Dave,

 I just wanted to say thank you for your informational talks and guidance. I have been a handler for a short time (1 year) and it has been the best choice I have ever made in my career. Every second has been a great time as well a healthy challenge. You allowing me to pick your brain has made me a better handler and more aware of what is needed to achieve the main goal, find narcotics in a fast and educated manner. To date, we (my K9 and I) have had many finds in custody from narcotics to paraphernalia. We have also competed in four Western States Police Canine Association narcotics trials. So far we have accomplished a fourth place vehicles (West Sac Law Dogs), second place vehicles (Dos Palos K9 competition) and second place over all narcotics (Dos Palos K9 competition).  Each day we work on what we have learned and strive to learn more!

 Thanks!

Chris Oliver (K-9 Handler)

Placer County Sheriff  Department

K-9 Furst  

 

University Police Department

California State University San Marcos, California  92096-0001 ● USA

DATE: February 1, 2013

TO: David Dorn- K9 STAC

FROM:  Sergeant Ray Derouin ID 307

SUBJECT: Letter of Recommendation

To whom it may concern,

This letter is to serve as a written endorsement of K9 Specialized Training and Consulting (STAC) and its owner David Dorn. Mr. Dorn has been a peace officer and K9 handler in California for 15 plus years and his experience is evident in his training of our canine partners and his teaching style and instruction to our handlers.

The California State University Police Department instituted its first Canine in 2010 and we were lucky enough to find Mr. Dorn and his company. Not only did Mr. Dorn offer top quality canines, training and assistance to the program manager but we have always felt he went above and beyond simply gaining our business with policy templates, legal resources and follow up training for our K9 teams. Mr. Dorn has shown a true dedication to the success of our program.

To put it honestly with Mr. Dorn’s experience and guidance this agency would not have been able to put the program together in these budget sensitive times. Throughout our programs tenure, Mr. Dorn has also made himself available to our handlers night and day for questions, concerns and training ideas.

I cannot speak highly enough about Mr. Dorn’s dedication to developing and training the best canine teams in the western region and his services come with our highest recommendation.

Best Regards,
Sgt. Ray Derouin
K9 Supervisor
San Marcos, Ca.
 

From: Jason Ciola <
To: "dorn@k9stac.com" <dorn@k9stac.com>
Sent: Sunday, August 26, 2012 1:25 PM
Subject: Police HITS Conference 2012

Can you please send me your information that you instructed (Supervising a K-9 Unit) at the Police K-9 HITS Conference in Seattle, Washington. I found your class extemely informational!!! 

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME AND INSTRUCTION.

D/S Jason Ciola

Osceola Co. Sheriff's Office

Kissimmee, FL 34741

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Hall, Michele" >
To: "dorn@k9stac.com" <dorn@k9stac.com>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2012 5:57 AM
Subject: Fwd: Hits presentation

> Hello Mr. Dorn.  I was at the Hits conference last week and attended your presentation.  Can you please email me a copy of it so I can discuss it with our Patrol and Drug K9 Units?  Thanks

> Michele
> Sent from my iPad
Note: Florida has a broad public records law. All work-related emails sent to or from this email address may be subject to public disclosure.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Hogan, John" >
To: "dorn@k9stac.com" <dorn@k9stac.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2012 5:43 AM
Subject: HITS presentation

Mr. Dorn,

Thank you for the excellent presentation at HITS.  Can you send me a copy of your Supervising a K-9 Unit presentation?  It will be for personal reference and not released without your consent.

r/ John

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: "Pidgeon, Michael" >
To: "dorn@k9stac.com" <dorn@k9stac.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2012 11:23 AM
Subject: Canine utilization form

I attended your presentation at HITS.

Could you send me a sample "Canine Utilization form"?

Thank you, Mike Pidgeon, San Diego Police Department, Canine Unit



To Whom it may concern,                                     9/11/11

I was recently assigned to a K9 unit as a handler, specifically a Explosives Detection Dog (EDD).  My first exposure to this type of work with a dog was at Sergeant David Dorn's K9 Specialized Training and Consulting (K9STAC)academy.  At the time I started K9STAC, I had some experience working with and training hunting Retrievers, but nothing close to what is required to be a successful EDD handler.  I began this class as a green rookie that had only met the dog I was assigned one time prior to beginning K9STAC.  The dog I was lucky enough to be assigned is a 100lb, 110mph Labrador that had injured his previous handler, so I knew I had my work cut out for me.  To say I started the class with some anxiety would probably be a bit of an understatement.  After completing this course, I feel very fortunate to have been assigned to Sergeant Dorn's K9STAC three week handler class.

From the moment I started K9STAC, I was extremely impressed with Sergeant Dorn and his academy.  The K9STAC handlers manual/binder was one of the most complete works of information on dog handling and dog behavior I have had the pleasure to read.  As Sergeant Dorn explained the course outline, material, and a brief history of his real world experience, a good amount of my

anxiety was eliminated.  There would be no failure in this course due to the lack of quality of the instructor.  It was quickly apparent that any possibility of failure in the course would be due to my lack of abilities and not due to instruction Sergeant Dorn was going to provide during the next three weeks. There was also another rookie handler in attending the handler course from another agency. This handler explained that he had been to another trainers handler course for 3 months, had several dogs assigned to him throughout his course, all dogs ailed out of the detection portion, so he was a little overwhelmed to see the structure and professionalism of Dorn's Course. This handler had a dog with him from the other course he had attended, and been told by other POST Certified Instructor that the dog was no good and that he needed to go to real handler school. So, here he was at Dorn's course. Blessing!

On day one of his course, Sergeant Dorn advised us that we would be working hard during the next three weeks.  He explained to us that the type of dogs that are cut out for detection work must have extremely high drives, and therefore be hunting at high speed, and that to handle this type of dog correctly, we would be at high speed to keep up with our four legged partners. If you have a high drive dog and are lucky enough to attend his academy, you would be well advised to heed this warning.  I left a lot of me, in the form of sweat, in the dust and dirt of the K9STAC facility by the end of my three week course. So, better be in shape!

Sergeant Dorn does not only have experience working with dogs, he also displayed an advanced knowledge of human learning styles.  The K9STAC manual is an excellent written resource.  Sergeant Dorn also verbally explained the material extremely well, then demonstrated the exercises we were expected to perform.  As we performed the exercises, over and over, he provided very useful, no BS feedback, encouragement, and advised us on how we could improve our handling skills.  This is a very condensed course, and it moves at a very fast speed.  Because of the amount of material presented, there is no time for handholding or hugs.  if you are lucky enough to be assigned to K9STAC, I would advise you to leave your ego at home, suck it up when the mistakes happen, learn from them, and move on.

During our training at K9STAC, I witnesses the other attending handlers dog go from not wanting to do any hunting, play or even look confident, to a awesome high drive machine who finally got its light bulb turned on with the K9STAC training method. I also witnessed the handler become educated and confident in his and the dogs abilities.

Part of his course is for us to attend some other agencies training along with Dorn instructing us and explaining the differences we were looking at in dogs skills and handler skills. what to mimic and what not to do and why. We were very lucky to be able to attended some K9 trial events. These events provide excellent opportunities to test teams in many different scenarios.  As a brand new rookie handler, I felt very lucky to able watch an incredible number of teams from all over California run through controlled scenarios. While attending these events, it became very apparent that there are about as many different training styles as there are registered dog breeds.  And there is no shortage of “experts” willing to offer their advise.

After attending a couple of these events, it became very easy to distinguish dogs that have been trained with Sergeant Dorn's K9STAC method from teams using other training methods.  K9STAC trained dogs routinely had better success then dogs that had been trained with other methods.  Because of the vast difference in training styles and philosophies that permeate K9 training today, my advice to anybody, from a handler looking to improve your skills, all the way up to a Chief of Police or Sheriff looking to either begin, improve, or fix problems in your existing program, take the time to do some research on other Trainers verses Dorn's methodology. Dorn's is not just training of the dog or training of the handler, it is a utilization of the whole program to be a effective successful team that go's home safe at the end of watch, and keep the department out of trouble because they know what they are suppose to be doing. Go to some of these trials.  While you are at these trials, make it priority number one to ask some of the "experts"  how many different dogs they have trained and/or handled.  Then ask them how long it has been since they actually worked a dog themselves.  Your investigation should be focused on the performance of and the number of successful dogs they have handled then trained, and if they are currently involved in a successful program that produces results in the field and then trials.  Be wary of the person that had only handled one dog in their career, that now calls themselves a trainer, and be wary of somebody that last trained/handled a dog many years ago.  Then, if it hasn't already hit you in the head, compare the number of successful and award winning canine teams that Sergeant Dorn has trained verses the other trainer.

Thanks again to Sergeant Dorn and all the staff at is K-9STAC academy.  It was a pleasure to work with you.

James Sprecher

UC Berkeley PD



TO: Senior Deputy Dave Dorn, San Francisco County Sheriff’s Department    

FROM: UCPD K9 Ofc. Hans Williams #72

SUBJECT: Letter of Commendation

DATE: 10-12-07

I would like to inform and thank you for Explosive Detection K9 Certification and training for my Canine “Morgan” conducted in San Francisco on 4-18-07.

Per the University of California Police Department at Berkeley General Orders, Morgan was taken out of service because she failed to certify during for her yearly certification conducted earlier in 2007.

Your name was mentioned because you were known in the K9 industry to be the best POST Certified Evaluator/Trainer in Northern California .

When I brought Morgan to you she had several issues that kept her from certifying, including false sitting, lack of motivation, low search drive, and general lack of passion for her job.

You re-trained Morgan for approximately 32 hours of intense training using the “On Target” training philosophy. Morgan then certified the very next day! I was very impressed that Morgan’s search technique, drive, and excitement and passion for her work had completely changed in 4 days! Additionally, Morgan’s false sitting issue was corrected. Since then Morgan has behaved like a brand new dog.

Your efforts and style of training using the “On Target” technique should be commended for a job well done!

Yours truly,

K9 Officer Hans Williams #72