At Carlson Agility, we can provide you with any type of agility equipment you might need. This includes K9 training equipment and our K9 equipment is the same type of equipment used to train police dogs and military working dogs. This equipment can be used to train working dogs, but it also can be used by any dog that enjoys agility.
Some Facts About Police Dogs
Police dogs and military service dogs are used to aid in apprehension as well as in search and rescue tasks. In general, police dogs tend to be from just a few select breeds, such as Belgian Malinois or German shepherds. Bloodhounds often are used for their keen sense of smell, but this breed typically doesn’t train using K9 training equipment, they are trained for scent detection only.
Our relationship with dogs in a working capacity is not something new. For instance, in ancient Greece, Egypt and Persia, dogs were used as guards and, of course, dogs have been used to support hunting activities for centuries, as well as to protect and direct livestock.
Dogs officially have been used to support police activities for more than a century, and the first K9 “officers” were recruited by the New York Police Department in the early 20th century. After that, other police departments followed suit and dogs were introduced to help in military service as early as World War I.
Today, most police departments have working dogs, and while they aren’t paid, the expenses for their care are covered and they typically live with their officer partner. Often, police dogs are paid for, trained and supported by donations as many police departments do not have budgets to cover the expenses of police dogs, despite their obvious importance to aid in police work.
Just as with agility training, police dogs don’t usually begin their training until they are at least a year old. It’s generally best to wait until the dog has reached its physical maturity. Using full-sized agility equipment or K9 training equipment before this point can result in injuries, and slightly older dogs are more mentally ready for training. Still, you can start teaching some basic commands to younger dogs and puppies, such as sit, stay, come and lay down, etc.
Once training begins, it takes more than a year for the training process to be complete. This includes initial training with a police dog specialist and then training with the officer that will partner with the dog. Additionally, the police dog and police officer continue to undergo regular training while they are working together.
Our K9 Training Equipment
Unlike our colorful agility equipment, most of our K9 training equipment is white. This is typical throughout the K9 training world. However, aside from the color, some of the pieces of training equipment look similar to regular agility equipment. For instance, police dogs train with obstacles such as teeters, a-frames, dog walks, tire jumps and tunnels.
However, our selection of K9 training equipment includes items that you won’t find on any regular agility courses. This includes items such as our car door jump, picket fence hurdle, the window hurdle, brick wall hurdle and our chain link fence hurdle. These are all items that a police dog might have to tackle in the real world.
We have a tunnel connector that allows trainers to connect two tunnels in opposite directions. This could mimic a police action in which a dog needs to crawl through a drainage tunnel that might have multiple turns. Our dog crawl is another unique piece of K9 training equipment that mimics what a dog might need to do in order to get into a crawl space under a porch or home to look for a suspect or some specific item, such as drugs or weapons.
While we have everything you might need for official K9 training, our K9 training equipment can be used by any dogs that love agility. The heights of some of the obstacles might limit their use for smaller breeds of dog, but larger dogs might enjoy trying out the double tunnel obstacle or perhaps leaping over the brick wall obstacle.
The United Kennel Club actually uses a crawl tunnel and a window jump in some competitions, although their versions are slightly different. If you are competing in UKC events, our K9 training equipment can be a handy addition to your collection of obstacles, however, we do also sell UKC crawl tunnels and UKC window jumps built according to that organization’s specific requirements. We also have UKC sway bridges, swing planks and much more.
All of our equipment, including our K9 training equipment, is handmade using the highest quality materials. Our K9 training equipment is built from wood and plywood, with the exception of the chain-linked fence obstacle, and we paint the surface areas with a weather-resistant white flat paint mixed with a non-skid material to reduce slipping.
If you need K9 training equipment, scent detection training equipment or any type of dog agility equipment (including mini agility equipment), we have everything you could possibly need. Whether you want K9 training equipment for official training or just for backyard fun, you’ll find that our equipment is identical to obstacles used by organizations such as the North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA) and the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA). If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at any time.
