each time it is advisable to use a new container. After that, the dog is allowed to rest for at least 15 minutes and switch to another activity. The basic rule in training is that the dog should enjoy the exercise. It is unacceptable to yell at the dog. To force, and even more so to use strong mechanical stimuli.
The next approach to drug discovery can be done in an hour, if time permits. This time, the trainer, after preliminary excitement, brings and hides the object himself, leaving the dog on a leash. To prevent the dog from remembering the place of the bookmark, the trainer bends down in several places and imitates hiding, after which he returns to the dog and lets him search. Five to six repetitions with different objects reinforces the dog's initial skill in locating the drug container. To trigger the signaling designation in a dog "conditioned reflex: voice, scratching with paws", it is first necessary to make it impossible for the dog to grip the container. For example, on the ground, the trainer or assistant hides the object in question in a crevice where the dog cannot retrieve it. Trying to get the retriever, the dog gets very excited, and then the trainer gives the command "voice". The dog shows its impatience by barking. Often, excitable dogs try to reach with their paws, scratching stones, grass, and soil adjacent to the object. The trainer encourages action with the command "good" and an additional command "dig" or "scratch". When one of the designation methods is chosen, in the future, when the source of the smell of the drug is found, it is necessary to demand from the dog only this designation. Multiple repetitions of these exercises allows the dog to develop a stable conditioned reflex - when an object is detected, designate it with one or another signaling action.

Familiarization with the smells of the most common drugs

These skills are practiced on containers made of: metal, plastic, wood, fabric, etc. Containers filled with various odor carriers, inevitably attract the attention of the dog. And do not addictive dogs to one material. The first launches are carried out in the same way as at the initial stage: Before starting, the dog is allowed to sniff a container with a narcotic substance. The trainer excites the dog with the object and throws it in full view of the dog into dense grass or a place where the container is hardly noticeable. For a second, the dog is turned away and the assistant quickly throws the container to another point. The dog immediately goes to search with the command “search” and gesture of the right hand forward. In addition to the skills of rational search for this cycle of classes, the following tasks are worked out: 1. Submitting an alert signal for the smells of other types of narcotic substances (Kannabis - quench, heroin, cocaine, Amphetamine, raw opium, crack, speedball, Hallucinogenic mushrooms). 2. Detection of all types of narcotic substances regardless of weight (from 50 g to 1 kg), the state of the standard factory casing and the use of various packaging materials. The volume can be increased not only by a direct increase in the desired smell, but also by the time of setting. 3. Development of indifference to control objects - all kinds of odors (including food), not related to narcotic substances. Dog training using containers lasts no more than 2.5 - 3 weeks. The tests for the detection of new for the dog smells of narcotic substances are introduced in 3 - 5 lessons. For acquaintance with each new type of narcotic substance 2 - 3 lessons are allocated. Moreover, launches for the detection of new narcotic substances alternate with the search for already known odor objects. It is advisable to introduce herbal drugs at the very end, since the smells of herbal drugs are the strongest and most easily remembered of all the smells studied. Before starting, the dog is given a sniff of the narcotic substance that it has to look for. In all cases, when the desired odor carrier is found, the dog must clearly indicate it with the developed signal designation. In the second week of this cycle of exercises, in parallel with exercises on containers, the dog begins to be taught to search for a narcotic substance hidden in rooms and in open areas.

Improvement of differentiation

Dogs to search for a drug must respond not only to certain materials, or materials hidden in a certain period of time. During training, the dog must be trained to respond to different amounts of materials and materials hidden in different ways. The increase and decrease in the time of hiding, small and large amounts of narcotic substances complicate the work of the dog. In such cases, two effects are summed up, since the concentration of the substance in the air increases or decreases accordingly. The longer the storage time and the greater the amount of the substance, the higher its concentration in the air. It also depends on the place of hiding, since in closed and poorly ventilated rooms or in a closed vehicle, the smell accumulates much more than in open spaces. "Smell habit" occurs when a dog is often forced to work with extremely small amounts of materials and will eventually give false positives. The reason for this is that with extremely small amounts of materials, the dog tries to find associated odors, including the smell of the person who hid the material, in order to avoid "smell addiction" the dog is carried out with materials that were hidden 5-10 minutes ago. In conditions close to the field, this time increases to 1 hour, until the dog successfully copes with the situation. During operation, a shorter time does not apply. In conditions close to the field, it makes sense to train with a short hide time of 5-10 minutes, because a low concentration of odor helps the dog to maintain the ability to this concentration at a stable level. The longest hiding time during training is 12 hours. During this time, such a high concentration of odor accumulates that it remains unchanged over a long period. The dog should be accustomed to such situations. A high concentration of odor can be so disturbing to an inexperienced dog that it will give a signal as soon as it smells, or, in the worst case, give up searching altogether. These factors should be changed gradually so that the dog is not worried about the change. Abrupt changes lead to nervous stress and general fatigue. After training for two months, if the dog confidently finds 10-15 g of narcotic substances hidden 1 hour ago, the amount of material and the time of hiding change according to the scheme described below.

Job no. - Hiding time (hours) - Amount of material (grams)

1. - 1–30 2. - 2–30 3. - 2–100 4. - 6–100 5. - 6–500 6. - 12–500 7. - 12–1000 8. - 12–2000

Through this gradual change, the dog becomes capable of working in the presence of large and small amounts of the narcotic substance at different hiding times.

The second stage of training

Teaching Dogs to Inspect Objects

The most frequently encountered in practice for the purpose of detecting narcotic substances are the following objects: luggage, storage rooms, various premises, structures, vehicles, areas of the terrain. It is more expedient to start practicing search actions with baggage.

Baggage inspection

Used bags, suitcases, diplomats and other luggage are selected for classes. The narcotic substance is placed in one object, and so that the desired smell can freely go out and be caught by the dogs (suitcases, for example, are left ajar). 1. Items of baggage are placed tightly to each other, randomly, and then in a heap; 2. Placed on a dais (on benches, racks, carts, fixed conveyor belts, etc.); 3. Lay out on a moving conveyor belt; 4. Placed at the feet of people scattered in the room or standing in line; 5. Closed in automatic lockers. Initially, for placing the narcotic substance, such places are selected where the dog could freely approach and perform a signal designation in the immediate vicinity of the object with the narcotic substance. Then the access to the suitcase or bag with the narcotic substance is blocked by other luggage. They want the dog to catch the desired smell coming from the pile of luggage, give a signal as accurately as possible, that is, scratch the place where the bookmark lies with its paws and give a “voice”. The performance of the signal designation is in any case encouraged verbally "good", and allowed to play. To consolidate the dog's skill of giving a signal, which is behind an obstacle (in this case, in a heap), after a short pause, the reward procedure is repeated again. Gradually, you need to ensure that the dog gives a signal at a distance from the trainer. To this end, the trainer, noticing the signal, rewards the dog verbally "good", and then comes up and plays with it. In the event that the dog cannot smell the narcotic substance, the dog, after a short rest, is offered an easier task (the thing with the narcotic substance is moved closer to the edge of the luggage pile).

Inspection of premises and vehicles

When practicing the search of premises and vehicles, special attention is paid to those situations when the dog cannot give a signal directly near the source of the smell of the narcotic substance. When driving a dog, the trainer should act in much the same way as when finding a drug hidden in a pile of baggage: encourage the signal to be followed only when it makes a designation as close to the source of the smell as possible. The vehicles are checked only after turning off the engine and weathering in the open air with the doors open for 5 - 10 minutes. If a narcotic substance is placed in the cars in hangars, then to reduce the concentration of odors of fuel and lubricants, all available openings are opened for 15 - 20 minutes before work. The same is done when inspecting the hangars themselves or other rooms in which strong extraneous odors are present. In those cases when for some reason the room cannot be ventilated, the dogs begin to use it directly after 3 - 5 minutes of staying in it (to get used to the established smell). The narcotic substance is laid both outside and inside vehicles and premises. The outer parts of the objects are usually examined first. Complications mainly consist in increasing the duration of the search (up to 10-15 minutes) and, accordingly, increasing the number of objects searched: rooms, premises, units of transport. To do this, the dog is asked to first examine the "empty" objects, and after the scheduled time has elapsed, the dog is brought to the object with a bookmark.

Searching an open area

The most optimal way to search an open area is to alternate shuttle inspection of strips (corridors) with a width of 3.5 - 4.0 m. This width was not chosen by chance. Firstly, it is convenient for the trainer to control the movements of the dog and control the thoroughness of sniffing. Before starting training, a flat area of the surface is selected (preferably with short grass or loose soil). Flags (milestones) indicate the boundaries of the strip. At the first launches, the length of the corridor, as a rule, is made minimal - about 10 - 15 m.As the skill is developed, the length of the strip gradually increases to 80 - 100 m. at the end of the strip, contains a narcotic substance. The rest of the bookmarks are false. False bookmarks are arranged near the edges of the strip, and in such a way that when the shuttle is guided, the dogs can sniff them directly. The start is carried out from the middle of the entrance alignment by the command “search” and a hand gesture. The first 10 - 12 passes the trainer, controlling the leash, accompanies the dog from one edge of the strip to the other. For one "step" of movement along the zigzag (back and forth), the forward movement should be approximately 1.0 - 1.5 m. In addition to guiding the dog along the zigzag, the trainer needs to get the dog to constantly sniff at the ground in all parts of the traversable path. False bookmarks that attract the dog's attention contribute to the development of this skill. If the trainer fails to combine the shuttle movement with sniffing in the dog, one of the following exercise options is used: 1. On the zigzag line, no further than 1 m from each other, clearly visible bumps (marks) are made from the loosened earth. A false bookmark is placed at about every 4th to 5th mark. At the end, a tab with a narcotic substance is masked. 2. On the zigzag line in front of the tab with a narcotic substance, lay out as many different scent objects as possible. The skills of moving the shuttle and sniffing the ground are practiced at the beginning (within 2 - 4 days). After passing the strip, the dog is encouraged by stroking. When the dog begins to move confidently in a zigzag, proceed to the search for a narcotic substance according to one of the above options. Since in a few days the dog could lose the habit of its previous work, before starting to search for a narcotic substance, the reaction to the desired smell is preliminarily checked. For this, the assistant openly puts a container with a narcotic substance 2 - 3 m from the dog next to the trainer. The search for a disguised narcotic substance is started only if the dog independently gives a signal for an openly lying narcotic substance. It should be noted that all the above exercises do not guarantee the development of an independent zigzag movement, but only make it easier for the trainer to control the dog. After 10 - 12 sessions, the trainer may no longer accompany the dog from one edge of the strip to the other, but walk in the middle of the corridor and change the direction of movement by pulling the leash. Having mastered simple options for search tasks on the ground, they move on to more complex ones: the duration of work gradually increases (up to 10-15 minutes) and, accordingly, the area of the examined territory, the depth of the drug is increased, the search is carried out on rough terrain with various coverage and the presence of certain structures and objects. The length of one surveyed strip is usually left within the already indicated limits from 80 - 100 m. If the dog is clearly tired, after viewing the strip, it is given a short (1 - 2 min) rest. It is best to keep the dog close to you at this time, occasionally stroking and patting it on the chest. Then proceed to inspect the second strip adjacent to the first. Thus, the number of checked strips is brought to 2 - 3. The number of tabs with a narcotic substance on the inspected area is changed each time from 1 to 5-10. The idle time (from start-up to detection) is changed each time, keeping only the general tendency towards a gradual increase in the duration of the search. It should be noted that after each detection of a narcotic substance the container is not removed by the trainer, but is indicated by one or another landmark (usually a flag). The dog is encouraged and removed from the place with the narcotic substance by 2 - 3 m. The rest time before the next start is determined based on the functional state of the dog. Particular attention should be paid to the procedure for preparing the bookmarks. The narcotic substance is placed in containers made of a wide variety of materials (cardboard, wood, metal, plastic). One container holds both one and several types of narcotic substance. At the initial stages of the formation of the skill of surveying the area, the narcotic substance is only masked. The easiest way to do this is to use the existing irregularities, cracks, foliage, etc. On level ground, depressions are made in the ground, the shape and dimensions of which exactly correspond to the mentioned containers. The upper part of the bookmark, located at the level of the ground surface, is covered with something, while trying not to obstruct the exit of odor particles from the narcotic substance. False bookmarks are arranged in the same way as the desired ones. Their only difference is that the containers are left empty or filled with some odoriferous things or objects that have nothing to do with the narcotic substance. In the future, the bookmarks with the narcotic substance are gradually deepened: the soil layer above them is brought up to 10 cm, loose snow up to 50 cm. The survey of the terrain with difficult relief is carried out in a combined way: on the flat areas of the searched strip, the dog is controlled in the usual way; ditches, heaps of debris, structures and other objects are checked separately, using already mastered techniques. This skill is practiced as follows. A container with a narcotic substance and 1 - 2 control items are openly placed in the designated place in advance. The dog, located 10 - 15 m from the container, is allowed to go in the direction of the desired object by the gesture and the command “seek”. The trainer remains in place. After giving a signal, the trainer pronounces the combination "good", slowly approaches the dog, strokes (plays) and takes away from the container. In the future, the exercise is modified: the desired object is buried (masked) not far from the control objects, and then on a clean area of the terrain without any reference points (control objects). Accordingly, a false tab must be located near the desired one.

Sampling a person

A sample of a person in its classical version (by examining people lined up in a row). Dog training should begin with a clothing search. Clothes are hung in any convenient place: on a wall, fence, rope, stakes. The narcotic substance is put into the pocket of one thing. After several launches according to this scheme, the task becomes a little more complicated. The dog is offered to look for a narcotic substance in clothes, which are held in their hands (tightly pressed to themselves) by assistants. Then, the clothes on the assistants themselves act as the objects to be searched. At the next stage of complications, some assistants are given suitcases (briefcases, bags) in their hands. They put similar things on the ground nearby. The narcotic substance is alternately hidden in clothes, then in things. The ultimate goal is to search for a narcotic substance from assistants in a real situation with a significant crowd of people in a variety of ways: on the move, in a group, one by one, etc.

The third stage of training

Preparation of the dog for work in practical conditions

At the third stage of training, the training of the dog must be brought to a level that allows it to be fully applied in practical conditions. The main task is to increase the duration and volume of search work. The dog needs to master such a search mode, in which the duration of continuous inspection (from launch to detection) of any objects offered to it is approximately 30 minutes. The total duration of work during the day (excluding time for rest) is 2 - 3 hours. On average, during a single search, a dog should inspect objects in approximately the following volumes: open area - 0.3 - 0.5 hectares, residential or industrial premises - 100 - 150 m2, cars - 15 - 20 units, trucks - 8 - 12 units, buses - 5 - 10 units, luggage (hand luggage) - 200 - 300 units. You can achieve the above results no earlier than 1 - 1.5 months of systematic training. The scheme of introducing complications should be selected for each dog separately, taking into account their individual characteristics. It should be borne in mind that even a gradual and careful increase in the duration and volume of the search will sooner or later inevitably lead to overstrain of the dog's nervous system, i.e., to a breakdown (loss of interest, refusal to work). The best way to prevent such negative phenomena is to alternate difficult and easy tasks. Depending on the typological characteristics and functional state of the dog, a variety of options for such alternations can be used, for example: several exercises with increasing difficulty, then one or several easier tasks; tasks with increasing complexity constantly alternate one or two with a simple task, etc. The most important thing is that the trainer notices the onset of mental fatigue in time and offers an easy task as an encouraging means. It is possible that even with a seemingly correctly calculated load mode during the search, for one reason or another, the dog may become tired and the search activity will decrease. However, it is impossible to download the exercise by taking the dog away from the place of the lesson. The trainer needs to remember that finding the target and rewarding the dog are very important stimuli in the dog training process. It is possible to maintain the optimal mental attitude of the dog only on condition that each start, under any circumstances, ends with the finding of a narcotic substance. Therefore, in situations where the dog cannot continue the planned work, the trainer should "help" the dog - that is, bring it to the location of the bookmark. Sometimes it is more convenient to discreetly put a prepared pencil case with a narcotic substance specially for this purpose. At this stage of preparation, much attention is paid to the search "blind" (when the places of the tabs are unknown to the trainer). Such searches are important not so much for the dog as for the trainer himself. The lack of information about the location of the narcotic substance forces the trainer to switch to the correct mode of control of the dog. So, if on ordinary (control) exercises control is often reduced to "pulling" the dog to the right place, then when searching "blindly" the trainer is forced to analyze the situation, determine the most rational program of action, and carefully observe the dog's behavior. Blind searches can only be used when solving simple tasks. You should not completely switch to this form of exercise, since this will complicate the development of the entire planned scheme of increasing the loads. Of no small importance for maintaining a constant search interest of the dog is the variety of exercises offered to it. When using the same objects, it is necessary to change the setting and the places of the bookmarks. For training, one should not select only favorable working conditions. Provide for classes in hot weather, cold weather, at night, in areas with outside odors (garbage dumps, industrial waste, workshops of various enterprises, etc.). It should be noted that dogs that have not completed the third stage of training may well be used to find a narcotic substance in practice. However, the dog's operating mode should remain approximately the same as during training searches. Before starting, the trainer determines the priority objects and directions where the drug is most likely to be found. After working off the scheduled time, the trainer puts a pencil case with the desired smell for the dog, encourages it and allows it to rest. The development of the skill can be considered complete when the dog will successfully and quickly work out a one-time search: terrain - 0.3 hectares, residential or industrial premises - 100 m2, cars - 15 units, trucks - 8 units, buses - 5 units, luggage ( hand luggage) - 200 items. The method of training dogs to search for explosives from narcotic substances has no global differences. An obvious difference is the designation (signaling) when a substance is detected. For the sake of safety of its own and the environment, when searching for an explosive, a dog is taught not to grab a bookmark with his teeth, not to scratch with his paws, etc. That is, they achieve a clear designation (landing, laying) when an explosive is found near an object. When a narcotic substance is found, the opposite is true, the dog is taught to scratch with its paws and give a "voice". When searching for a narcotic substance, the risk is minimal, therefore, the dog is allowed to be found in hard-to-reach places alone, where it disappears from the field of view of the cynologist. In this case, the only designation for the detection of the desired smell of "narcotic substance". is "barking". Scratching a bag lying in a pile of luggage with her paws, she clearly shows the object with the desired smell.