WRHSAC K9 Training Week
Strengthen your K9 team’s readiness before the next call.
July 27 – 31, 2026
The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council (WRHSAC) is offering a comprehensive, multi-day K9 training program designed for law enforcement, search and rescue, and other public safety K9 teams. This training focuses on practical skills that improve operational readiness, responder safety, and multi-agency coordination during real-world incidents.
Whether your K9 supports patrol, trailing, tracking, search and rescue, security, comfort/therapy, or another public safety mission, this training provides valuable skills that can be applied immediately in the field.
Day 1 K9 First Aid & Emergency Medical Care
Monday July 27, 8am to noon. Amherst
This four-hour seminar is open to all first responder K9 handlers, regardless of discipline.
Learn how to:
- Recognize and stabilize life-threatening injuries
- Provide emergency field care when veterinary services are delayed
- Improve K9 survivability during extended operations
- Keep your canine partner operational during emergencies
Eligible participants include handlers of:
- Patrol K9s
- Tracking & trailing K9s
- Search & Rescue K9s
- Security K9s
- Comfort/Crisis Response Dogs
- Detection K9s
- Other public safety working dogs
Open to up to 50 attendees. The training is free.
Click here to Register for K9 First Aid and Medical Care
Days 2 – 5 Advanced Human Trailing Operations
Tuesday, July 28 to Friday, July 31. 8am to 4pm. Hadley and other locations
This intensive four-day course combines classroom instruction with extensive field exercises covering:
- Human trailing theory and scent dynamics
- Reading canine body language and trail behavior
- Complex terrain, contamination, and urban environments
- Tactical decision-making and handler safety
- Long-duration trailing operations
- Multi-agency coordination
- Full-scale operational scenarios
- After-action reviews and lessons learned
Participants will work through increasingly challenging scenarios designed to build confidence and improve operational effectiveness in missing person searches and other real-world deployments.
Limited to:
- 5 trailing/tracking teams (handler + dog)
- 5 observers (without dogs)
