Trained to Sniff

When it comes to training canines, you have to think like a dog. People might see what I do as handling dogs-and that's true-but a big part of my job is psychology. I create the setting and the rules [for the dogs]; that's the structure. Then I add completely positive reinforcement; that's the technique. Dogs know what to do. It's humans who have to be trained.

Sometimes people ask if I have some magic formula to train a dog. I don't. My methods of training are really pretty simple: Dogs have to remember and internalize what they need to do, show you they can do it and receive a reward. The dog also needs to be having fun, and so do you. Sure, there's a technical part to training, but the process is also an extension of the natural world. Give dogs a chance to show their nature and work with it. That's how you train a dog.

I've always loved dogs, but my interest in training them began when I was in the military. In my early 20s, I was working with the U.S. Army Military Police Corp in Fort Myer, Va., when I became fascinated with how the military used dogs. So I took the military working dog handler course at Lackland Air Force Base [in Texas]. It was intensive-400 hours of training. But I loved it. I spent the rest of my time in the military as a K-9 handler, both with narcotics and explosives, eventually becoming a squad leader.

I worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency task force at Reagan National Airport and did routine sweeps of the Pentagon and other federal buildings in the military district of Washington, D.C. But my most memorable K-9 security detail was doing explosives sweeps for the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign.

I had an enormous sense of pride knowing that I played a role in keeping our president safe. One time when I was doing the security sweep in a building where President Clinton was going to give a speech, we ended up exiting through the door he was entering. He simply acknowledged me with a smile; it was one of those moments that affirmed everything I had done up to that point. I also worked a mission where President Clinton was meeting with the president of Ireland; both presidents walked past me with expressions of gratitude. I still get chills when I think of that moment.

By the time I left the Army, I'd earned the Army Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the German PT Badge/Bronze (given for completing a physically grueling endurance test). However, I took away more than medals. I'd learned how to maintain a strong work ethic in every task I took on.

Then I went to work for Makor K-9 in California. I knew how to be a handler, but the senior trainers at Makor taught me about kennel management, training management and K-9 procurement. During my two-year stint there I trained more than 1,500 dogs, sometimes supplying 20 to 30 dogs a month to U.S. Customs.

Young as I was, I knew I couldn't keep up that pace forever. So I got a job working for the DEA in Argentina, where I trained narcotics dogs. There I learned how to condense the process of training dogs-sometimes in a week-with generally a 75 percent success rate.

By the time I returned to the United States, I was ready to start my own company. With my military background, my work with private industry, my years with law enforcement and, most of all, my love of dogs, I realized I could bring a unique perspective to training.

Overall, I prefer working with sporting and herding dogs. They are good-natured, people-oriented and loyal. Really, there are few breeds that I don't like to work with. The exceptions are Jack Russell terriers-or "terrorists" as I like to call them. It's not that I can't train them; I have. But they are a challenge, to say the least.

I don't do a lot of narcotics dogs now; I mostly work with bomb dogs, and the technical part is teaching them to detect odors. There are small odors and large odors, depending on the size of the bomb. Training a dog to find a 10-pound bomb is very different from training one to find a 100-pound bomb. Unfortunately, 75 percent of the time dogs are taught to locate small bombs, so I try to work with agencies to create awareness of how different training methods are needed to detect major bomb threats.

Locally, I'm breeding leaner Labrador puppies that are more suited to the Naples climate. These "natives" are more resistant to the spots that dogs develop in their eyes from the Florida sun-and they can deal with the heat better, too. They can do the Florida-based bomb sniffing work I do for cruise ships, and I also place them in local homes with training before and after placement.

Most of my work is with big organizations, but I do take on selective family service dogs. We will often board them, break them of their bad habits, then integrate them back into the family. The important thing is that the owners don't undo the training we've done with the dog, so we usually make weekly trips to the house for six months to reinforce the good behavior. We're working with a basset hound right now who was attacking his owner; he should be ready to go back soon. Then we'll have to train the owner to keep up the good work.

I want to start working with young trainers to foster talent, develop the next generation-especially with companies using "sniffing machines" instead of dogs to detect bombs. Computers can't do what a dog can. Canines are 100 percent effective; machines may be 10 percent at best. We live on the earth with the animal world and trying to use unnatural methods of bomb detection is ineffective. That's my message. And, as long as I'm training canines, I'll make sure my dogs do what nature intended them to do: protect humans.