Police K-9 Magazine

Questions - We recently had remote door openers installed in our cars. We have never used these before and are in disagreement about how to train for their use. I think the dog should still need a verbal cue that it is okay to leave the car; the other handlers think he should come out automatically if the door popper is activated. Have any of your trainers developed a good way to use this device effectively?

Answer - Denzel Lukens replies: We train our dogs to recall to the handler. We start with door pops with the handler in sight and call the dog to “heel.” We move on to door pops with the handler out of sight and then calling the dog to a “heel.”

We then pop the door with the handler and decoy in sight, and the dog is called to a “heel” and placed in a “guard.” Finally, the door pops with the handler and decoy out of sight and the dog is called to a “heel” and placed in a “guard.” Avoid automatic fights from a door pop: that could lead to a lot of problems for you.

We have door poppers, but I don’t put all my trust in them. They have failed to open more than once for my handlers and me. I know of agencies that have given up on the door pops due to failures.

Jack Robicheaux replies: Everyone has an opinion and some can be substantiated through experience. I personally agree with you that a dog should only come out of a car on a command from the handler. We further train that when the door is popped and the dog is commanded out, he is to come only to the handler. Now, once the dog is en route to the handler, the handler can redirect the dog if desired. Several lawsuits have been filed regarding dogs coming out of the car when the door was opened and biting the wrong person. We believe the decision of when and who to bite is for the handler, not the dog, to make.

We teach this behavior starting with a long line hooked to the dog and coming out of the cage and window to the opposite side of the car from which the dog will exit. In the beginning, the decoy is in a suit. The handler drives up, with the long line on the roof of the car, opposite the opening side. The decoy is in front of the vehicle holding the K-9’s attention and a trainer grabs the long line. The handler gets out of the car. The dog’s focus should be on the decoy and not on the trainer holding the long line. The handler goes to the door and pops it, reinforcing the “stay” command verbally. If and when the dog breaks, the trainer makes a firm physical correction with the line and the verbal command comes from the handler. That is repeated, with the decoy becoming more aggressive. When the dog is solid on the “stay,” he is called to the handler to the “heel” position, preferably in a “down.” The dog is never allowed to bite of his own volition. He can bite only when he is under the handler’s control and is commanded to do so. Once that is taught, we use a hidden sleeve, multiple people and, if the dog has been properly neutralized to the muzzle, we use one. This is not a quick teaching exercise. It takes multiple sessions and, as with most training, once accomplished it remains ongoing.

Ron Gunton replies: Excellent question. Personally, I don’t prefer a verbal command for the dog to come out. I don’t see any drawback to requiring the dog to wait for the command, but my personal preference is for the default to be that the dog comes out on his own when the door pops. That being said, I’ve seen far too many dogs “come out hot” when the door pops. In other words, the dog comes out looking to nuke the first person he sees. Not good. That becomes a huge liability issue, and there have been many instances in which the door popped, the dog came out hot, and the first person the dog encountered was another cop or an innocent person.

What I prefer is what I call “find Dad.” When the door pops, the dog immediately comes out searching for his handler and will bypass anyone else until he finds him. Basically, what it boils down to is the dog seeks his handler, goes to the “heel,” and awaits further instruction. At that point, the dog can be deployed as needed.

Consider this scenario: The handler is by himself and is dealing with someone who is starting to give him problems (i.e. verbal resistance), but not to the point that direct K-9 intervention is called for. Using the “find Dad” approach, the handler can activate the door popper and the dog can come immediately to his handler and assume a “heel” position. Another option is for the handler to “down” the dog while he is en route so the dog can assume a surveillance position. Talk about a deterrent! Not many people are going to continue their course of action with 90 pounds of furry backup lying unleashed a short distance away. If you tried to do that with a dog coming out hot, he likely would engage the subject immediately and unnecessarily.

Also consider the following scenario, which actually happened to me recently. I was seated in my unit while on a traffic stop on the freeway. My car was in park, and I inadvertently hit the button on the remote on my belt. Imagine the sinking feeling I got when I realized the door had opened and my dog was out. I immediately got out of my car and there he was, right outside my door, having “found Dad.” I firmly believe that if we didn’t train for this, my dog may well have wandered into traffic, not knowing what to do. I realize that if I required the dog to “stay” in the car until I called for him, that scenario might not have happened — I get that. But, again, I personally believe that there may be a time when calling the dog is not an appropriate option or, for that matter, not even a possibility. I prefer to keep the “stealth-deployment” option in my bag of tricks instead.

Whatever approach you choose, be sure to train for it using a variety of different scenarios and as many distractions as you can come up with. Try it from different positions and locations and direct the dog to do something different every time he comes out to you. I would not do a great deal of aggression training with door pops so the dog does not associate the door pop with aggression. Rather, throw the occasional apprehension into the mix to keep that a possibility in his mind.