Randy Hare- Advancing Concepts in Detection Dog Training and Handling. Randy has developed revolutionary methods for training drug and explosive detector dogs. He will begin with a critical analysis and review of conventional detector dog training methods, and then present the core ideas of the Hare Method: The handler is not the teacher, the dog teaches himself. The dog is not just taught what odors and stimuli to respond to; he is also explicitly taught what NOT to respond to. The dog is taught to ignore primary reward (ball) odors and stimuli unless they are encountered in conjunction with target odor. In the end, dogs will search longer and without distraction.

Randy Hare is a professional dog trainer who spent 12 years in Law Enforcement after becoming a professional dog trainer some 4 years prior. During his 12 years in Law Enforcement Randy became a highly successful highway interdiction officer working I-20 in northeast Louisiana. During that time Randy utilized his highly touted technique of training detection dogs in both real world deployment and in competing against other detection trainers and teams. His method for training detection dogs, now 27 years in the making, caught the eye of Canine Training Systems, Inc. who produced and is now distributing a three tape video series on this eye opening method. This technique is truly revolutionary and gaining in popularity across the United States and Europe. Randy travels the country demonstrating and teaching his techniques while explaining the techniques origins and how they actually parallel techniques in protection training. While Randy concentrates on seminars and schools for detection dog training for various departments and organizations including HIDTA, he is still training police k-9s for select agencies across the country. Randy has competed in the USPCA, Schutzhund, and many detection dog competitions where he finished in the top percentile in over 95% of the competitions entered.