Police has teamed up with other agencies - including, for the first time, Blind Low Vision New Zealand - in a project looking into early signs of success in working dog puppies.
The collaboration, also involving Corrections and Customs, included an eight-week cognitive assessment trial involving six police pups from the C litter born at the Dog Training Centre at Trentham. The project aims to support future capability across a wide range of agencies which use working dogs.
The Puppy Cognition trial was informed by learning from a dog cognition workshop delivered by trainer Cameron Ford of US company Ford K9. It explored how dogs think, learn, problem-solve and respond to human cues.
“We are pleased to be involved in this co-agency testing,” says Inspector Todd Southall, National Coordinator Police Dogs.
“The collaboration began in September last year, when participating agencies jointly conducted an initial cognitive assessment of the eight-week-old C-litter puppies born at the Dog Training Centre in Trentham.”
The assessments aim to gather information about how the dogs develop rather than determine right or wrong outcomes.
They look at areas such as problem-solving ability, focus and impulse control, flexibility, memory, arousal and the way dogs use human cues to make decisions.
These insights support an objective, evidence-based approach to selection and development, used alongside traditional assessment methods.
The agencies have reconvened to repeat the cognitive testing on the same dogs, now aged eight months, allowing comparisons to be made and progress to be measured as the puppies develop.
Retesting at this stage provides valuable insight into how cognition evolves over time and how early traits may influence future performance in working roles.
“We’re really pleased to be working so closely with other working dog agencies, strengthening our relationships and creating opportunities to share data,” says Aimee Hickman, Manager of Training Operations, Blind Low Vision New Zealand.
“This collaboration is helping us build a more informed, evidence-based approach to developing future working dog capability.”
Ricky Trevithick, Department of Corrections National Manager Dog Section and Tactical Training Facility, says the initiative demonstrates the strength of agencies working together with a shared purpose.
“Our collective detector dog capability reaches its highest standard when we combine our expertise and innovate as one team.”
Danielle Loza, Chief Customs Officer Detector Dog Unit, says collaboration, sharing of expertise and evidence-based learning ensures “we have the most cognitively capable detector dogs protecting New Zealand.
"Customs must deploy the best detector dog teams to combat the evolving threat of transnational, serious, and organised crime at the border,” says Danielle.