The Detection Dogs we train are selected on three categories of behavioural characteristics: detection characteristics, trainability/tractability, and environmental characteristics. Detection characteristics are related to the style and intensity of interrogation and search for explosive odor. Trainability/tractability relate to the various cognitive, behavioural, and social characteristics necessary to be trained to perform the particular search requirements. Environmental characteristics refer to the collection of traits enabling a dog to work effectively in the particular search context, such as a large event venue, crowded mass, or military combat. 

The Narcotic Detection Dogs are specifically trained to detect various illicit substances. Through this training, they learn to recognize the latest narcotics odors in the marketplace and respond appropriately when confronted with those scents in real-life situations.  

Protection Training is often widely misunderstood. This type of training is traditionally done with police dogs and operational security dogs but is becoming more and more popular with family/personal protection dogs too. Security or Protection training will provide you and your dog with enhanced control and stability beyond that of normal obedience training.

It may seem like a dog obsessively focused on play would make a poor working dog, but for search-and-rescue work, this is actually an ideal characteristic. A dog that will chase a tennis ball for hours would most likely also keep on running and working in the most challenging circumstances, through storm, rain, snow, in mountains or swamps to find his ball, so someone can throw it again for him. That game-factor is crucial for Search and Rescue dogs. The central job of a SAR dog is to find a human (scent/trail) and effectively alert his handler to its location. The dog has to be trained to complete his task in all conditions, regardless of weather or distractions.  

Not all SAR dogs perform the same type of searches. We train SAR dogs to complete three different types of tasks: 

• Air Scent (or area-search) Dogs –means that the SAR dog must find people in general 
• Tracking (or trailing) Dogs–means that the SAR dog is given a specific scent, from for example a piece of clothing, to track an individual down.  

Both types overlap, but the distinction between the two are the training process and how the dog participates in missions. A third type of search is conducted by following ground disturbances, which means that the dog is following footprints and other traces left behind by an individual.