The PACKTRACK Deployment Summary report just got more insightful. A new table now highlights exactly when your K9 teams are being deployed using a visual breakdown of activity by day of the week and hour of the day. This gives you a clear, at-a-glance view of peak deployment times – making it easier than ever to spot patterns, optimize staffing, and share key activity insights with leadership. The goal is to help you make smarter, data-driven decisions to get even more value from the records you keep.

The Deployment Summary report is available for handlers and supervisors and provides great flexibility. It’s easy to filter by dog, date range, deployment type, and more – so you can get the insights you need. For example, as a handler you may want to know when you’re most frequently deployed for K9 tracking work. Simply filter your records for tracking deployments, hit the Report button and then select the Deployment Summary report. As a supervisor, you could be interested in when handlers are most frequently deployed for a specific requesting agency. To do this, filter your records by the desired requesting agency and then run the Deployment Summary report.

This feature is now live for all handlers and supervisors. Run a Deployment Summary report and check out the new heatmap chart. We’d love to hear what you think.

We’re excited to announce a powerful new feature for the PACKTRACK K9 record-keeping system: veterinary records. As a K9 handler, keeping accurate health records for your dog is essential, and our latest update makes it easier than ever. With these new features, you can effortlessly track vet visits, vaccinations and medical care, ensuring your dog stays healthy and deployment-ready.

Why record your veterinary visits? A healthy dog is a reliable partner, and staying proactive with veterinary care allows you to address medical issues early, ensuring peak performance in the field. Additionally, many agencies and organizations require up-to-date medical records for compliance and documentation. Well-organized records help you make informed decisions about your dog’s long-term health and care. With PACKTRACK’s new reports, supervisors can easily identify K9s who are overdue for vaccinations, improving accountability.

 Vet visit records

To log a veterinary appointment you’ll use the same familiar interface that you use for recording other activities. Each visit is added to your calendar and record list, allowing you to document past vet visits or schedule upcoming appointments. You can also search your vet records by title, notes, location, or type of care provided.

 Vet record details

Each vet visit record captures detailed information about the care your K9 receives, creating a complete and organized health history. Log various types of veterinary care, including treatments, vaccinations, X-rays, surgeries, and routine checkups. You can also add detailed notes and attach important documents or medical images to keep everything in one location.

All of this works great in the PACKTRACK app (available for iPhone and Android) as well.

 Vaccination management

PACKTRACK will alert you when your dog’s next vaccine is due, helping you stay proactive about your K9’s health. Vaccines fall into two categories: core and non-core. Generally, all dogs should receive the four core vaccines – plus rabies, in most cases – every three years. Additionally, certain non-core vaccines may be recommended based on your K9’s location and risk factors, often requiring annual boosters to ensure continued protection.

Select your dog’s vaccine from the dropdown menu and PACKTRACK will automatically set the next due date based on the vaccine type. You’ll receive reminders both in PACKTRACK and via email. This will happen two weeks before the due date and again on the day it’s due. These notifications give you plenty of time to schedule an appointment and log the upcoming vet visit in PACKTRACK.

You can view a comprehensive summary of your dog’s vaccination history and upcoming due dates at a glance. Each K9 in the Dogs section now gets a dedicated Vaccination Summary page, providing a clear overview of past and upcoming vaccinations. Use the VIEW link to quickly access the corresponding Vet Visit record for more details.

 Vet reports

Generate vet visit and vaccine summary reports for a comprehensive view of your K9’s medical care. There are 2 new reports available in the Create Report dialog for handlers and supervisors.

The Vet Visit report includes full details for all veterinary records available in the selected report range. The handler’s Vaccination Summary report provides much the same information as the Vaccination Summary page in the Dogs section. Note that it always includes the K9’s full vaccination history.

The supervisor version of the Vaccination Summary report includes additional details, making it easy to ensure that vaccinations are on schedule. Supervisors can see handlers that have both upcoming and overdue vaccinations as well as whether they’ve booked appointments. They can also track K9 handlers whose vaccination records are incomplete or missing.

Supervisor oversight

In addition to reports, supervisors have access to a Vaccines page with similar summaries of key vaccination information. The TO DO card on the Records page alerts the supervisor when there are overdue vaccinations for any supervised handler’s K9.

The Vaccines page is also available to supervisors within the PACKTRACK app.

We strive to make PACKTRACK powerful, yet user-friendly. Explore the new veterinary records functionality and share your feedback — we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Keeping your K9 records organized makes it easier to find what you need quickly and one of the simplest ways to categorize your work is by using a tagging system. We just updated PACKTRACK with more tagging features, including support for tags in deployments. Read on to learn more.

What are tags?

Tags are custom labels that you can attach to your K9 training event and deployment records to filter information more efficiently. Unlike rigid folder structures, tags offer flexibility, allowing you to label records with multiple relevant terms of your own choosing. For example, for a training session, you might add an event tag like “Demonstration” or “Certification”. Later, when you need to see all of your demonstration records you can simply search for the appropriate tag name rather than digging through your records manually.

How tags work

PACKTRACK now supports tagging for training events and deployment records. If you have a record of a certain type that you’d like to label then use the Tags dropdown to choose an entry or type in your own term. Custom tags are automatically listed in the dropdown the next time you use it. Feel free to add as many tags as you need. For deployments, we’ve provided a few default options including Overtime, Off Duty, Call Out, Burglary, Armed Robbery and Felony. Default training event tags include: Demonstration, Scent Wall and Certification.

How do you find these records later? Let’s say you’ve been regularly tracking your off duty deployments by setting the “Off Duty” tag for each record. You can search for these deployments using the record Filter button. In the dialog that appears, choose the Add Filter option and then select the Deployment Tags criteria. Next, choose the “Off Duty” tag and then hit Apply. Your record list is now filtered to only show your off duty deployments. You can easily run reports on these specific records using the Report button. Also note that the filtering dropdown has an option for “<Any Tag>”. Choose this to find all deployments that have any tag at all.

Tags are counted and displayed in the Training Summary and Deployment Summary reports. To determine how many off duty deployments you completed in 2024, for example, you would run a Deployment Summary report for that date range. A convenient bar graph shows the total number of times each tag was applied to a deployment.

If you’re not already using tags in PACKTRACK then now is the time to start. Whether you’re tracking your training certifications or overtime deployments, using a robust tagging system will help you maintain better organization, retrieve data quickly and gain valuable insights.

This past summer we introduced our latest K9 location tracking system with a new interface and several new features. In this release we’ve made a number of important improvements to make tracking even better.

Filtering

The first major change is track filtering. GPS data isn’t always accurate, especially in thick trees or next to buildings. This update uses advanced filtering to hide bad data so that there are fewer spikes on the route. This gives you a smoother, more consistent looking track, even in challenging conditions.

Improved orientation

A line on a map shows you where you’ve gone but the direction that you’ve travelled isn’t always obvious. As of this release, all track paths include integrated direction arrows to make this more clear. We’ve also added an orientation indicator so you can see which direction you’re facing. This blue “fan” spins to show your current direction on the map in real time and makes it much easier to get your bearing. This can be invaluable, especially when you’re in a hurry and need to know which way is up. For now, the orientation feature is only available on iPhones.

Enhancements

This release includes dozens of minor location tracking enhancements. Tracking reports are now more informative with a detailed breakdown of all track pins. The History page records all track interactions. We’ve made several enhancements to the tracking map window to make it easier to use and more intuitive. And along the way we squashed a bunch of small bugs and made changes to improve reliability. This release also includes a new version of the PACKTRACK app which restores the back button functionality for Android users.

The PACKTRACK app will update to the new version automatically over the coming week or so but feel free to download the latest version from your app store now. We love hearing your feedback. Please let us know if these features are working well for you or something doesn’t function as expected. We’re here to help.

Do you often train alone? Have you ever wanted to record 15 minutes of obedience training without wading through a mountain of forms? Quality K9 record keeping takes time but it shouldn’t be painful. We spend a lot of time making the PACKTRACK interface fast and convenient so you can focus on creating high quality records. With the latest Quick Training feature we’ve taken our passion for accuracy and efficiency to a new level. Try it out now to capture key training information with just a few taps on your phone.

What is it?

Solo Quick Training is designed specifically for patrol handlers who aren’t currently training in a group. It allows you to efficiently capture relevant training information on your phone as you perform the exercise. You can then choose to complete the exercise with additional details about the performance of your dog or save the record so that it can be completed later. In either case, the event and exercise record are created automatically.

The new compact interface is designed to capture the minimum data necessary to define your training activity. You may be familiar with using the “Five Ws” (who, what, where, when and why) to tell a story or gather information. On the Quick Training screen there are 4 field types: Location (where), Date/Time & Duration (when), Dog (who) and Patrol Type (what). When you choose to complete the exercise then your narrative will cover the “why”.

How does it work?

The new Solo Quick Training option is shown in the + (Plus) menu on the Records page in the PACKTRACK mobile app. Note that this feature is meant to be used on your phone when you’re training and isn’t available on the mypacktrack.com website.

The form is designed to prepopulate based on the current time and location as well as knowledge of your past training activities. For example, it might predict that you’re doing 15 minutes of obedience training with your default dog. You can, of course, edit any of the fields that are incorrect. At this point there are 2 choices: complete the exercise now or save it for later.

In the simplest case, you’ll decide to do some training, tap the Solo Quick Training option, possibly edit one of the fields and then tap Save For Later. That’s it. We’ll capture the time of day, duration of training, location, weather, type of training and which dog participated. You can choose to complete the training a little later on your phone or wait until you’re back at your computer. At that point you’ll add details explaining exactly how you trained and how your dog performed. The goal isn’t to remove detail from your records but rather to capture critical information quickly so that you can focus on providing the record details that matter.

Perhaps you’d rather complete the record right away. Instead of tapping Save For Later, choose the Complete Exercise button. The completion form for the selected patrol exercise type is inserted below the current form and you can finish the exercise on the same screen. Enter the required exercise details, type out your comments and you’re done. The event, exercise and completion record are all created automatically. It’s a good practice to review the records later to ensure you’ve included appropriate details about the training.

What else should I know?

Quick Training also supports exercises with multiple patrol types (aka “scenarios”). For example, to record an exercise scenario with both agility and obedience components, select the Agility Patrol Type, tap the + Patrol Type button and then select Obedience. The completion form will include sections for both patrol types along with a single comments field.

It’s important to understand the limitations of the Solo Quick Training feature. As the name implies, it can only be used when you’re training alone with a single dog. Group training isn’t supported. K9 detection exercises aren’t supported. And it’s only available in the PACKTRACK mobile app.

This goes without saying but we want to be very clear about what this feature is not. While it’s fast and convenient, Quick Training isn’t an excuse to cut down on the depth or quality of your records. Generating comprehensive records with detailed comments, which incorporate feedback from trainers and others, is essential for growing your skill set, improving your performance and protecting yourself and your agency from potential liability. We encourage you to review the exercise and completion data when you’re done to ensure you’ve defined clear exercise goals and properly explained how you worked to achieve them.

We’re proud of the Solo Quick Training option and hope you’ll find it convenient. We’d love to hear your feedback on how it’s working for you. If you find this feature helpful then please drop us a quick comment so that we know we’re on the right path.

PACKTRACK is focused on providing features that make K9 record keeping less of a burden. We want the system to be easy to use, reliable and convenient to save you time. Location tracking is a key component of this service. Our latest tracking release, rewritten from the ground up, makes tracking easier to use while providing several enhanced features. The design is specially tailored to the needs of K9 teams in law enforcement and search and rescue (SAR). In this post we’ll review the redesigned interface and walk through some of the changes.

Location tracking requires the PACKTRACK app and a modern cell phone. The system uses the GPS capabilities of your phone to track and record the movement of the K9 team, whether executing a deployment or conducting training exercises. Comprehensive tracking information is then automatically attached to your records. This includes an interactive map and key metrics such as duration, distance covered, turns taken, and weather conditions.

Note that the previous tracking system is no longer available and all existing tracks have been migrated to the new design. To use the new system please download the latest version of the PACKTRACK app (version 5.0 or above) from your app store, if you don’t already have it.

New interface

The upgraded PACKTRACK app includes a live map view with several map types and pan/zoom interaction. Detailed tracking configuration is available below the map. There are 3 tracking modes: Deployment, Training Lay and Training Follow. New in this release is the option to follow a training track without requiring a laid track. You can also set the visibility of a previously laid track depending on your training needs.

Once you start tracking you’ll get real-time updates on metrics such as elapsed time and distance covered. Feel free to add pins to mark any important locations or just put the phone in your pocket so it can track in the background.

The new system provides more flexibility when you stop tracking as well. You can choose to complete the associated record immediately, save the track for later, discard the track or resume tracking.

Location pins

PACKTRACK has always provided the option to add photos to your deployment track. With this release, location pins are much more powerful and can be added and edited in all track types. Add a pin to mark a specific location on a track with a photo and/or label. You can even add pins after the track is complete.

Supervisor monitoring

As always, supervisors can monitor deployment tracking activities in real-time and coordinate multiple K9 teams in a shared map interface.

Learn more about the capabilities of this new feature by reading the Tracking Overview article in our knowledge base. PACKTRACK’s location tracking system marks a significant step forward in how K9 teams manage and optimize their tracking operations. We’re proud to serve the law enforcement and SAR communities and hope you find this update helpful as you work. We’re planning several exciting tracking enhancements over the coming months. Stay tuned.

In the ever-evolving landscape of law enforcement, transparency and accountability are paramount. Departments continue to adapt to improve practices and build trust in their communities with fair policing. With the introduction of demographic data collection for arrests, PACKTRACK gives you another tool to boost your effectiveness and potentially defend yourself or your department against charges of bias.

As with all PACKTRACK features, it’s fast and easy to enter this data using our convenient mobile apps for iPhone and Android or the mypacktrack.com website. By doing so, you’ll unlock helpful data-driven insights that can inform decision-making and community engagement.

Demographic Data Collection

Demographic data is now mandatory for all new deployments with arrests. The 3 required fields are Race/Ethnicity, Sex and Age. Patrol deployments continue to include fields for People Found, Unintentional Bites and whether the Subject Was Bitten.

Each deployment report appropriately displays the provided demographic arrest data.

Demographic Insights

With this new data, the Deployment Summary report is expanded to include 2 sets of demographic charts. The first summarizes arrests and the second breaks down the demographic data for arrests with bites. This information helps to answer questions such as whether certain racial or ethnic groups are overrepresented in arrests or if there might be a gender or age bias in specific types of offenses. The reporting system allows you to isolate the demographic data for any segment you want: detection, patrol, specific handlers, requesting agency, location, odor type, etc.

This feature update includes a variety of related report improvements. For example, we’ve revised the supervised handlers statistics summary for the Deployment Log and Deployment Summary reports to include more data.

Thank you for all of your feedback which helps us extend and improve the PACKTRACK service. As we refine and expand this feature and others, we remain committed to fostering positive relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Have comments on this update or anything else about PACKTRACK? Let us know.

We’re always improving the PACKTRACK interface. Sometimes it’s challenging. How do you make K9 record keeping as simple as possible while adding new features and extending functionality? With our latest release we’re making a few fundamental changes to the layout of the Records page. The goal is to minimize clutter and make things approachable for new K9 handlers while retaining the best parts of the interface to keep it familiar.

Updated layout

There are some subtle and not so subtle changes to the PACKTRACK Records page design. The search bar above the calendar is replaced by a new Filter button above the record list. The Report button is now beside the Add Record button above the calendar. We also grouped the various record alerts into a single TO DO button at the top of the page.

Simplified searching

To improve usability, especially on your phone, we moved the search form into a dedicated filter dialog. This is also the new home for your saved searches. The form layout is simplified with dropdowns instead of long lists. Less commonly used filters move to the Advanced Filters section.

The Records page now shows the applied filters using rectangular chips above the records list. This makes it extra clear exactly how your records have been filtered. It also makes it easy to remove filters by clicking the X in the chip. Press the Save button to give your current search a name if you want to use it again in the future.

Cleaner mobile design

All of the above changes are available on your phone too. In addition to the simplified layout, the calendar is now bigger and easier to interact with when you want to select a specific date. The Filter and TO DO buttons are relocated to the title bar at the top. To Create a report, tap the Plus button and select New Report.

Finally, we invested time in revising the dark mode colors to improve contrast and make the layout more consistent on desktop and on your phone. There are lots of other small visual tweaks as well. As with all changes of this type, some things are going to be easier to use while others may take an additional step. Our hope is that the overall experience makes sense and offers subtle, yet helpful improvements for most people. As always, if you have feedback on any of our updates then please let us know.

We release PACKTRACK “maintenance” updates quite regularly. This typically includes a collection of bug fixes and smaller refinements aimed at making your experience just a little bit easier. Many of these changes are guided by your feedback. We don’t usually share the details because there are often dozens of small changes. You probably have better things to do with your time than read a long list of release notes.  🙂

Our latest maintenance update is a little different. It includes the usual mix of bug fixes, interface tweaks and general refinements but we’ve also included a few larger enhancements. These changes are a direct result of your comments and feedback and we thought we’d share some of the details.

Training group shortcut

In a previous update we released a new Groups page to give you full control over your management and training groups. But what if you’re in the middle of creating a training event and want to modify a training group? Perhaps your “Templeton Training Group” now regularly includes handler Mark and you don’t want to have to add him manually to the event each time. With this update you can easily add or remove members from your event and save the change to your training group for next time. With this shortcut, there’s no need to make these changes from the Groups page. You can even create a brand new training group based on your currently selected event members.

Weather forecast and reload

Have you ever wondered what the weather will be like at your next training event? PACKTRACK now displays the latest weather forecast for the time and location of your training event right on the event page. This includes weather conditions, temperature and wind speed. We’ve also added a convenient reload option for any auto-filled weather data that’s added to your training completion or deployment records.

Notification enhancements

Thank you for all of your feedback on how we can improve the notification system. We’ve made a number of improvements that we think will be helpful. Have you felt overwhelmed with too many notifications? PACKTRACK now only shows one notification at a time. While there’s always been a Dismiss All button at the top of the notification side panel we’ve also added one right on the notification itself. For convenience, clicking on a notification’s content will automatically dismiss it. We’ve also changed several of the notifications so that the user who initiates a change doesn’t get notified. You don’t need to know that there’s a new upcoming training event if you’re the one who just added it. Finally, we’ve made a number of text and styling updates to make the system easier to use. For example, it’s more obvious when a notification has been dismissed in the notifications side panel.

All of the above new functionality is available in your browser and in the PACKTRACK mobile app. We hope these enhancements are helpful! There are dozens of other refinements and bug fixes in this update as well. Many of those were also changed because you shared your thoughts. Got a comment on how PACKTRACK works? We’d love to hear from you.

We’ve been incrementally upgrading PACKTRACK with a more modern look for a while now. One of the last few remaining areas is group management functionality. In this release we not only updated the design, we also took the opportunity to improve how training and management groups work.

The Groups Page

A K9 handler joins a management group so that trainers and supervisors can oversee their records. Handlers can also join training groups. A training group is a collection of handlers that commonly train together. The Groups page provides a convenient, unified place for configuring management and training groups.

We’ve made an important change to make it easier to work with people you know. Once you’re connected to another handler, either because you have the same manager or because you share a training group, you no longer need to send them invites when they’re added to new training groups. When you add them they will automatically become members. This new design assumes there’s a degree of trust between handlers that are already connected in some way.

This is the new Groups page for managing your connections. Let’s review each of the numbered sections.

1. Managers

The top of the page starts with a Managers section. In PACKTRACK, managers include supervisors and trainers that give oversight to a group of handlers. Trainers can create events and exercises for handlers and add training notes to individual training records. Supervisors have the option to approve or reject exercise and deployment records and administer certain handler account options (such as billing).

The Managers table shows each trainer and supervisor who has access to your account. Outstanding invites are also shown. Click a row to see additional details about the managed group. Use the + Manager button to invite new trainers and supervisors to oversee your records.

2. Training Groups

PACKTRACK uses named Training Groups to identify sets of handlers who often train together. A table on the Groups page lists the training groups that you’ve joined as well as any outstanding invitations. Click a row to see additional training group details or to update the group settings. Use the + Training Group button to create a new group or, if you know the code, to request access to a group.

Creating and editing training groups is easy. Click on a training group to open the editor. Use the Add Members dropdown to select any of your existing connected handlers or use the “INVITE A NEW GROUP MEMBER” option to invite a handler using their email address. When they accept the invite they’ll join your group and appear in your list of connected handlers. Note that you can only edit a training group if you’re configured as a group leader.

3. Connected Handlers

At the bottom of the Groups page you’ll see a list of the handlers with which you’re connected. This is similar to a “friends” list. The names are selected based on the groups you’ve joined in the Managers and Training Groups tables. You’re automatically connected to handlers who share the same supervisor, trainer or training group. Click the VIEW link to see the full list of your handler connections.

Trainers

Trainers invite handlers to be managed using the Manage page. When a trainer manages a handler they’re able to see all of the handler’s training groups. Trainers can also create named training groups for handlers. The trainer’s list of connected handlers includes the members of each training group for which the trainer has access.

Mobile

The Groups page works similarly in the PACKTRACK mobile app. The interface is a little different but all of the same functionality is available.

This was a big update! We hope it makes group management in PACKTRACK just a little bit easier. Have comments or suggestions about this or any other feature in PACKTRACK? We’d love to hear your thoughts.