Click here to see Law Enforcement agencies represented  at Randy Hare Detection Trainers Schools in just 2012 and 2013 alone!

Over the past six years I have attended two weekend seminars with Randy, and this past month I was able to attend a trainer's course. Each seminar I was amzed at how much I learned. The trainer's course was even more information. Not ony did we go into more depth about the method, but we were taught how to train dogs using his method (hence the trainer's course). Each step was explained, demonstrated, and then the students were given plenty of opportunity to practice their newly learned skills. One main difference between the weekend seminars six years ago and the trainers course was the addition of Lucy Newton. Her knowledge and experience working as Law Enforcement complimented the class nicely. She was also very gracious in allowing us to both handle her dogs and work her dogs on the rack. It is remarkable to see a method that is so positive and that allows a dog to teach hmself to be obedient to odor. If you have the opportunity to go to the trainer's course, or even a weekend seminar, then take it. You won't regret it.

Christie Harrison
Mid Atlantic D.O.G.S.
VA-TF 1

I have know Randy Hare for over 5 years now, and I have attended several of his training classes. All 20 of our department's narcotics detector teams have been trained utilizing the "On Target" method and the results have been immediate. Our canines search with greater intensity and our handlers have more confidence because they no longer get locked into the pitfalls of traditional detection training methods. Recently the National Capital Region (NCR) K9 Committee, sponsored two "On Target" Detection Trainers Schools. Over 30 handlers and trainers from the greater Washington DC metropolitan region were trained and the feedback regarding the Schools was outstanding. Both Randy Hare and Lucy Newton are outstanding trainers with a significant amount of experience. I highly recommend attending one of their seminars!

Sergeant Ari Elkin
Montgomery County MD Police Department
K9 Unit
Chairman, National Capital Region (NCR) K9 Committee

 I have trained police K-9 in Narcotics detection in the standard way for over 13 years. The Randy Hare system is one of the best ways to teach the K-9 to be obedient to the narcotic odor. Randy and Lucy explain how to work the system and are very patient with the handlers, and K-9. I have seen K-9’s improve on their search to find the odor.

As the training progresses the K-9 will become more independent on searching for the odor. Working with Randy and Lucy was great. They really care about what they teaching.

Victor Cruz
Narcotics Detective, K9 Narcotics Trainer
Fairfax County (VA) Police Department

Randy,

I wanted to take a moment and tell you how much I enjoyed your seminar and getting to know you better. I wanted to let you know that having attended many training seminars all over the world for sport and police dogs I have never seen a system of training that does a better job allowing the detection dog to teach himself through self discovery. Eliminating more than I have ever seen ...the distractions and external stimulus that keeps the dog from working to its genetic potential. We as handlers are the NUMBER 1 problem facing our dogs and this allows the dog to trust his nose and not the handler! We are all taught to "Trust your dog!" Now with this system you can truly trust your dog. If there is odor he will find it! Not with you, but in-spite of you because if you knew where it was you wouldn't need him. You teach us to get out of the way and let him get to work doing what we have him for! As the primary detection trainer for one of the larger police departments in the country your system will absolutely make our dogs better. By using your training principles you ensure that we are placing more criminals in jail, seize more drugs and ensure the safety of every passenger travelling through our airport. Thank you again Randy you are a real class act.

Officer Joel Anderson
Mesa Police Department
Mesa Arizona
Head K9 Detection Trainer

Randy,

Thanks for the info. I'll keep checking your site for the dates and hopefully will have the opportunity to attend one of the them. I've done some tracking and scent training with Joe Nick who works for the NJ Dept of Corrections and is the President of Region 15 (USPCA). Joe highly recommended you and had nothing but good things to say. He told me about the seminar that you did in Passaic County, NJ but I was unfortunately unable to attend. I spoke to a couple people from Bucks County, PA who did attend and they said it was great! I'll look forward to having the opportunity to someday meet and learn from you.

Thanks again,
Stephanie Bills
Berwyn, PA

Randy, I have had some nice dogs in the past but I have to say that Ricco is the best one I have ever had the pleasure of handling. Your training techniques and handlers course is way ahead of the others. I learned more in the first day of your handlers course than I did the entire time I spent at the others. Thanks a million.

Jon Cooley
Hinds County Sheriffs Dept.
Jackson, MS

Dear Mr. Hare,

The Davis County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank you for your help in setting up a K9 program that has far exceeded our expectations. Recently, all three of the K9’s we purchased through Alpha K9 passed Utah’s K9 P.O.S.T. certifications. It had been our understanding that the dogs were certified for 1 year after they returned from Nebraska. We recently found out that they needed to be certified through Utah P.O.S.T. immediately and we were sent into a panic. Our handlers retrieved copies of the Utah P.O.S.T. K9 standards and requirements for certification and they spent 1-2 weeks tailoring their training to fit those expectations. They are not a dedicated to one purpose unit, so they could only train when they had some extra time to do so. The Davis County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit just finished their Utah P.O.S.T. K9 certifications for narcotics detection and patrol/tracking and each of our dual purpose dogs were able to pass both certifications without any problems. We would not have been able to do that without having received superior dogs and superior training from you, Randy. Although there was a space between bringing our dogs home and going through the certification process, we felt like we had nothing but time to focus towards that process. As soon as we found out, we set out to accomplish that task and did so first try, thanks in great part to you! We at the Davis County Sheriff’s Office thank you again, for the superior service that you provide and will continue to come to you with all of our K9 purchases and needs. Good luck in all you do!

Sincerely,
Susan Poulsen
K9 Sergeant Davis County Sheriff’s Office

Hi Randy, Just wanted to let you know again how much I enjoyed your seminar and what a GREAT system you have. I look forward to learning and mastering your system in the near future. Thanks again for a great time and learning experience.

PS - The ones who did not attend your seminar…missed out on something very special…

Regards,
Bob Campanile
Stafford Township Police, NJ

Hey Randy - can’t tell you how much I enjoyed meeting you all and attending your seminar. This was very good for our group and for me personally.

Maria Hillegas

Randy, Thanks for a great seminar this weekend! It was by far the most informative seminar I’ve ever attended. My brain is buzzing with thoughts on how to apply your ideas to improve our disaster search training.

Thanks!!!
Konnie Hein

Randy, Well, I hope you and Boooo-nk are getting friendly. He really is a wonderful dog, his trainer was thrilled that you took him and will be sending the papers shortly. Aside from all the business crap and all, I wanted to mention my favorite few moments of the seminar. When one old dog man told another old dog man I’m thirty five, but have been through it all in the last 15 years. You looked at me and offered to recoup my expenses. It’s refreshing to see such honesty and compassion in this business. To be honest, I had only just recently heard of you. Since becoming a dad, I had to stop traveling. I just focus on my dogs here. So when I asked around, I heard only really good things. SURPRISE! So I will promise to be as predictable as possible and communicate effectively about the dogs in the future. It was my sincere pleasure to meet you two this weekend. My dogs mean a lot to me. Where they end up is important - profits are not interesting to me.

Thanks again,
Bryan Colletti
Buunks foster dad

Hi Randy, I really enjoyed the seminar this weekend, I learned a lot. As a testament to your DVD’s I didn’t see anything we have been doing wrong, but as a testament to your training and communication skills I did see a lot of things we can do better. I enjoyed meeting and training with you.

Pat Nolan
http://www.ponderosakennels.com

Hi Randy,

Hope you had a good trip home.

Thank you so much for a wonderful seminar. Everyone is talking about how informative, educational, and fun the whole weekend was - those that missed it are sorely jealous, so it looks like we might have to see if you’ll come back next year. For myself, it couldn’t have been a better, more stimulating weekend. I so appreciate all the energy you gave each and every canine, adjusting input to each handler, and bringing out the best in both. I’m most impressed with your stamina. Konnie and I especially treasure our dinner conversation with you, Randy, and are bouncing around ways to bring this kind of training to USAR/live human scent. Thank you again for a great seminar - we very much appreciate the fairness, clarity, and motivational foundation of your approach to canine detection training.

Elizabeth Kreitler
Maryland

Thank you again, Randy,

In a field that is so often corrupted by men and women out to make a dime, I feel like I’m finding a group of honest, passionate trainers to respect and look to as role models. Honestly, I was skeptical after hearing of your “revolutionary” detection training methods. I believed, as I had witnessed so many times before, that you had a gimmick that you were able to sell to people who didn’t know any better. After hearing Brice and Pat speak so highly of you and explain a bit more about your training philosophy, I was willing to admit there may be some merit to what you were doing. Pat emailed me about your seminar in Maryland and I was able to secure a working slot and attend.

I can’t tell you enough how impressed I was with every minute of the seminar. My skepticism quickly faded the morning of the first day. Everything you said and did made perfect sense. Watching your demonstrations and working through the clicker training exercises, I believe, was an eye-opener for everyone that so clearly illustrated just how difficult we make it for dogs to learn. I was also impressed when you openly expressed that, although remarkable, your approaches to training in the past were not always the most effective and fair to the dog. I have often felt the same desire to make dogs want to learn and be open to anything another trainer has to offer. Even if the seminar had concluded at the end of the first day, I would have felt that I had met two trainers who were in this field because of their passion for training and not for recognition or money. I could see that you honestly cared about the dogs and wanted to make whatever they were learning as clear and motivational as possible.

The seminar, fortunately, did not end on day one. I was also concerned about working my own dog at a seminar where I did not know exactly what to expect. I have worked with other trainers and been to other seminars and seen many dogs leave confused and distressed. I had put so much time and effort into training Blitzen prior to that point, I did not want to contradict my hard work. Once again, I was amazed at what we were able to accomplish with her in a few short sessions. I don’t think I could have understood or completely trusted a lot of what you taught if I had not seen it accomplished with my own dog. Everything made so much sense and I can’t understand why so many trainers will not admit there may be a better way to train detection dogs. You mentioned it, and I must agree that far too much of training is based on tradition and anything that threatens to challenge tradition must be wrong.

I want to thank you for being willing to think outside the box, learn new ideas and challenge and improve everything you can. Not only do you have a compassionate, yet effective, approach to training, you are also incredibly approachable and humble. I was just as impressed with your genuine concern and desire to help me further my career in training as I was with your ability to train dogs and communicate those ideas. I can only hope that when I look back on my legacy as a dog trainer, I will see the same insight, open-mindedness and altruism.

Once again, thank you both, so much.
Ariel Peldunas and Blitzen
Washington, DC

Randy,

I wanted to thank you for the information and patience shown during the Salamanca, NY seminar, Oct. 2008.I don’t believe the 2nd and 3rd day of the seminar would have been as effective without the “grounding” of the 1st day. Being a narcotics dog handler and not a trainer I was not as cognizant of the theory and method as I should have been behind a trained dog. I recommend all handlers to attend a seminar and further training in being “obedient to odor.” Randy is not selling a gimmic product or peddling snake oil. Randy’s years of experience and thought provoking teaching is truly a gift that I feel very few have. As we have entered a more litigious age, handlers and trainers need to be aware of what and how they are laying the ground work for their dogs. I will always remember two comments made to me. “Why are you doing that?” “What are you doing?” It was said in a very thought provoking way especially after the 1st day seminar. I have to be aware of why and what I am doing. Everything needs to be thought out in a step-by-step basis to avoid unraveling what the dog is learning. Thank you for breaking down the steps in easy to understand terms. Learning to be quiet and letting the dog figure it out makes so much sense after seeing it. Your humble introduction to opening our minds and your true love of canines came across very clearly. I am very much looking forward to hearing and seeing you both in Western NY again.

Sincerest Regards,
Deputy Brian Thompson
Genesee County Sheriff’s Office K-9
Batavia, NY