Prospect Canine

10/17/2026

Prospect Canine and Katalyst K9- Working Labrador Retrievers teamed up to bring a five-day “Hunting Humans” seminar to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.

We began with building bite work, developing teams that entered ready to find and engage a civil decoy. The progression moved from basic agitation exercises to chasing a decoy through the building, then searching doorways and hiding places. For the patrol teams, the scenarios ended in apprehensions or civil decoys running off.

After building that mindset on Monday and Tuesday, we transitioned to tracking on Wednesday and Thursday. Teams that had previously tracked only to articles progressed to tracks ending with a person. We also introduced point-to-point air-scent drills.

Throughout the seminar, patrol dogs worked their trained aggressive response, while find dogs worked the same human-search scenarios with an active, friendly reward from the hidden subject. The goal of finding a person was the same across disciplines; each team’s final response was trained to fit its work.

On Friday, we returned to the building and added environmental challenges. By then, teams were entering with a clear purpose: to search for people and respond appropriately for their discipline.

We ran muzzle searches, a few suit searches, civil finds, friendly finds, and some long operational tracks. Different scenarios and different trained responses, all built around the same goal: Hunting Humans.

10/16/2026

10/16/2026

Sometimes you gotta get a little sketchy with the patrol dogs

10/15/2026

One of my favorite patrol dog drills

10/14/2026

Mon and Tues this week was two days of introductory building search training with Albany County.

On Monday, we worked the class dog through basic biting in the building, along with box work, barking, and building arousal.

On Tuesday, we began channeling that arousal into building entries. The dogs practiced entering, developing suspicion, and barking as a decoy crept closer. As the day wrapped up, we progressed to chasing a decoy into the building, locating a hot door, and pushing through.

A major focus was teaching the final response first: the bite. Once a dog understands how to hunt and bite in the building, we can build on that foundation with barking at seams and more developed searching.

A solid two-day progression with Albany County. On to tracking for Weds and Thurs!

10/13/2026

After going through a box of Prospect hoodies I figured I’d post what we have left:

Grey:
(1) XS

Black:
(1) S
(2) XS

Navy:
(2) XS

10/13/2026

Outing Process

First Few Weeks

1. Bite box and two-ball work: With the dog holding the ball, say the outing word and apply nylon slip pressure until the ball falls to the floor. Keep your hands off the ball. Leave it there, then take a second ball from your pocket and play with the dog. Do not trade the balls.
2. Lifting off equipment: During bite work, lift the dog off the equipment without saying anything. Let the equipment become inactive on the ground. The decoy runs away, in a suit or without one, while the equipment remains on the floor.
3. Pressure in other contexts: Introduce leash and e-collar pressure during separate obedience exercises.

Next Few Weeks

1. Move the ball exercise out of the box: With the dog holding one ball, say the outing word and apply nylon pressure until the ball falls and becomes inactive on the ground. Then produce the second ball and play, following the same pattern used in the box.
2. Build stability: Repeat the exercise, gradually asking the dog to remain stable in position for longer after the out and before the second ball appears.
3. Layer in e-collar pressure: Combine e-collar pressure with leash pressure during the ball exercise. Build until the dog remains stable after the out while you wait before producing another ball. Eventually, pick up the first ball and return it to the dog while the dog holds its position.
4. Continue lift-offs: During scenario bites, continue lifting the dog off the equipment and letting the decoy run away to maintain arousal.

Final Phase

1. Apply the process during bite work: Use a backline and a nylon or prong line. After the outing cue, the decoy uses the line to help the dog come off the bite, layering in e-collar pressure as appropriate. Keep the dog aroused on the backline after it releases, then bring the decoy back in for another bite.
2. Add a position after the out: Build until the dog remains focused on the decoy after releasing. Then begin asking for a position after the out, using the line and collar to help the dog perform it, following the same progression as the ball exercise.

10/09/2026

We wrapped up a successful two-day decoy course in New Jersey with my buddy Anthony. He’s a decoy and trainer for a large group we have a lot of respect for, and I’m honored he brought us down to work with them.

We started with five guys who had never taken a bite before and built their skills step by step. They worked on basic targeting in the box, active dog reactive decoy work, leg bites on the back tie, short downfield sends around an obstacle, and finished with bites in a building.

It was a solid progression, with a few bumps and bruises along the way. After these two days, I’d trust any of the five to hide for an in-service group. That says a lot about the work they put in.

If your group is interested in scheduling a two-day decoy course with Nick and Anthony in your area, feel free to reach out. Make sure you watch towards the end to see the never seen before “ fighting turtle”

10/08/2026

Solid first day of the Basic Decoy Seminar here in New Jersey. Five non-handler decoys spent the day learning how to better support the dogs and handlers at their agencies.

We started with foundational barking work and active dog and reactive decoy exercises, then moved into forearm, bicep, and tricep presentations in the bite box. From there, we worked on front and rear leg presentations, with all dogs on the back tie.

A couple of dogs had specific areas to improve in their bite work, so we added focused training sets with Anthony and Nick decoying for them.

A productive day, and we’re looking forward to more tomorrow.

09/28/2026

Proud to have done alot of the foundation for Ares protection. Him and many others we have helped with have titled IGP with great scores this year. Congrats Karen!