US Navy/Mass Comm Specialist 2nd Class Kyle Carlstrom Military working dog Kuko during basic obedience training in the hangar bay of amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard in the US 7th Fleet area of operations, August 23, 2016.
- Military working dogs are trained to do tough jobs under harsh conditions, but they're still dogs.
- While their training is specialized, some aspects are universal and will apply no matter what you're trying to teach your dog.
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As a Military Working Dog handler in the US Marine Corps, I got to work with some of the best trained dogs in the world.
These dogs can sniff out bombs that have been buried underground, sniff out drugs that are hidden in ceiling tiles, take down a man three times their size, and track a person long after they're gone to find criminal suspects or lost kids.
As a handler paired up with an explosive detection dog, my job was to train him, maintain his skills, keep him healthy, make sure he got exercise, and make sure he was healthy. After graduating from dog handling school, I was paired with my first dog, Kuko.
As a new handler with an experienced dog, I had to get up to his level before we could be an effective team. Once I got there, I could start teaching him new things to take our team to the next level.
While you may not be training your dog to find bombs buried in mud or drugs hidden in a car bumper, there are some keys to training dogs that will apply no matter what skills you are trying to teach.