K9 training and experiences while working in law enforcement

Years ago, I worked with K9 officers and their dogs. I was the guy they sent out with the arm wrap for practice attacks. As a training dummy, I have been hit thousands of times by Belgium breed K9s.
A Belgium dog has a bite of 2000 PSI, one of the strongest biting dog breeds around. During training periods, I have been knocked down, nearly bitten numerous times and on one occasion the dog managed to bite through a new wrap, one that had never been used before.

Police K9s are trained to attack anyone in a real situation and that the dog will try to attack and bite the man in wrap in practices as well. The dogs take their training to heart, that even training is perceived as the real thing. The Belgium breeds were always challenging and tiring to work with. These dogs know how to work a suspect until he or she has given up.

I could feel the dog's K9 penetrating my skin under the wrap, I yelled to the owner to call his dog off, after a couple of times yelling at his dog, the K9 released his grip from my arm. I took the wrap off to examine the extent of his bite, he managed to break the first layer of skin on my arm. Anyone who has worked attack dogs will tell you that in some incidents, the dogs forget to listen to commands ... while they are biting down and having fun. Working attack dogs can sometimes prove risky and even humorous at times.

Another time I had just put my wrap on when I heard my friend send the dog after me, I quickly turned around in time to see his K9s showing as he jumped at me, I was half way laughing knowing that my friend was getting a kick out of his stunt, partially off-balance when turning around to face my attacker, I was knocked down to the ground.

Now, anyone knows that when they get knocked down on the ground, the risk of being injured is greater. This scared me, I had never fought off a K9 from the ground before, it was an experience I didn't find funny for long, the dog continued to bite down on my wrap for a while, and would then release his grip long enough to bite somewhere different on the wrap. Finally, he was called off. I enjoyed working with the dogs back then, it was interesting and rewarding.

Jim Heitmeyer