While the canine law enforcement profession progresses, some parts remain very much the same. As a new canine handler I was advised to keep training records but to write as little as possible. Those that came before me explained that writing too much would only provide the defense attorney with more things to attack. Of course, this idea only had merit if the attorney didn’t know anything about training drug detection dogs. It may have been partially true in the past but not today.

Training logs should paint a picture for the reader. They should show how the training has progressed as the dog and handler work together. They should also detail the work that the handler did while training the dog. You’re painting a picture that illustrates the reliability of you and the dog as a team.

So what should you write? First of all, training goals should always be clearly stated and directly addressed in the notes and comments section of your training logs. This is something that we emphasize for K9 training records in the PACKTRACK app and online software. While it’s different for each canine and exercise, there are standard elements that you should include in your training comments. Below are some areas to consider.

• Target odors. If the dog finds the target odor then be sure to say so. Describe the behavior change and the final response. List what you see when the dog detects the target odor. For example: “There was a head turn, closed mouth, breathing increase, excited posture, tail wagging at a more rapid pace. The dog then bracketed the target odor, tracing the odor to its source. Once at the source of the odor the dog came to the ultimate and final response of a sit.”  
• No target odors. If there are blank areas (without target odors) in the exercise then be sure to note whether you determined that a target odor was present or not. For example, if an exercise has several vehicles but not all of them have target odors then you’ll want to note the K9’s response after smelling each car. If there was no behavior change then write that you knew, based on the dog’s response and your training, that the vehicle was a blank and therefore moved on to the next car.
• Proofing odors. If there is a proofing or novel odor in an exercise then you should mention in your records that the dog smelled at the odor and did not respond.
• Blank or controlled negative. If the whole exercise is a blank or controlled negative then you should explain that your dog inspected the entire area and, based on your training and the dog’s behavior, you determined that there was no target odor present.
• Similarity to real life deployments. Describe that you conducted the exercise as you would work the dog in real life. It can impact the dog and K9 handler’s training if, for example, you work the dog on lead on vehicle exteriors in real life settings but in training you cut the dog off lead to inspect a car exterior. Explicitly mention that this exercise matches how you work the dog in deployment scenarios.
• Corrective training. When working on specific training issues your notes should explain how the exercise is intended to improve or fix the problem. Any weaknesses or problems that you observe during training must be noted in your records. As trainers we must have a plan for correcting these issues and then create exercises focused on improving behavior. Your training comments appropriately document the team’s progress in each exercise and prove that the issue has been reliably corrected.

Documenting your training progress creates a complete picture of the quality of your training efforts and the reliability of your dog. These comments also show that you’re improving as a handler. Clear and accurate documentation shows that you’re educated about proper dog training techniques and diligent and competent in your profession.

Defense experts prefer to separate out training activities to imply issues or mistakes. However, training records should be taken as a whole. The totality of the K9 team’s records demonstrate the knowledge of the handler/trainer, the proficiency of the dog and the team’s joint capacity to improve and work together reliably.

A combination of the initial training and continued maintenance training, knowledge of the canine handler describing the training methods, and progress of the team proven through testing is needed testimony to paint a complete picture of reliability.

As the creator of PACKTRACK and an expert in the field I’m commonly asked about extending our K9 record keeping system to compute an accuracy percentage statistic during K9 detection training.

The requested method of calculating this statistic is simple. If the dog finds or “hits” the target odor then it’s marked as correct. When the dog doesn’t find or “misses” the target odor then it’s marked as incorrect. If the dog indicates that a target odor is present when it isn’t (sometimes referred to as a “false alert”) then it’s also marked as incorrect. The statistic is calculated based on the percentage of correct responses.

The request for this feature may come from a misunderstanding of the 2013 Supreme Court case of Florida v Harris or be based on advice received from a trainer. The US Supreme Court ruling in this case explicitly rejected an earlier Florida court ruling that favored “rigid rules” in favor of a “Totality of Circumstances” approach. The key problem with using an accuracy percentage calculation in deployments is that it’s impossible to accurately say whether the dog was incorrect. The Supreme Court ruling went even further by stating that probable cause cannot be and has never been based on a “bright-line test” such as a statistical calculation. Probable cause is based on a “totality of the circumstances” analysis. Based on this decision, the idea of using an accuracy statistic for training would not be beneficial in court.

Another problem with this idea is it presumes that the outcome of a training exercise provides confirmation that the training was done correctly. It seems logical to assume that hits are correct responses while misses and false alerts are incorrect responses. However, this simplification reads more into the data than is captured. The idea that we can equate locating a target odor (a hit) to a determination of whether the training was done correctly is absurd. It’s like presuming that since no tangible substance was found after a K9 indication during a deployment that this indication must have been a false alert or somehow incorrect.

Behavior modification in drug detection training is mainly done with positive reinforcement at the appropriate time. Handlers can inadvertently train canines to respond to a “cue”, a behavior, sound, or action that the canine learns as a signal to respond in a positive way that a target odor is present. The canine learns this behavior over a series of exercises where the cue (an action taken by the handler) was done and the canine was rewarded in a positive manner. This cueing is consistently reinforced by the handler during training exercises and may cause what some call a “false alert”. While this “false alert” will be correctly marked as an incorrect response by the dog, it is actually a red flag that there is a training issue. The real incorrect training exercises are those prior to the “false alert”, when the handler performed the cue where target odor was concealed, and the canine was rewarded. During those exercises the canine was taught the cue. These exercises would be marked as “hits” with the presumption that the exercises were conducted correctly when in fact they were not.

An accuracy statistic requires that we read too much into the outcome of an exercise. There is no way to provide this statistic and we shouldn’t try. Training time should be focused on finding and correcting the problems that we, as handlers and trainers, may have caused. Training is the time to push teams to their limits and beyond. Handlers should come to training feeling free to make and learn from their mistakes so they can prevent and correct them in future training. Exercises should condition handlers to perform proper technique while increasing their knowledge and perfecting the skill of dog handling.

In using the proposed statistic handlers are forced to only work to the limit of correct performance. They will only do exercises that they know they can complete properly in order to maximize their accuracy percentage. Who would want to push themselves to the point of error if a statistic, which provides no explanation, will be used to gauge their reliability?

My advice is to be careful if you quantify your hits, misses and false alerts as a percentage of accuracy. You are keeping records that can negatively impact the quality of your training and provide a false sense of proper training. And, if you’re challenged in court, it’s unlikely that this statistic will do much to help you win a reliability argument. There are better ways to train and document your records and we will talk about this in future posts. Stay tuned.