Bringing back integrity: building an inclusive and safe K9 community
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The K9 community is one of passion, dedication, and a shared love for working with dogs. It’s a space where trainers, handlers, scientists, and dog enthusiasts come together to share knowledge, push boundaries, and make a positive impact. But while passion drives us, it’s integrity that holds us accountable.
Integrity is the foundation of trust in our community. Without it, we risk creating an environment where misinformation, exploitation, and unethical practices undermine the good work so many are doing. Today, I want to talk about why integrity matters so much, why we all have a responsibility to protect the safe, inclusive environment we’ve built, and what behaviors have no place in the K9 world.
A shared responsibility for a safe and inclusive community
Building a strong K9 community doesn’t happen by accident—it requires all of us to contribute to an environment where people feel safe, respected, and supported. Every single one of us has a role to play in maintaining this space and ensuring it remains inclusive and constructive.
It’s okay to:
• Build a business in the K9 world.
• Earn a living by helping others and sharing your knowledge.
• Develop products or services that genuinely help handlers, trainers, and dogs.
But with these opportunities comes responsibility: the responsibility to act ethically, respect others, and contribute positively to the community.
What is not okay is behavior that undermines trust and integrity. For example:
- Walking your own tracks and selling it as operational tracking: Training your dog only on your own tracks and presenting it as a perfect operational tracking method is misleading. Real-world tracking requires diverse, objective testing under different conditions—not perfect setups where you know the outcome.
- Skipping double-blind detection tests: Dogs trained for detection work must be tested objectively under double-blind conditions to ensure they can actually find the target odors without handler bias. If your detection dog has never been double-blind tested, it’s irresponsible to present them as operationally ready.
- Setting up a K9 detection business without real qualifications: Offering detection services to individuals, businesses, or governments with dogs that aren’t trained on real target odors—and haven’t been objectively tested—puts public safety at risk. It’s not only unethical but also dangerous to present dogs as operational when they aren’t prepared for the real-world scenarios they will face.
- Selling short-term courses as a shortcut to expertise: Becoming a behavior or cognition expert takes years of study, practice, and mentorship. Selling 3-day courses and misleading people into believing they are suddenly experts diminishes the credibility of the field and disrespects the effort genuine experts put into their craft.
- Selling operational dogs trained using improper methods: A detection dog sold as operational must be specifically trained for the tasks they are expected to perform in the field. This means ensuring the dog is fully prepared for the real-world scenarios they will encounter. When a dog is inadequately trained or prepared using improper methods, it not only undermines the trust and confidence of handlers and clients but also jeopardizes the success and safety of operations. Proper training is not optional—it’s a fundamental responsibility for anyone providing operational detection dogs.
- Bullying trainers and preaching superiority: Tearing others down, shaming them for mistakes, or insisting that your methods or products are “the best” while dismissing others doesn’t foster growth. It creates division and discourages new trainers from asking questions or experimenting.
Integrity: The Foundation of the K9 Community
Integrity isn’t optional in our line of work—it’s essential. Whether you’re training dogs, educating handlers, developing products, or offering services, integrity should guide everything you do.
Integrity means:
• Being honest about your results: Not every training session or operation will be a success. Share the failures as well as the wins. Transparency helps others learn and builds trust in your methods.
• Practicing what you preach: If you promote positive reinforcement or ethical training, your behavior toward students, peers, and the community should reflect those values.
• Being accountable: If you claim to offer operational services or expertise, be prepared to back it up with real results. Double-blind testing and transparent evaluations are non-negotiable for anyone working in detection or operational roles.
• Acknowledging mistakes and learning from them: None of us are perfect. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my career, and not every training session or operation has gone as planned. What matters is our ability to reflect, learn, and improve.
• Giving credit where it’s due: If you’ve been inspired by someone’s idea, acknowledge them. Collaboration strengthens our community and drives innovation forward.
When we act with integrity, we don’t just improve our own work—we contribute to a stronger, more credible community.
Feed-forward coaching: upporting growth
One of the most effective ways to create a safe and inclusive environment is by embracing a “feed-forward” coaching approach. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, this method emphasizes constructive feedback and actionable steps to improve.
Unfortunately, I still see trainers who use coercion—not just on their dogs, but on their students. They shame others for making mistakes, react emotionally to errors, and criticize harshly without offering solutions.
This approach isn’t just ineffective—it’s harmful. Fear and shame don’t create better trainers; they create insecurity and resentment. As educators, we have a responsibility to treat our students with the same patience, kindness, and encouragement we give to our dogs. When people feel safe to make mistakes, ask questions, and reflect, they can grow into the trainers, handlers, or educators they aspire to be.
What we should expect from ourselves and each other
The K9 world is constantly evolving, and we should always strive to raise the bar for ourselves, our trainers, and our peers. Just as we expect a lot from our dogs, we should expect a lot from the people who teach and guide us.
Here’s what we should demand:
• Respectful communication: Disagreements are natural, but they should be handled with professionalism and respect. Bullying, passive-aggressive behavior, and heated arguments only divide the community.
• Transparency and honesty: Whether you’re training dogs, selling products, or offering services, be honest about the strengths and limitations of what you provide.
• Accountability: If you’re selling operational dogs or offering detection services, you must be able to prove your dogs’ reliability through objective, double-blind testing. There’s no excuse for cutting corners when lives and public safety are on the line.
• Continuous learning: The moment we think we know everything is the moment we stop growing. Stay open to new ideas, challenge your assumptions, and keep learning.
Drawing the line: protecting the community
As someone who has spent years building a safe and inclusive platform, I’ve had to make tough decisions to protect the space we’ve created. Recently, I made the decision to block someone from my platform for the first time. This individual repeatedly showed behavior that went against the values of respect and integrity, using my platform to criticize others, promote themselves as “the best,” and undermine the inclusive environment I’ve worked hard to build.
Despite reaching out to them multiple times to address their behavior and explain the harm they were causing, they refused to change. While I don’t take blocking someone lightly, I will always prioritize the wellbeing of the community over one person’s agenda.
This experience reinforced an important lesson: protecting the integrity of our community sometimes means drawing a line in the sand.
A Call to action: building a better future together
To everyone in the K9 community: we all have a role to play in creating a better, safer, and more inclusive environment. Whether you’re a trainer, scientist, product developer, or dog enthusiast, your actions matter.
Let’s commit to raising the bar for integrity, transparency, and respect. Let’s celebrate diverse approaches, support each other’s growth, and hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards.
Together, we can ensure that the K9 world remains a place of innovation, collaboration, and mutual support—one that we can all be proud to be part of.