This presentation covers Tactical Obedience Training for police K9s and how to incorporate training exercises and methods into your training regime that will benefit you directly on deployments, as opposed to traditional certification style obedience exercises which demonstrate control but do not necessarily aid you in the performance of K9 deployments. Focused heeling, tactical heeling, send outs, downs at a distance, weapon neutrality, are some of the exercises introduced in this side show.

1. Tactical Obedience for Police K9s

2. Certification
Obedience vs.
Tactical Obedience
• Certification obedience exercises
don’t always translate into useful
obedience in a deployment
setting
• Tactical Obedience means
obedience behaviors that assist in
achieving a clear objective
(efficiency and safety) in a
deployment situation.

3. Certification
Obedience
• Typical certification obedience
behaviors are performed in an
open field without distractions.
• Multiple, loud commands are
allowed.
• Body positions are generally
erect, and do not involve having
to manipulate weapons

4. Tactical Obedience
Performed in a deployment setting,
body position is appropriate to the
deployment, moving and seeking cover
and concealment, weapon drawn,
hands and arms in front of the body.
Crouching, kneeling, fast movements in
heeling or slow, the dog must be used
to this kind of handler behavior.
Many dogs are not trained enough in
this kind of environment with the
handler behaving as on a deployment,
so the dog is operating out of context
and becomes confused.

5. Tactical Obedience
Element: Focused
heeling
One element of Tactical obedience
is focused heeling, where the heeling
captures the dog’s eyes and
attention.
Purpose of attentive heeling mainly is
to control what potentially may
distract the dog that you do not
want to distract him.

6. Attentive or Focused Heeling
Head Straight Style Head Wrap Style

7. Focused Heeling Around Decoy
Distractions

8. Tactical Obedience
Element: Between
the legs heeling
(Tactical Heeling)
Benefits of Tactical Heeling:
1. Contact heeling by feel for
movement, change of pace,
kneeling and downing with no
need for verbal commands.
2. Keeps the dog out of the way of
weapons, and transitions from long
gun to side arm.
3. Excellent position for moving and
shooting
4. Desensitizes the dog to being
straddled for tactical removal

9. Finding Heel Position
1. Door Poppers
2. Find you around your vehicle
3. Find you around suspect vehicle
4. Use decoy distractions

10. Distance Downs
Down at a distance
Practice send out and down and
down on recall.
1. Important for control in general
during area and building
searches
2. Great to use in Clear, down, and
cover method building searches.
3. Must be generalized/proofed in
tactical deployments

11. Generalizing
Responses
Cannot stress enough that these
behaviors must be eventually trained
in context.
1. Moving with teams, and shields,
not just for SWAT dogs
2. Low light and dark light
environments
3. Quiet commands and hand
signals, or contact work.
4. Unstable ground, stairs, clutter, in
buildings and outside

12. Generalizing
Responses
Continued….
1. Weapon Neutrality
2. Shooting stationary progresses to
shooting and moving
3. Train obedience around decoys, as
on the street your dog is looking for
civilian clothed suspects, civilian
clothed people are distractions, in
training decoys are used to mimic
those distractions.
4. Friendly forces such as fire-rescue in
turnout gear look like suited decoys,
train for reality.

13. Train Beyond Basic
Competency
Tactical Obedience embedded in
scenario style training will help you
be better and more efficient in your
deployments.
You learn not to fumble leashes,
lights, and weapons when you train
employing these methods in scenario
style in service.
If your in-service looks like your
certification you are not preparing
for real world work!

14. Tarheel Canine Training Inc.

15. Tarheel Canine Training Inc.
Extraction Imprint Areas Environmental Imprint Areas

16. Tarheel Canine Training Inc.

17. Tactical Training Center
Tarheel Canine Training Inc.
TTC Building 2 TTC Hallway Building 1

18. Tactical Training Center
Tarheel Canine Training Inc.
TTC Building 3 Parking Area TTC

19. Tarheel Canine
Additional Training Areas

20. Tarheel Canine Training Inc.
Trained, Green K9s, Handler
Courses, Seminars.
Police K9 Services
Instructors Jerry Bradshaw & Sean Siggins
230 W. Seawell Street, Sanford, NC 27330
www.tarheelcanine.com
jbradshaw@tarheelcanine.com
919-774-4152