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Mark Tappan Biography

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“Jeff’s first lesson for me was in how to select a good police dog. He had myriad tests he would put dogs through to determine whether they had the right focus and effort to be a good police dog. He explained that the three most important characteristics were that the dog be happy, social, and confident. I found it odd that Jeff started with a happy dog.”

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Book:A Dog Named Mattis: 12 Lessons for Living Courageously, Serving Selflessly, and Building Bridges from a Heroic K9 Officer
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“Have your helper tease your dog with a toy and run away to a place the dog can’t see. Start the dog on an item the helper dropped, like a sweaty hat, then have the dog find him. As you progress, you want the dog to start using his nose, not his eyes, to identify the person who has his toy. So you remove the part where the dog sees the helper run away and just start him on the sweaty hat that was dropped. You make the tracks longer and longer with different types of ground and obstacles, and eventually you have an amazing tracking dog. The key to this one is, again, to flip out with excitement when the dog finds the helper and make it the most amazing time in the world.”

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Book:A Dog Named Mattis: 12 Lessons for Living Courageously, Serving Selflessly, and Building Bridges from a Heroic K9 Officer
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“I asked the decoy what happened. He told me he heard Mattis go down a row in the distance and then jump up onto a shelf. He said he then jumped from shelf to shelf (in the dark) straight toward him at about head level. The decoy said, “I know I was supposed to be still, but he was coming at me head level, so I threw my arm up to intercept him.” The other handlers, the decoy, and I were all astounded. This was not what I had planned. This was not the lesson | wanted to teach Mattis. I laughed because he’d solved it in a manner I hadn’t considered, and in a more efficient way. This type of Mattis solution became commonplace at every training session. Throw a complex problem at him and just watch him with wonder as he comes up with a solution. We never knew what it was going to be, but we knew it was going to be grounded in determination, athleticism, and efficiency.”

DogsPolice Dog
Book:A Dog Named Mattis: 12 Lessons for Living Courageously, Serving Selflessly, and Building Bridges from a Heroic K9 Officer
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