Free Navy SEAL Dogs by Mike Ritland Page A

way, I’m actually working with the pups on several things all at once. First, I’ve taught them to use their noses and to be successful at it. They have gotten repeated, positive results at an early age, and that helps teach them to trust and rely on their sense of smell.
    They’ve also had to do some work, though. When we’re out in a large area, they have to stick with it and keep air-scenting and walking along with me. We’ll walk and we’ll walk, and then bam ! All of a sudden the pups are into the odor and they go into locate-the-source mode. This is exactly what they’re going to be doing if they do detection work later on.
    When doing detection work, a dog will take as many as ten short breaths a second to move scents far into his nasal cavity. Imagine a human trying to cover the distances these dogs do, going for miles at a time, while employing that kind of breathing pattern. We’d likely faint before we’d finish. While dogs, particularly herding dogs like the Malinois, naturally have strong endurance capabilities, that trait also has to be carefully nurtured and developed. Eventually the pups that grow up to do detection work will travel great distances on walks, sometimes while wearing weighted vests.
    If it sounds like I’m being pretty demanding on these pups at an early age, I am. It’s because these dogs are being trained to be working dogs. I know what their role in life is going to be, so I know the kinds of skills they are going to need to be successful. If you look at people who are successful at a sport, for example, chances are good that they began playing (note the emphasis here) their chosen sport at a very early age. The best athletes are generally the ones who picked up their game very early on in life. Sure, you could become a pro golfer, tennis player, baseball player, or whatever if you started at the age of fifteen, but the odds are against you. The earlier you start, the better your chances of being at the top of your sport someday.
    From birth to eighteen months, a dog goes through a rapid period of mental and physical growth. It grows from a helpless infant into an animal possessing the vast majority of its adult capabilities. It’s my job to help each dog maximize his abilities.
    Just so it’s clear, no puppy has starved or been injured in any way during the early training phase. I’m never punishing the pups in any way. Instead, I’m teaching them, from an early age, to work for a reward. In a lot of respects, as serious as the training business is, those pups are having a blast.

 
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    DETECTION TRAINING: PASSING THE SNIFF TEST
    I squatted against the wall in the dark, breathing the moist air, hiding from the dogs working the detection-training exercise. I was waiting for them to detect me, to pick up my scent with their noses and come find me. I don’t know if words can adequately describe the feelings of anticipation and dread that you experience when you’re in a situation like that, knowing that any second, a 60- to 80-pound monster is going to steamroll you. It is more than sweaty-palms time, let me tell you, but the thrill of it never gets old.
    Because of how complex the situation was that I had set up for the dogs, I was confident that I had plenty of time before any of them detected me.
    I was wrong.
    Within minutes, the first dog came blasting out of the darkness to pound into me. Even though I was wearing a protective bite suit, I walked off that field of battle with sore and rapidly swelling forearms, hands, and legs. Another trainer named Wayne and I switched on and off being the decoy all day, and we lost every time to the dogs. The dogs and their handlers did a stellar job that day. So my body may have taken a few hits, but my pride at seeing the dogs excel at their training wasn’t wounded in the least.
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    On that training day we were in a compound we had access to that was