Police Service Dog Training

By David Reaver

Adlerhorst currently imports 25 to 30 dogs a month. All of our dogs have been personally tested and selected in Europe. More then 30 years ago we innovated this procurement process, during this span of time many have emulated our process. Their success initially enabled many to duplicate our selection process.

In the interim several events have occurred to dramatically alter the procurement process.

• Our selection of the better, more expensive dogs became the type of dog even the Europeans coveted. This began in the late 1980’s and created a market that favored the seller. Thus began price increases, however, availability of suitable dogs was still present
• In 2002 the European Union adopted the Euro as their coin of the realm. Initially the rate of exchange was still in our favor. A dollar could purchase 1.25 euros. Over the next two years a gradual decline of our purchasing power began to occur. Currently we need $1.38 to purchase one euro, or the same dollar we had in 2002 would now buy about 60 euro cents. This represents a loss of dollar vs. euro of 80%.
• That’s the bad news. The good news is as the better dogs became more expensive fewer people are buying them. While it is still a sellers market we still are able to purchase the better dogs simply by paying more then others are willing to pay. While our profit per dog suffered our volume doubled over the last 2 to 3 years. Currently we purchase more KNPV certified dogs then any individual or Country! Most vendors are relying on Europeans, or in some cases, other USA vendors to procure their dogs. Currently we travel to Europe monthly for procurement trips.

An additional by product of increased volume in our litigious society is…..more litigation. We have learned from past cases (Kerr vs. West Palm Beach), how critical on going documented training with clearly defined written goals can be. Local litigation, primarily against the larger agencies met epidemic proportions during the mid 1990’s. Agencies contracting with us and agencies that contract with others for training but hired us as experts for their litigation have never had a case adjudicated against them! Our adversaries learned to stipulate to our training and standards to eliminate a lot of flowery descriptive testimony on our part. Adlerhorst currently has 9 full time instructors and 5 part time instructors. We conduct 6 Patrol classes, 6 narcotic detection classes a year, plus explosive and arson classes as needed. We also provide maintenance training for 85 agencies in 4 States. Additionally we conduct 6 agitator seminars yearly in Riverside, plus 3-5 additional sessions in Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona & Texas. While this schedule is intense we are still seeking more locations to conduct our maintenance program. We would like to expand to locations in Northern California, the Central Valley of California as well as the Bay Area. To that end we offer:

•  9 full time instructors with a total of 245 years of canine experience and 180 years of law enforcement experience.
• 5 part time instructors with a total of 45 years of canine experience and 180 years of law enforcement experience.
• A comprehensive written and published performance standard by which we evaluate all teams contracting for our training. Monthly evaluations are written and delivered to each agency. Evaluation forms are not pass/fail. Each team is evaluated in each area as- very good, good, fair or needs improvement. Any area needing improvement will be addressed during the current session.
• We will provide expert testimony and access to our legal research for any canine related litigation for expenses only.
• All participants may participate in remedial sessions or other sessions beyond the 8 hours per month recognized as minimum requirements, at no extra charge.

For additional information, copies of our written standards, CV’s of our instructors or other information please consult our web page or call (951) 685-2430.