August 28, 29, 30, 2018 Durham North Carolina

Executive Summary

A capacity crowd of nearly 200 attended the second AKC US Detection Dog Conference on Aug. 28-30, 2018, at the Sheraton Imperial Conference Center in Durham, NC. The audience included breeders, fanciers, trainers, government officials, law enforcement and military officers, and business owners. Many others remained on a waiting list that was required once the conference reached capacity nearly two months before the event date. AKC received numerous words of thanks for putting this national security issue in the spotlight and many positive comments regarding the quality of the speakers, organization of the conference, and for opportunities to network.

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The 2018 conference was promoted via advertisements and articles in Parent Club newsletters, police K9 magazines, field trial magazines, and venue manager publications, as well as presentations to Parent Clubs, kennel clubs and law enforcement groups, such as the US Police Canine Association.

More than 20 subject matter experts provided excellent talks on the shortage of domestic working dogs; the wide range of uses; canine genetics; breeding models; research, training and socialization; standards and certifications; public policy; and the growing impact of the sport of scent work.

Attendees selected between break-out workshops of either a Breeder track or the Training/Deployment track. A detection dog demonstration by K2 Solutions showed both a puppy in training and the work of an explosives detection dog.

The AKC Detection Dog Task Force relies on three major tools: Facilitation, Education and Networking. The Conference utilized all three to bring together various parties who want to help solve the domestic detection dog shortage. A highlight of the conference was the panel discussion on Detection Dog Standards & Certifications that was comprised of five officials with a wealth of experience in working with and training detection dogs, as well as organizing detection dog teams to staff major events.

The second AKC Detection Dog Conference was open to a wider audience of breeders and trainers together with vendors and organizations who need quality working dogs. Based on attendance, interest and support, it is fair to say that the AKC Detection Task Force was on the right track. More than 200 stakeholders attended the conference, and 100 more were on a waiting list.

2018 Conference Proceedings

The conference featured twenty presenters, five break-out sessions and two live demonstrations.

Dr. Carmen Battaglia - AKC Board of Directors - provided the welcome which included the reminder that the events following 9/11 and the subsequent attacks by ISIS in Brussels, Boston, Las Vegas and New York created the shortage of working dogs needed to protect the United States. He reminded the attendees that countries throughout the world are buying up the supply of best detection dogs which results in the shortage in the supply. After the Senate Hearings of 2017 and the request that AKC get involved, an AKC Task Force was formed, and the first Stakeholders Meeting was held in late February 2017. An audience of 40 stakeholders met to discuss the issue of the national shortage and possible solutions. This year's Conference was designed as a community of private-public collaborators. The presenters brought to light several topics:

The Message - The danger to the country is real and present. Several presenters reminded the audience about the need for better bred and trained dogs. They pointed out the increasing need for quality dogs along with the need for more breeders and trainers.

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Conference Presenters

The conference opened on the evening of Aug. 28 with a special presentation to US Congressman Mike Rogers R-AL, who has championed the rights of detection dogs and those who breed, train and sell them. Sheila Goffe, Vice President of AKC Government Relations, presented Rogers with the AKC Legislator of the Year award.

Opening Remarks

Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama who serves on the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees provided a blueprint and an overview of the need for a government-private sector effort that is described in HR 4577, which has passed the House and is pending in the Senate. This bill brings together a government-private sector planning effort for a national breeding program. His speech focused on his work to end our country's reliance on European dogs for our security needs. He encouraged the audience to support HR bill 4577 - Domestic Detection Canine Capacity Bldg. Act of 2017, which would direct the TSA to establish a working group to recommend behavioral, medical, and technical standards for explosives detection dogs as well as strategies for developing a domestic breeding capacity for them.

He spoke about HR 4577**, which he introduced as the legislation that would establish a working group to determine ways to develop a domestic canine breeding network to produce high quality explosives detection canines. The measure passed the House of Representatives and has been assigned to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Passage of the bill by the Senate will strengthen the collaboration of the public and private sector. The congressman asked the audience to contact their elected Senators for support of HR 4577.

*** Note: President Trump signed this into law in early October 2018.

Keynote Speaker - Do All Working Dogs Think Alike? - Following dinner, keynote speaker Dr. Brian Hare, a Duke University professor and renowned expert on canine cognition, spoke on "Do All Working Dogs Think Alike?"

Dr. Hare discussed his canine cognition tests and how different types of working dogs (service dogs vs. detection dogs) can show very contrasting results. He also discussed the concept of citizen science, the basis for his Dognition intelligence tests - research that can be conducted by everyone, not just people with doctorates. Hare explained that, with the help of citizen scientists, we can begin to understand more about all dogs on a much broader scale than if scientists had to conduct all the research themselves. Hare provided the audience with a look at how dogs think based on his research. He then demonstrated the use of a "citizen science" technique developed as a research model.

Other speakers via their presentations, followed with questions and suggestions. Six (6) major participant groups were identified: breeders, trainers, testers, researchers, policy makers and end users. Each group has its own body of knowledge, set of skills, and specific tools they use to carry out their work. He excited the audience with a talk that focused on the cognition process of canines and other animals and why profiles are needed that could lead to finding the best types for companion, detection, search and reside, service dogs and other functions. His remarks focused on how animals learn through social interactions such as human social gestures and how these gestures provide clues to canines that are useful in their ability to learn. He discussed the elements of cognition as a way to better understand memory functions and learning. His work using "citizen science" demonstrated how input from the public was highly useful in learning about the learning process between mothers and their offspring.

Mark Dunn, Executive VP and AKC Detection Task Force Staff Project Leader, welcomed attendees and presenters by reminding them about the need for a domestic breeding program, the purpose of the conference and why AKC was involved. His remarks included historical background and the unintended consequences of relying on European countries to breed and train detection dogs needed by the United States. His remarks made clear that we must learn from the mistakes of the past, which began with a federal budget cut that closed the TSA breeding program and its valuable research. To avoid that from happening again, he suggested a different approach and a new effort that assembled stakeholders. Speaking to the stakeholders he discussed the need to meet, discuss ideas and options, and avoid the dependence on the ups and downs of the federal budget process. His suggestion was to implement a plan that would rely on developing ideas that could produce results based on the collaboration of a private - public effort.

His welcome to the audience of more than 200 stakeholders began with a review of AKC's core values, its mission and purpose. He reminded the audience of the collaborations with the AVMA, canine health research affiliates, breed club organizations and outside associations. He discussed the connection with and importance of AKC's 5,000 clubs and over 130,000 breeders that serve as resources that could be applied to the detection breeding program objectives. He reminded the audience of the natural connection AKC has to the goals and purposes of the conference.

Dr. Cindy Otto, Executive Director of U. Penn Working Dog Center - A Prescription for the Detection Dog Deficiency - Dr. Otto spoke on the crisis in the domestic detection dog supply and the need for a national breeding cooperative. She shared information from a survey of stakeholders who participated in a brainstorming session following her Penn Vet Working Dog Conference on what would be needed and what priorities would be required for a cooperative to be successful. She discussed the need for a detection breeding program noting that the government, over a 40-year period of time, developed four different breeding programs only to shut them all down because of a budget cut.

She went on to discuss the need to identify the best phenotype for each end user (TSA, police, military etc.). Her discussion included the need to develop a semen collection bank, better methods for raising puppies, and better ways to evaluate them, which continues to be an on-going concern. She proposed a National Co-Op Breeding program as a not-for-profit organization that could serve as clearing house, with a focus on detection and dual purpose dogs.

Dr. Candace Croney, Director of Purdue University Center for Animal Welfare Science - Scientifically Evaluating Welfare in Large-Scale Kennels: Does High Volume Preclude Good Welfare? - As large numbers of dogs are needed to fill the need for working dogs, Dr. Croney spoke about maintaining good welfare for dogs in commercial kennels, including maintaining good behavioral health and reducing stress. She showed trends in kennel designs, play yard equipment, and training and socialization techniques for large-scale kennel owners. She also discussed how working dogs experience stress.

Jane Killion, Breeder, Trainer, Author & Puppy Culture Founder - Early Socialization & Scent Games for Future Working Dogs (Breeder break-out session) - Ms. Killion discussed how prenatal care and interaction with pregnant bitches has a profound impact on the puppies and how they adjust to life. She also went through the early stages of puppy development and important things for breeders to do at each stage, as well as puppy scent games that can start at 5 weeks.

Based on her research and experience she presented an organized approach to puppy development and testing and stressed the need for prenatal touching as a way to lower stress and increase learning. She placed emphasis on the use of enriching a puppy's environment as a way to enhance their cerebral development. She demonstrated with video and slides the effective use of exercise, toys and social interaction as a way to improve problem solving. She discussed the science of epigenetics as a way to show how environmental factors can influence behavior and how it can switch genes on and off. She discussed her work with scent work at an early age and the importance of an environment made up of positive reinforcement via toys, places, things, sounds and smells, which when combined with exercise, helps pups develop. It is a method of connecting the dots to improve performance.

Dr. David Adebimpe, CEO of ScentLogix - Explosives Detection: Trends, Theory & Practice (Trainer/Deployment break-out session) - Dr. Adebimpe spoke on the often controversial topic on the use of non-hazardous explosives training aides. He made clear such aides are not "pseudos", but are simulants, and that dogs do not respond through training to material, but to the gases that are produced from explosives materials. He has created simulants by recreating the gas odor signature while keeping the material safe to handle and use. This process has allowed him to create training aids for highly volatile peroxide-based homemade explosives used typically by terrorists.

Live Detector Dog Demonstrations - K2 Solutions Inc., A puppy in training and the work of a mature detection dog were demonstrated in a live working environment.

Dr. Paul Waggoner & Pam Haney, Auburn University Canine Performance Sciences Dept. - Development of a Model Detector Dog Breeding & Socialization Program (Breeder break-out session) - Dr. Waggoner and Ms. Haney presented updates and research on their efforts at the Auburn Canine Performance Sciences department, including published advances in genetics, epigenetics, and detector dog development.

Dr. Cindy Otto, Executive Director of Penn Vet Working Dog Center - Optimizing Performance in the Canine Athlete: Advances in Canine Sports Medicine (Trainer/Deployment break-out session) - Trainer/Deployment Track - Optimizing Performance in the Canine Athlete: Dr. Otto, a board-certified specialist in Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation spoke on the importance of keeping working dogs in good weight and condition to prevent injuries and extend their working lives. She focused on the need to educate the wide audience of trainers and breeders about the advances that have been made in managing the canine athlete. She demonstrated ways to reach out to dogs so they can learn where their front and back feet are as a way to reducing injuries when working in uneven terrains. She emphasized that healthy dogs can avoid problems in their working environment if they warm-up for five minutes before their activity. She suggested a fast walk, trot and a rub down before a performance and demonstrated the use of a figure 8, sway stretch for the upper and lower back, and the use of having dogs learn to place their four feet in a box. A video showed how to teach a beginning dog to walk on a ladder flat on the ground and later in a raised position as a way to teach confidence. She demonstrated the need to develop and maintain core strength and better posture via the sit and down as a balance exercise.

She pointed out the need to recognize the importance of growth plates that close by 12 months for most breeds, but in giant breeds take up to 14 months. Therefore, activities must be managed during the growth period to avoid bodily injury.

Scott Thomas, former TSA Breeding Program Manager & AKC Consultant - What is a Green Dog? Problems & Pitfalls of Assessment Criteria & Purchasing Contracts - Mr. Thomas spoke to the problems facing government procurement. The two primary areas he emphasized were: common language and terminology as a primary description of phenotypical behavior in contracts and statements of work, and the need for assessment tools to meet scientific rigor (validity, reliability, and repeatability). He concluded with recommendations to those wanting to sell dogs to government entities.

Forrest McConnell, Senior Counsel, US House of Representatives. Advancing Public Policy for US Detection Dogs - Part I - Forrest presented information about why canines matter in the fight to keep the country safe. He stressed that "the threat is not going away" and that technology cannot do it. He also emphasized the need for passage of HR 4577 by the US Senate because it requires the government to work with the stake holders. He also stressed the need for the audience to contact their Senators and encourage them to pass HR 4577. 4577 (Note, President Trump signed the legislation in October)

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The Wednesday sessions ended with a nearly two-hour panel discussion: Detection Dog Standards & Certifications

Dave Kontny, Chief of Staff, Joint Program Office for Countering Improvised Explosive Devices - Kontny explained his work leading SWGDOG (Scientific Working Group on Dog and Orthogonal Detector Guidelines), which is a partnership of local, state and federal/international agencies, and is dedicated to developing national guidelines for Explosives Detection Canines.

LTC Richard Vargus, Military Working Dog Program Manager, US Army Provost Marshall's Office - LTC Vargus described the many types of working dogs used by the US Military and showed the numbers deployed by jobs. He stressed that continuous demands for more deployments and shortage of dogs from overseas are greatly impacting his force of dogs. He needs more than 300 dogs to complete 2019 assignments.

Capt. John Kerwick, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department and New York Region President of US Police Canine Association -; Capt. Kerwick gave a New York perspective on how the use of dogs by law enforcement changed after 9/11. He discussed how today it is not just about finding the bombs, but finding the terrorists.

Fred Helfers, Founding President, Pacific Northwest Police Detection Dog Association - Mr. Helfers presented the results of a study that he conducted on the integration of double-blind testing into the annual certification for drug detection dogs and the positive impact of doing so.

John Pearce, Director of Operations, Vapor Wake K9 - Mr. Pearce covered the evaluation guidelines for his dogs at Vapor Wake, including how they are tested on odor recognition; searches of luggage, buildings and vehicles; and Vapor Wake testing (trailing a person who is carrying explosives).

Fred Helfers, Founding President, Pacific Northwest Police Detection Dog Association & NACSW Judge - The Rise of Popularity in Scent Works & the Impact on Detection Dogs - Mr. Helfers addressed the question that the task force often gets "Can my scent work dog become a working detection dog?" His answer was that "no" - it's not probable based on the scents they have been imprinted on and other physical and stamina traits desired. However, Helfers elaborated on scent work being a great sport and activity for all dogs and how it has helped detection dogs as people have a heightened understanding of what is involved in training these dogs, how dogs use their noses and how there are a surprising number of breeds that have demonstrated the proficiency of their noses in the scent sports.

Sgt. Wendell Nope, K9 Supervising Officer, Utah Department of Public Safety - Utilizing Bomb Dogs for National Events - Sgt. Nope discussed the dangers of protecting national events today with the increase of homegrown terrorism and shared examples of his work staffing detection dogs for the 2002 US Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and his recent work assisting the country of Dubai with detection dog training for the World Fair.

Dr. Matthew Breen, Professor of Genomics, NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine - New Tools for Genetic Analysis of Working Dogs - Dr. Breen reviewed the rapid changes that have taken place in canine genotyping over the last 15 years, including the sharp decrease in costs per marker and the new genetic tools now available to researchers.

Commissioner Larry Perkins, Vice President and Assistant GM, PNC Arena & Carolina Hurricanes - Event Planning & Crowd Behavior for Large Gatherings - Commissioner Perkins is an expert on crowd management and he spoke on how the public spaces utilize detection dogs for security and how dogs benefit stadiums by calming crowds who react positively when they see the dogs.

Sheila Goffe, Vice President, AKC Government Relations; & Mike Williams, AKC Federal Lobbyist - Advancing Public Policy for US Detection Dogs - These three speakers discussed why AKC should advocate on this issue and on three major action items:

• Obtain Accurate information about sourcing by Dept. of Defense/ Homeland Security
• Build Issue Awareness and support for U.S. Sourced Dogs
• Create public-private working group to establish recognized standards of excellence

She also encouraged attendees to advocate for the passage of HR 4577. Williams stressed that it means much more for legislators to hear from their constituents than from AKC officials.

Wrap-Up - Dr. Carmen Battaglia, AKC Board of Directors

The Issues - Research will be used to continue to find better ways to improve breeding methods and produce better dogs with the goal to improve consistency and performance. Other objectives identified were: better socialization and enrichment techniques; better ways to identify phenotypes; and better ways to test and certify dogs that are produced.

The Questions

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1. How can we increase the supply of detection dogs?
2. Who will step forward and share ideas?
3. When and how often should dogs be tested and retested?
4. Can we agree on terminology?
5. Will the Senate support HR 4577 (Note, President Trump signed the legislation in October)

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The Next Steps - National security begins at home, and to help in that effort, we were reminded that AKC has 130,000 breeders and a network of clubs located throughout all 50 states. One of the first steps is to have breeders and local law enforcement officials meet to discuss needs and problems. Some breeders have contacted the AKC and indicated they will focus on breeding and raising dogs; others have shown an interest in developing the skills needed to raise puppies (Patriotic Puppy Program).

Our theme going forward "YOU CAN DO IT, WE CAN HELP"

Will there be other meetings or seminars? Can I attend to learn more and meet others?

The AKC Detection Dog Task Force plan to host a third annual AKC US Detection Dog Conference in 2019. Special workshops that will focus on breeding, socializing and early training of detection dog prospects as well as other pertinent information needed by breeders, trainers and puppy raisers.

How to get involved: If you are a breeder or owner, or you are willing to raise a puppy, spread the word. Let your clubs know.

Your go-to person for questions and help?

Email: Project manager Penny Leigh or call (919) 816-3749