Todd, Detector Dog Handler

Hello, I am Todd Ring. I work at Correctional Service Canada. I’m with my dog Java.

He is a detector dog specialized in drugs and firearms.

I’ve been a dog handler for Correctional Service Canada since 2001.

What am I passionate about? Just working with my colleague here.

This is my third. I have been with him for three years.

What did we do today? We conducted a search of the institution.

After that, we came back here to the warehouse, and now we’re checking all the goods that are in the warehouse, which will be distributed to the institutions of the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines Complex.

Jav! Let’s go! Good boy!

We’ll bring him up here. We’re going to the boxes in the back. You see, dogs are real athletes.

With him, I don’t need to point, he’ll investigate, he’ll go look for himself, he is searching.

You see, his tail is going... Look at that!

He is a mature dog, he is not afraid. Look, his tail is starting to wag. That means that he found the spot.

He sits down.

The last time he stuck his nose in.

Where is it? Up there? Where is it? Search! Show me! It is right... there!

Boom! Good boy! Ah! You are a good boy!

It’s hidden in the back. A small amount of drug was hidden inside the box here in the corner.

You see how efficient the dog is. He’ll do the work himself.

I’ll try to help him if there are things missing.

Otherwise, I let him work. Good boy!

During my day, I often work with correctional officers on the frontline, who are in the cell blocks.

I’m going to make my presence known; I’m going to talk to the inmates.

Hello, everything okay? Yes. How is it going, you guys?

And I’m just going to show that I am there.

Just by doing this, I don’t need the dog and it’s a great deterrent for the inmates to say we have a specialist who can find drugs with his dog.

I’ll also check the sector while I’m there; I’ll chat with them. I’m always looking around to see if there are any signs that something is wrong.

If ever I see something, I may not necessarily react right away without the dog. If something like that were to happen, I’d head back, plan intelligence with the intelligence officers, the officers, and then we’d conduct our search for our day in the sector. This is where the handler comes in, to make sure that the dog is going to work and performs at all times, and not to push him to the point of exhaustion.

It has to be fun for the dog, the dog has to love his work and always be passionate about what he is doing.

Us, we train him. We take a scent. We introduce it to him. We let him sniff it.

Sit! He sits down.

We put the Kong where the drugs are. During training, we’ll do this with each drug, each scent. At this point, we remove it. The dog, he knows it. He points his nose exactly where the drugs are.

He’s looking at me because he wants his reward. Where are the drugs?

Then we reward the dog.

Good boy!

That’s how we introduce scents to the dog.

So that he understands these scents, I want him to point them out to me.

Focus on that. Sit right next to the source.

I’ll give you your ball and we’ll play together.

As you can see, the dog is super happy. The dog, all he wants is his ball.

That’s his pay cheque. Exactly.