As 2024 moves quickly through the first quarter of the year, it’s easy to get focused on the next big thing. Afterall, AKC is hosting the Detection Dog Conference again in July, which requires significant effort and focus to ensure a quality event. However, 2023 was a banner year for the AKC Detection Dog Task Force’s (DDTF) Patriotic Puppy Program (PPP), and those successes deserve recognition.
Hands-on Seminars
After months of planning, scheduling and rescheduling, PPP brought together program participants at K2 Solutions’ Canine Training Academy in July in Southern Pines, NC, for a hands-on training event that also included evaluations of participants’ dogs for purchase.
K2’s facilities, training staff and the overall support from CEO Lane Kjellsen made for an incredible event that set the standard for future hands-on opportunities for PPP participants. By the end of the 2-day event, K2 had purchased several PPP graduates that have gone on to working in multiple detection jobs. Since the event, multiple participants have delivered additional graduate dogs to K2 for advanced training and placement as working K-9s.
After participating in two days of training at K2, Jim and Teal Knapp of Hightest Kennels offered to host another event later in the year at their facilities in Oroville, CA. PPP made its first trip to the west coast in November, and what an event it was! Trainers Tim Baird, Jamie Popper and Stacey West, provided diverse training techniques and added new tools to everyone’s training “toolboxes”. This event was another great success that resulted in new participation in PPP and increased excitement for producing quality detection dogs for local, state and federal law enforcement. Thanks to the exceptional hospitality of the Knapps and their staff at Highest Kennels, everyone is looking forward to another event there soon.
Official PPP Mentor Program
Successes of the Patriotic Puppy Program wouldn’t occur without the support of the industry professionals that contribute to the program in various ways. These leaders are routinely answering training or breeding questions from PPP participants, evaluating participants’ dogs for purchase, buying PPP participants’ dogs for advanced training for law enforcement, participating in AKC Detection Dog Task Force (DDTF) webinars, and speaking at AKC Detection Dog conferences. When called to ask for info, or help with a problem, the answer is always “YES!”. Recognizing the people who have helped PPP survive and grow is essential to taking PPP to the next level.
At the Hands-on event at Hightest Kennels in Oroville, CA in November 2023, AKC recognized Tim Baird as our first official Patriotic Puppy Program Mentor. Tim has participated in multiple webinars, presented at multiple conferences, been a resource to many of PPP’s participants, and was featured as part of the team of trainers at the hands-on event in California.
Additional mentors who play an equally valuable role for PPP participants will be recognized in 2024. To find out what it takes to become a valued mentor for AKC’s Patriotic Puppy Program, contact PPP Program Manager Stacey West at Stacey.West@akc.org.
2023 Graduates
Finally, the success of AKC breeders placing dogs into advanced training with private vendors, as well as local, state and federal law enforcement agencies continues to be a significant measure of PPP’s success. In 2023, some participants sold their first dog as part of PPP, while others continued development of a small pipeline of dogs that will continue to produce into 2024. Every pup is needed to address the shortage of quality detection dogs in the USA. Twenty-six (26) new Patriotic Puppy Program Graduates moved on to advanced training in 2023 and are now working with local, state and federal agencies as well as private security around large venues and cargo screening. PPP participants have now placed a total of eighty-two (82) graduates who are now serving as US Detection Dogs. Congratulations to everyone who placed a dog in 2023.
Today, more than 80 PPP graduates have been placed for advanced training in working careers. With so much effort in the last couple of year by PPP breeders/trainers who have committed their time and resources to producing quality candidates for detection work, one significant question remains to be answered in 2024. “Who will be the 100th Patriotic Puppy Program Graduate?”