Episode 176: Drones, Robots, and K9s with Bellator K9
10.27.2022 - By Ted Summers and Eric Stanbro - Working Dog Radio Hosts
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Opinions wanted! Can you give a first time handler a Malinois??
The gents delve into this topic!
Your Working Dog Radio hosts, Eric @vanessk9 & Ted @ted_summers, sat down with Billy Sawyer and Brian of Bellator K9
This is the first episode from our HITS K9 conference series.
Speaking of HITS, they will be returning to Arizona August 15-18 2023 in Scottsdale, AZ at the Westin Kierland Resort. Get your tickets to this conference early! Joining us for our first episode is Billy and Brian of Bellator K9.
Billy instructed at Blueline, and is currently a supervisor in Colorado, and runs the K9 unit. Billy joined the military out of high school, and served for 4 years. He then joined the undercover narcotics team for Jacksonville, Fl, which is a Tier 1 Agency, before moving to Colorado where he is now also part of the SWAT team, and helps run 5 dogs.
Brian is also serving in Colorado. Brian first became a police officer in ‘94, joined the K-9 unit in ‘97, and became a trainer in ‘02.
Eric mentions Colorado has a propensity for violence, so much so, even his tattoo artist has talked about it! The guys then get into why they prefer to buy green, then train to pass certs, but then also train for the streets. Opinions fly about giving a green handler a Malinois, and the guys concur: “I’d rather get rid of a handler than a great dog. Dogs don’t hold grudges, people do.” Speaking of, the guys get into the importance of SWAT integration. “If we think it’s too dangerous, paws before boots, rather bury my dog than my friend.” Then they talk about drones and searching with drones instead of a robot, and what it’s like to work that with a K9. (You’ll want to hear the story about how effective this drone usage was on a suspect!)
Billy and Brian get into Bellator K9, and why they started it based on tactics. They see, far too often, too many people chasing their dogs’ buttholes. They are always learning and figuring out ways to evolve so that handlers and K9s won’t get hurt. Bellator K9 are doing seminars (you can reach out to them at bellator_k9 on Instagram and Facebook for more information) so that your dog can be exposed to flash-bangs, drones, tunnels, etc, and they will incorporate it all together.