Tehachapi News
Training dogs to protect and serve
Training dogs to protect and serve
By: Matthew Chew
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Posted by editor Mon Nov 27, 2006 13:02:50 PST
Viewed 1055 times
0 responses 0 comments Johannes Grewe might be found at the Keene Cafe any day. He’s a regular there and they know his name.
Mention his name at police K-9 units across the country and they know him as well.
“It’s a small world,” said Grewe.
Grewe, a Hart Flat resident, describes his beginnings in the field in a modest way.
“I got a puppy, I got involved, I met people who trained dogs and I became a K-9 officer,” said Grewe.
It sounds simple enough, but that does not begin to tell the story. He did have a puppy, he did get involved, he did meet people who trained dogs and he was a K-9 officer — in Dusseldorf, Germany.
He is now a world-renowned expert, having trained dog for 44 years, who gives seminars on dog training throughout the United States. He is also the advisor to several K-9 units, including the Beverly Hills Police Department, Kern County Sheriff’s Department, Ridgecrest Police Department and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Authorities.
Grewe’s written a book that is considered a gospel among K-9 units, The Police Service Dog.
Initially he may seem a little gruff, but it is a reflection of his seriousness about the training of animals and the importance of K-9 units.
“He’s heaven on Earth to work with,” said Officer Sean Dexter of the Beverly Hills Police Department, with a smile.
Grewe selects all the dogs he trains and brings them from Germany. He said that he believes the best police and military dogs in America come from Germany and they are either German shepherds or Belgian Malinois, a type of shepherd.
“It’s like the Mercedes, they (Germany) have the best.”
He looks for several characteristics in the dogs he selects; socialization skills, courage and a strong detective instinct or play instincts.
Grewe said that he doesn’t do the training by himself, but works with the dog’s handlers so the dog responds to his individual handler. Grewe characterizes his role as more of an advisor.
Handlers generally have follow-up training every month, with Grewe traveling to different departments or the handlers traveling to Keene.
Grewe works with one dog and one handler at a time and said it usually takes about three months before the dog and handler are ready to go into service.
The process he uses is a graduated series of skills, all based upon the reward of play. He said you manipulate the scent of whatever the dog is being trained for, explosives, narcotics or patrol. The dog associates the ball with the scent of the object or person it must find.
“Gerwe trained my dad [as a handler] and now he’s training me,” said Dexter. “He’s been training [handlers and their dogs] since before the invention of electricity.”
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