The Bark and Hold and its Use in Police Service Dog Training

Kevin R. Sheldahl

The bark and hold or Rever as practiced for sport is of the utmost
importance in evaluating the temperament and character of the dog in the
areas of courage and fighting drive. The sport judge views the dog intently
during this phase of the sport trial to determine character flaws or
strengths. Because of the scrutiny that is given to this exercise a
tremendous amount of the training in the protection phase focuses on this
point. All sport enthusiasts appreciate a spectacular dog demonstrating a
clean but intense bark at the blind. The clean but pushy dog with continuous
strong barking who positions himself as close as possible to the helper
without interfering with him is always a crowd pleaser as well as
appreciated in the judging. A educated decoy knows the strong dog the moment
he arrives at the blind by his presence, attitude, and confidence in the
face of the helper. The bark and hold has an analogous technique among
service dogs. How does this translate to street performance or does it? Is
the technique the same for the Service dog as it is for the Sport Dog?


In the Sport Work the standard for performance is that the when the dog
arrives at the helper he should immediately and continuously bark without
bothering the helper.The closer and more intense the challenge to the helper
the more the Judge will be impressed from the outset. This is most usually
produced during training by teaching the dog that a bark results in action,
either an immediate fight or flight by the helper. The dog learns to bait
the helper into action. The moment the helper changes position from the
stereotyped behavior he is free to grip the sleeve and initiate a strong
fight. Admittedly this may be somewhat over simplified but in general
describes the training and how the standard is obtained through it.


The Service Dog standard varies throughout the world even within the
confines of the DPO type of programs which are utilized in approximately 50
Countries. When posing the question of to what level and purpose should the
bark and hold be performed there will probably be just as many answers. The
level of performance which pertains to this writing can be defined as; when
the service dog locates a suspect who is not actively resisting or fleeing
it will not engage that individual unless it's handler makes the
determination that it should. In making the attempt at approaching this
standard with great reliability the Service Dog must be trained in a fashion
which provides consistent behavior under very complex and changing
situations. To train a Service Dog as one would train a Sport Dog will
produce a limited function bark and hold in many circumstances in street
deployments. Methodology in the training must provide a reliable performance
in the Service Dogs' environment as well as be practical from a training
standpoint (ease of use as well as a means which can be applied during
deployment exercises).


To understand how the Service Dog must function the problems encountered
with the bark and hold must be identified and a solution forwarded to be
addressed through training. The first problem is that very few people act
like decoys, stand like decoys, and have the presence of a good decoy. The
second is that most subjects that the Service Dog encounters are at a point
of indecision. Should they fight,flee,or give up, and if they choose a
behavior what will happen to them? If the Service Dog performs his skill as
a Sport Dog the suspect may believe that he has no choice in the matter and
that fleeing or fighting become his only solution to the problem at hand.
Thus the Service Dog is performing to the Sport standard of be pushy, bait
the helper into action with resultant fight or flight behavior. In the
varied environments which the Service Dog performs his pushiness escalates
to interfering with the decoy in his attempts to bait the person into
action. It is not uncommon to see a Service Dog who is clean under the
educated decoy or under the direct influence of it's handler yet have
experiences which cause an altogether different response under uncontrolled
circumstances.


The solution to these variables lies in the hands of the Service Dog
handlers and instructors to find training techniques suited to their
deployment needs. One of the most common methodologies is to utilize helper
corrections. This is also a common beginning for sport dogs as well but
there are different goals with the Service Dog than with the Sport Dogs,
generally speaking. In sport the decoy corrections are utilized to provide
the initiation of barking aggressively at the decoy and once this is
achieved most commonly the dog is polished with a long line, back tie, or
other approaches. The Service Dog helper will also utilize the helper
corrections to build intensity in barking from fight drive yet at the same
time will show the dog that to engage or encroach upon a suspect to closely
can be dangerous and that the dog must maintain a safe distance. The dog
learns that a passively behaving suspect shall not be engaged. To further
this approach the dog must also tolerate movement, voice inflections ranging
from fear to anger and commands from the handler and others who might be
working in the environment. From the beginning the helper must be creative
and change positions and attitudes routinely. When the dog is expected to
engage will be upon attack by the suspect during the majority of the
training (pursuits will be worked as an entirely different exercise being
separated from the bark and hold technique and only added later as
reliability becomes very high in the bark and hold). The dog must also learn
to relinquish control of the suspect when told to by the handler. Most
commonly the dog is placed in a down position but standing and returning to
the handler are also practiced. The picture that is often presented by the
Service Dog is that of a dog keeping his distance (6-8 feet) and with a
broken but strong bark born of his fight drive. Depending on the philosophy
the Service dog may either be trained to take a position or to not stop
moving in the face of the suspect. The down position has been forwarded as
being a very stable position for the Service Dog while performing this skill
but many dogs stand or sit as well. One of the oldest philosophies is that
the Service Dog should never cease moving in the face of the suspect. This
provides a moving distraction to the suspect as well as teaching the dog to
avoid the possibility of being struck by a weapon by the suspect. In taking
this later philosophy to the extreme the dog may be taught to avoid being
struck and even drop off the grip during a fight to do so and then
immediately returning after avoiding the strike. We see the acceptance of
these wide variety of behaviors in the rules set forth by the International
Congress on Service Dogs rules for International Competition the WPO. In
these rules the dog may drop off the grip during the attack on handler from
the rear transport in which the decoy strikes the dog. Another approach to
applying remote corrections which has become common to Service Dog training
is the use of remote electrical devices. Though often deemed in a negative
light the proper use of mild electrical stimulation is a harmless and
effective enforcement tool which has the advantage of being completely
mobile. When remote training is occurring it is often most effective for the
training decoy to handle the transmitter since his timing will invariably be
better than the handler's timing. The simplest and probably most effective
approach to the use of the electrical stimulation equipment is to enforce a
position such as down or sit upon the dog. In order to do this effectively
it is important that the skill be well understood by the dog prior to
initial application and that the enforcement tool is utilized initially in a
controlled situation such as a back tie with a long line to guide the dog
into the correct behavior and receive immediate reinforcement for the
behavior. Using the approach of enforcement with the training collar usually
means teaching only one skill at a time with the equipment and working with
it until it is very correct. Another approach to the use of the training
collar is through escape training with the collar and would require an
entire article as simply an introduction to the skill. Though seen in sport
dog circles as a non-acceptable device (though quite commonly used away from
the scrutiny of those who might care) the modern collars actually present an
alternative to physical punishment of a dog while training and enforcing
skills.


Early training of the Service Dog to bark at a non-aggresive subject upon
locating him must first focus on reliability. The work must come from a
searching endeaver by the dog so that it learns that searching results in a
barking excersise. To set this up for the dog begin by starting the skill
quite early, prior to strong work in the handler protection phase and strong
engagement work with the dog. In doing this decoy corrections are more
effective and the pattern of barking is established prior to the possibility
of simply engaging the suspect ever developes. Instead of consistantly
making the end result of a barking excersise always an engagement a large
portion of the excersises should end with the handler approaching the
situation and taking control. This can be done by either coming to the dog
and praising him for finding the suspect and barking at him, having the dog
take a position, or calling the dog back to the handler. To keep the dog
stimulated the suspect may run with the handler/dog team in pursuit leashed,
or the dog may be sent in pursuit of the suspect after there has been a
break in the barking excersise. Example; the dog locates the suspect and
barks, the handler approaches and pats the dog praising him for his efforts
(timing of the praise with the dogs barks and only approaching while the dog
barks will encourage strong barking at this point) any attempt at
encrouching upon the suspect is met with a decoy correction (effectiveness
of this technique is enhansed since the dog is very new to apprehension work
at this point) as well as admonishment from the handler. The handler then
gives the dog a position such as heel or sit and comands the suspect to move
away. Then the suspect, after at first doing exactly as he was told turns
and begins to quietly move off. The handler then gives an announcement to
the suspect who begins to flee. From a stable position such as a sit and
surveillance position the dog is sent to apprehend the fleeing suspect.
Several variations on this theme must be made to prevent the dog from
anticipating the pursuit and apprehension the more creative the better. It
is quite important that the handler begin to prepare the dog for events as
they may occur in deployments. The handler may choose to recall his dog to a
position of cover prior to the pursuit to acclimate the dog to returning to
numerous areas of cover/concealment. It should be noted that at this point
there have been no engagements/pursuits from the down position eventhough th
dog should be placed in this position when the handler chooses to approach
the suspect. We must prevent anticipation of engagement from this position
so that we have a position where the dog understands that he is
relinquishing control of the situation to the handler. On some dogs it may
be important to build guarding vigilance from the down and excersises which
include engagements from the down may have to be included.


While training the above excersises the dog can be built in his apprehension
work once he is showing reliability in the searching excersises. Muzzle
work, suit work can both be intigrated at this point into the searching
excersises. During the apprehension work it is necessary that the dog be
encouraged with a fighting command such as fass or pack ihm so that during
the search work if the handler feels that it is necessary to have the dog
engage the passive suspect he can do so through the same encouragements
given in apprehension work. Once the dog is at full steam in the search work
and reliably performs his barking upon locating the suspect this proceedure
can be integrated into the search work. These techniques work very well with
the inexperienced dog who is correctly selection tested. Often the titled
sport dog has some problems which must be addressed on an idividual basis
since this dog's initial training revolves around baiting the decoy.


Often while discussing the performance of Service Dogs there is a great
emphasis on the dogs willingness to engage the suspect. Certainly in times
of need this attribute is a necessity. I have often spoke with people who
believe that the difficult to control and/or rank dog is an appropriate dog
for use as a Service Dog. This may be acceptable in some circumstances but
for the average American Service Dog handler control is the greatest issue
since responsibility for the use of force lies on his/ her shoulders.