They are fast, fierce and skillful and with crime constantly on the rise, skills like these, and more so dogs like these are not a need, but a necessity.
K9 Excellence is a professional training academy in Muldersdrift to turn dogs into working dogs to be used for police or security services. Owner, Eddie Coetzee had been with the K9 unit of the police for many years and has also received further training overseas.
Wooden boxes are set up in a circle ready to train the dogs and their handlers the importance of sniffing out narcotics.
First up for his school day is 14-month-old Joff. The German shepherd is in the process of being trained to be used as a working dog for BCI Protection Services in Little Falls. Owner of BCI, Corinda Loots explained that she is in the process of purchasing Joff, but first has to go through training as a handler. “The goal is to use Joff at schools or colleges to trace narcotics,” said Loots.
Coetzee explained that there are levels of dog training. Only when one gets to level four, can you purchase a dog. “A dog’s smell is 170 000 times stronger than a human’s,” said Coetzee. He explained that they train the dogs with a kong, which is a toy that the dog makes the association of being rewarded with when it has accomplished a task.
“A dog is normally six weeks with us,” said Coetzee.
Apart from the narcotic search, Coetzee also does ‘man work’ training which trains the dog to attack only on command on the command of its handler. It is important to always keep the training fun for the dog and remember that for dogs it is a game.
Details: K9 Excellence, 078 182 6093.
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