Chase K9 Inc.

02/20/2025

02/18/2025

Exciting announcement from Chase K9. Our spring Hard Surface Tracking class is now available for registration. This class will focus on hard surface tracking, surface transitions and multi-surface tracking. We limit our class size so that each K9 team our undivided attention. Call now to reserve your spot.

02/03/2025

Congratulations!

01/26/2025

Another Basic Handler Academy is in the books. Ofc. Paul and his partner K9 Axel finished our academy this past week and they did amazing, growing together as a team. After certifying through the United States Police Canine Association on Thursday and passing their grueling graduation track, they are ready to hit the streets. Congratulations! Good luck serving the fine residents of Port Huron and stay safe.

12/29/2024

Week 1 of our Basic K9 Handler Academy is in the books for K9 Axel from the Port Huron Police Department. We go over the simple basics in week one, like how to wrap and store your long line so that you don’t get any tangles. We saw improvements throughout the week with both Axel and his handler. Excited to see what happens during week 2!

11/21/2024

A Sheepdog Never Retires.

At some point in time, the young sheepdog becomes the old sheepdog. He can't run as fast anymore, if at all. His claws have been worn smooth, his few teeth are no longer sharp. His joints ache, he is no longer slender and muscular, his hearing and eye sight are both no longer acute or keen. He has passed on his watch over the flock to the younger pups who he has taught and raised. Occasionally, he passes some of his pups while he wanders amongst the flock, those pups who remember him present themselves with courtesy and respect. The really young pups just ignore him, not knowing who he is or recognize the scars from battle he has earned from fighting the wolf.

But, when the wolf arrives, the one thing that has not left the old sheepdog is his spirit; he still yearns for the fight with the wolf. The younger sheepdogs rush to protect the flock and despite the wear of time and age, the older sheepdog rushes in alongside with them.

There are times, when the old sheepdog confronts the wolf by himself, alone. The wolf appears and the younger sheepdogs, for whatever reason are not around - they can't be everywhere at once. The wolf circles and snarls, he isnt afraid of the old dog. Yet, it is still within him, for the Sheepdog to rise up, take a stance, bare his teeth and growl. He will still take on that wolf, for he still protects the flock and will as he always has, to the very end of his life if necessary.

He does this because it is who he is, what he is, a Sheepdog.

Author- Sean O’Brien
Inspired by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
🖼️: The painting is “Shepherd and His Faithful Dog” by Jakub Rozalski

11/15/2024

Atlas was one of our graduates and a great K9. Ofc. Carrico and K9 Atlas were a great K9 team. Prayers to Ofc. Carrico and his family.

11/10/2024

Dog training is easy isn't it?

10/18/2024

Great find by K9 Brock of the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office. K9 Brock is a recent graduate of Chase K9’s K9 Academy. Way to get all that co***ne off the streets!

09/21/2024

Another Police K9 Hard Surface tracking class complete. We had the pleasure of working with 6 great and eager K9 teams from all over Michigan. We did a lot of tracking in the three days. We don’t just work on hard surface tracking. We also work on surface transitions, environmental issues, line control, casting and a whole lot more. Our favorite day, as instructors, is getting the K9 teams into the high foot traffic, distraction ridden neighborhoods of Port Huron. It’s always a tough challenge for the teams but once again these handlers and their partners did awesome.

07/17/2024

Way to go K9 Chip!!

Our Police Department would like to acknowledge the efforts of the following Officers: Lt. Cole, Officer Kretzschmar, Officer Bryant, Officer Watt, Officer Chase and K-9 Chip for their coordinated efforts in locating a missing elderly man with dementia. With the use of teamwork, deployment of the SHPD drone and K-9 tracking, Officers were able to safely locate the victim in the woods near Van D**e North of 14 Mile Rd.

If it was not for the hard work and due diligence by all of the Officers involved, there was a high likelihood that this individual would not have survived the nearly untravellable thick woods that he was stuck in. Not only was he lost in an area that is not traveled by the public, but he already sustained injuries from being in the woods, as well as he suffered from severe dementia.

These Officers are being recommended for a Life Saving Award through the Sterling Heights Police Department.

06/09/2024

We’re back!! We are excited to announce our fall Hard Surface Tracking class. We welcome all levels of K9 tracking teams. Join us September 18th-20th, 2024. Contact us early, we limit the number of teams and our classes fill up fast.

05/04/2024

April’s Hard Surface Tracking class was a success. This class was highlighted by all young K9’s. No one had more than a year of tracking experience and one was even brand new to tracking. A lot of hard work from the handlers and their partners made the class fun and challenging. We had teams from as far as Traverse City PD and Jackson PD along with a team from the US Border Patrol. As always, we as instructors learn from every class and that’s why we keep doing these trainings. We had a special observer too, check out the curious cat wondering what we were doing in his neighborhood!

02/18/2024

You know dogs are smart. They have a ridiculous amount of skill sets and a list of working applications that’s so long, humans haven’t even figured out just how extensive it actually is. The question is: Just how smart are they?

There have been and always will be opinions that they simply replicate trained behaviors in order to receive a reward. While that might be somewhat true early on in their training, at the point they “figure out the game” and begin accomplishing more complex tasks, we can see that they are processing situations well beyond the thought process of “If I do the same exact thing as last time, I’ll get the reward.”

That’s because they aren’t actually trained to “perform a task.” They’re trained to “achieve a result.” In the real world, the same result will always be achieved through a different process. That might seem a little convoluted, but luckily K9 Ernie is here to help us explain.

In this photo, Ernie has just located a stash of hidden narcotics and is letting his handler know where they are. So, what’s so unique about this situation?

Ernie was never trained to do this.

We’ll explain – Ernie is an “active alert narcotics detection K9.” It means that when he locates hidden narcotics, his job is to focus on that area and scratch and paw at the source of the odor. The problem is, in this instance, the narcotics are hidden in the ceiling and there is no physical way he can reach the hiding spot. So, if one were to limit his abilities to the specific actions he was taught, it would be impossible for him to actually do his job.

Now, we aren’t saying this training exercise wasn’t a curveball for him. Before this image was captured, we watched him walk around the room for a while, with his nose in the air, trying to get closer to the odor. Even jumping on tables didn’t work because he still couldn’t reach the ceiling. His solution? Get as close as possible, stare directly at the source of the odor, and start pawing at a different surface.

To understand the thought process, we need to consider 2 separate factors of his training.

1 – As dogs are the masters of non-verbal communication, they use body language to convey messages and information. One of the most important commands he was taught is “show me.” It essentially means to use his face and muzzle to point at an area he deems to be important.

2 – As an “active alert K9,” simply staring at the location of a hidden item is not enough. To get his reward, he has to scratch at it.
If we were to combine those 2 training factors, things start to make sense. Ernie knows to point with his face, but he ALSO knows that scratching is the final signal for confirmation that he’s located the source of the scent.

In this instance, even though he had always been trained to do both tasks at the same time, at the source of the odor, it was simply not possible. So, he did the next best thing – He pointed at the source with his face, while simultaneously finding a surface to scratch at. “Look, it’s right there. Yup, I’m sure.”

While K9 Ernie had initially been taught those 2 actions happen at the same time, he understood that each component sent a separate message and figured out a way to make it happen, even though it went against the basic training concept of “If I do the same exact thing as last time, I’ll get the reward.”

In humans, we call that objective reasoning. The real question is why so many people tend to assume dogs can’t do it too…

02/14/2024

We’re back for another year of training! We are taking reservations for our first Hard Surface Tracking class of 2024. We cover leash control, relocating the scent after track loss, surface transitions and much more. Call today these classes fill fast.

11/22/2023

General rule of photography: Get close.

General rule of decoy work: Game face.

10/28/2023

Had an opportunity this past week to judge the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) Region 19 certifications. Had a blast and saw a lot of great K9 teams showing off all of their hard work. Awesome job to everyone involved.

10/16/2023

We had a blast with our 2 day Learning to Track class this weekend. Ryder, Angus and Dutch showed us that they are fast learners and love tracking. This was our first non police K9 class and thanks to all the hard work by the handlers and doggies it was a great success. We can’t wait to have another one.