| DPH PROGRAM
The first test -- the Kåring -- may be taken when the dog is 12 months old. A pre-Kåring test, administered by the Club Chairman, is required before a dog and handler will be put forward by a Club for an official Kåring trial. The order of the exercises is determined by the judge at the beginning of the test day. A score of 85 out of 110 points is required to pass.
The test includes obedience with 6 exercises: heel on leash, heel off leash (following a pattern directed by the judge), retrieve of a wooden dowel, climb over a 1.5 meter high fence with automatic finish position beside the handler (handler goes around the jump as he gives command to climb wall), bark on command, and a long down and recall to the hidden handler.
The dog must locate the start of a track between stakes placed 7 meters apart and then dutifully follow a l/2 hour aged, no less than 250 meter track and either indicate or retrieve an object at the end. Failure to finish the track and find the object at the end results in failure of the Kåring.
Rondering involves directed searching and locating a hidden person followed by a strong hold and bark that allows the handler to find his dog. The barking for location is necessary because the dog is working in an forest area that is at least 75 x 250 meters. The suspect does not wear any bite protective equipment, so the dog must not molest the person in any way. To pass this test, the handler must demonstrate to the judge that he can turn and send the dog to search in different directions several times. If the dog overshoots the person in his search, or leaves the person once they have found them, this constitutes a failure of Rondering and the trial.
Bite work involves two exercises: an agitator attacks the dog, firing a gun as the dog approaches him, including at close range. The dog must show a completely convincing attack and solid grip throughout, until the disarm of the agitator is accomplished by the handler and the dog is called to out. The second attack is with a stick threat, and the dog is hit by the agitator. The dog once again must show a convincing attack and solid grip throughout until the stick is taken by the handler and the dog is called to out. Both bites require a transport back to the judge and presentation of the confiscated weapons. Distance to bite is roughly 50-70 meters.
Failure in Rondering, Tracking or Bite work (failure to engage or to out) constitutes failure of the Kåring, and dog and handler do not continue the test exercises.
For a Police Service Dog, there are two additional bite work exercises in a Kåring: a defense of handler and a call off from a bite (ca. 70 meters).
UNGHUNDEKLASSEN There are competitions for young dogs - unghundeklassen (Young Dog Class) which includes obedience at heel position, also with a bicycle, searching for 4 small articles on a crime scene which is ca. 10 x 10 meters, and a one hour aged track with 2 small articles (minimum 300 meters in length). The apport (retrieve) is not limited to a wooden dowel or dumbbell, it can be any manner of items including: a hammer, a metal bar, a pistol, a wrench, glass bottle, frying pan, etc.
 
 
Rondering involves searching for and alerting to both a hidden object and a hidden suspect. Forest area for this exercise is a minimum of 75 x 200 meters. Unlike the Dutch KNPV program, which assigns one specific object that will be used for their trial search work each year, DPH does not. The hidden object in DPH is only limited by the imagination of those arranging the competition. Such objects for searching and barking can be: suitcases, bicycles, shovels, axes (in trees), motorcycle helmets, metal tools, wooden bats, a shoe, piece of cloth or paper, etc. The dog must not retrieve or in any way damage the item. He is intended to bark and guard the item until the handler comes up to him and relieves him of his duty. The dog must demonstrate to the judge that no one, not even his handler, can call him away from the object until the handler has come and taken the item into his custody. This is to ensure that if the dog (out of sight of his handler) finds an object and begins to alert to it, will not leave what he has found to return to the handler. The first duty of the dog in the case of Rondering is to locate and stay with evidence until it is collected.
At the mandatory Police Service Dog certifications each year, there is no limit to how difficult these objects can be. For example, one plastic box amidst literally hundreds of other plastic boxes and wooden crates in an outside loading zone on a freezing night. The only thing the dog has to go by is the relatively more recent scent of the person who put it out there after the employees went home. At Police Service Dog Competition Trials, we have seen small axes slung into trees a few meters up, and a tiny bag of narcotics hung on the end of a narrow tree that has fallen several meters out into a shallow lake. These items will stay there overnight or possibly for a few days before the competition.
For bite work in the unghundeklassen, a suspect at a distance of 75 meters away, runs away into the forest. The dog must pursue the suspect a considerable distance alone, bite him and hold him until his handler reaches them and takes the suspect into custody. The dog and handler must escort the suspect back to the judge in under four minutes. Also, there is a stick attack and disarm.
Two unghundeklassen competitions under two different judges must be completed with a passing score of 155 out of 180 points to reach the patruljeklassen. Or, with a very good score of 170 / 180 it is possible to move up to patruljeklassen after only one competition.
MESTERSKAB The Championship in 3 classes - patruljeklassen (Patrol Class) - kriminalklassen (Criminal Class) - vinderklassen (Winner's Class) - happens on the last weekend of September every year with 24 Police Dogs and 24 Civilian Dogs.
In the Winner's Class, the crime scene is ca. 25 x 25 meters, aged 4 hours, with 6 small articles (less than 2 cm x 2 cm) which the dog has to find within 25 minutes. These articles can be bullet shells, plastic, a piece of cord or string, etc. They may be buried in the ground.
The track begins somewhere between two markers 25 x 25 meters apart and is a minimum of 1000 meters and aged 4 hours with small articles (less than 2 cm x 2 cm) for the dog to either indicate or retrieve. The search is in an area of forest not less than 75 x 600 meters. The articles of evidence must be indicated by barking and suspects indicated by barking and guarding. The handlers search the suspect to uncover more small pieces of evidence and weapons. The bite work is the same as in the Young Dog Class, but the suspect is at least 100 meters away when the pursuit begins, which may start from a car. The suspect can shoot at the dog and handler as he runs away.
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