Security Dogs (Special Consideration)

Posted by admin | Posted in Security Dogs (Special Consideration) | Posted on 19-03-2010

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Frequently customers, private and public security firms speak to me about the need of security dogs. Quite sadly the idea of Security dogs is very badly misunderstood. If a dog looks big and it can bark it does not qualify to be a security dog. In human terms it is like saying that if a person is big size and shouts a lot, he can be a security guard or a personal guard. Sometimes when I send trained dogs for security work I noticed that even selection of security personnel is done so poorly. Police and Security dogs are very much alike except for one thing. Police dogs work under very stressful conditions requiring high level of mobility whereas Sucurity dogs are confined to a fixed working area requiring less mobility between one area of work to another. So the mental mindframe of a Security dog should always be on high alert. So you require dogs that are less sociable with short nerve. It is the same type of dog that I refer to in my other article called Sports Dog Vs Guard Dog. Therefore Security Dogs are not breed specific rather dog specific. I have seen many unethical security companies sending young untrained dogs from breeds such as German Sheperd, Rottweiler and Belgian Malinois as Security Dogs. The dogs have not been tested nor trained before being sent to carry out the duty that they will never be able to perform, very much like the security personnel who have never been trained in spoken language nor security tactics.

Working Requirements

Dogs are living beings. They have feelings and consiousnessness. So we need to regularly motivate and train them to keep their spirits high for the area of work they will be deployed. Of course when I say this, I don’t mean any dog out there. Specifically to the type of Security Dog that I am refering to in this article. I find often that security firms claim that they have trained security dogs that they can offer for security services at customer premises. The customer pays a fee for this service to the security firm in addition to feeding and caring for the dog. This goes on as long as the customer wants the canine security service. There is no point with this kind of arrangement. All I see in this is 100% stupidity on the customer side. The customer might as well buy and own the dog  rather than being engaged in this kind of arrangements. I tell you why. First there is no cost saving. Secondly in relation to what I said earlier, dogs are living beings. They are not one-time preprogrammed machines. As such the dogs require constant training throughout its working life or it will just forget what it was trained on, very much like human. In addition to that, it has to be in the hands of professional care when it is off duty as this will be the majority of the time when training and preparation for work is done. So when the dog is deployed to the site, it immediately goes into “working” mode. And bear in mind, the same dog should not be sent to the same place every day for the same work. Dogs get too used to routines and will not function as intended. Therefore rotation of trained dogs is extremely important.

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