# Pennsylvania Police K9 Assoc.



## adam banotai (Jun 29, 2008)

does anyone have any experience with the pennsylvania police k9 association? there website is here http://www.papolicek9.com/. they have training and decoy workshops as well as offer certifications. they allow civilians to join and certify there dogs. from what i gather its a decent mix of police and civilian teams. heres a link to the certifications... http://www.papolicek9.com/CERTIFICATIONS.HTM. 

its not like id be able to do anything with any of the certifications. its just for the hell of it. something to work towards and have fun with. certifications sound decent but ive never done anything like it before.

what do you guys think?


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## Matthew Grubb (Nov 16, 2007)

Adam... where in Pa are you?


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## Drew Peirce (Nov 16, 2006)

I'd be all over it if I were you


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## adam banotai (Jun 29, 2008)

im near allentown. about 4hrs from you if your in pittsburgh.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

adam banotai said:


> does anyone have any experience with the pennsylvania police k9 association? there website is here http://www.papolicek9.com/. they have training and decoy workshops as well as offer certifications. they allow civilians to join and certify there dogs. from what i gather its a decent mix of police and civilian teams. heres a link to the certifications... http://www.papolicek9.com/CERTIFICATIONS.HTM.
> 
> its not like id be able to do anything with any of the certifications. its just for the hell of it. something to work towards and have fun with. certifications sound decent but ive never done anything like it before.
> 
> what do you guys think?


That looks _*great*_ to me! 

I can't wait to hear what LEOs and others think.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

How did you even find out about this?

Do other PDs do anything like this?


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## adam banotai (Jun 29, 2008)

Connie Sutherland said:


> How did you even find out about this?
> 
> Do other PDs do anything like this?


Consummate K9 who bred my mal passed the info on to me. i think a handler a department they sold one of my guys littermates to told them about it. its not run by the pennsylvania state police. its an outside organization. which i guess is why they allow civilians to join and certify as well. its by no means a requirement to have the certification to put the dog on the street around here. as with any other title just something nice to have on paper to say you met a set standard.

dont know if you thought that it was the pa state police who ran it or not.


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## adam banotai (Jun 29, 2008)

Connie Sutherland said:


> That looks _*great*_ to me!
> 
> I can't wait to hear what LEOs and others think.


glad to hear you approve connie. that has me even more excited to get involved. thanks for checking it out.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

adam banotai said:


> glad to hear you approve connie. that has me even more excited to get involved. thanks for checking it out.




HAHAHAHAHA! I'm not the person with the knowledge to approve or disapprove, but it sure looks great to me.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

This looks pretty cool to me:

http://www.papolicek9.com/objgoals.htm


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Matthew Grubb said:


> Adam... where in Pa are you?



Are you familiar with the association and this workshop, Matthew?


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## Matthew Grubb (Nov 16, 2007)

Connie Sutherland said:


> Are you familiar with the association and this workshop, Matthew?


Not really… Pennsylvania is a funny state. We don’t have any certification requirements for police K9’s. The Philadelphia area is heavy into /www.uspcak9.com where as central and western Pa. are heavy into www.napwda.com. Both organizations offer certifications. NAPWDA and USPCA are the “Big Two” of Police K9.


As a NAPWDA Trainer I’m of course partial to my organization. NAPWDA offers Associate Member Certifications for civilian handlers in Obedience. Agility, Article Search, SAR Area Search, Tracking, Trailing, Cadaver, and Accelerant (if firefighter assigned to arson investigation as K9 Handler). I’d invite anyone to check out the certification rules and encourage them to get involved!


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

I think any attempt at a standardized certification is good. There are only a couple of states that have mandatory certifications for canine. PA isn't one of them. I briefly read the certification requirements and they seem to be pretty consistant with most the other recognized agencies out there. A couple of things I didn't particularly care for; the long down (reeks of sport) and the minimal force apprehension. The way I read it the dog is to respond without command from the handler. I've always been opposed to that. I think the certifications organizations all mean well and they certainly offer a good service. My only comments have always been; organizations rely on paying members and certification needs to be mandatory. Seems like kind of a conflict of interest to me. 

DFrost


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## adam banotai (Jun 29, 2008)

well i went to the training workshop today and was extremly disappointed. i will not be going back. most people were late. there was very little organization with no one in charge and no paticular goals for the day. the training area was inside a firefighter training facility and we had to train in a cramped slope of grass while the firefighters were burning and extinguishing fires. no one seemed overly experienced with the exception of 1 lady. and only 1 of the 6 dogs i saw before i left was any good. this dog was actually pretty impressive and a very hard hitter. the rest seemed either poorly trained (most likely) or weak to begin with (possibly). 

anyway i was pretty disappointed i had high hopes. i will not be going back or pursuing any of the certifications.


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

That's unfortunate. I see that in far too many training programs. There should be a clear cut agenda, based on the dogs that are attending. That's hard to do of course on the first meeting, but after that, a review of training records should indicate what areas need to be attended too. 

DFrost


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