Variable Reinforcement with Jerry Bradshaw

Hunt-Find-Alert: K9 Search and Rescue Community

Jerry Bradshaw joins us on HFA to discuss Variable Reinforcement Schedules in detection dog training. Jerry has over 30 years' experience in training detection, patrol, and tracking dogs for law enforcement agencies and militaries both domestically and internationally. In addition to professionally training working dogs, Jerry has also won national titles with his personal dogs in the competitive protection sports of Schutzhund and Protection Sports Association (PSA). Jerry currently serves as the Director and President of Tarheel Canine Training in North Carolina which provides trained patrol and detection dogs to LE agencies across the country.

Variable Reinforcement is a topic rarely discussed in SAR circles, but it has been a staple of detection K-9 training for many years. By varying when and how you reward your dog during training you can add the "Maybe" question to your dog's behavior which can increase the intensity and reliability of the behavior. If you have not implemented Variable Reinforcement into your training, you definitely want to hear Jerry explain the benefits of this training methodology.

References mentioned during the episode:

Jerry's webinar series on detection: Detection Webinar Link

Tarheel Canine: Website Link

Slideshare: Powerpoint Link

Controlled Aggression: Podcast Link