About Eden Consulting Group

The International Police K9 Conference is a personal endeavor with specific goals and challenges. The continued success of these programs is contingent on the quality of training and benefits police K9 handlers realize. The long term goal is to make K9 work in policing more professional in such a manner that each of our jobs is safer through sound tactical training, and to bring all officers and administrators involved in K9 work closer together in an effort to heighten our quality of work ethic and standard.

We have endeavored to find the finest and most professional instructors available in North America for this program. Each year the instructors and programs are changed slightly to continue to provide a varied and interesting program. I am confident you will find no more knowledgeable or capable instructors anywhere in the world.

None of these instructors will tell you that their way is the only  way of doing things. Many of them even have different viewpoints from  one another in the same field. What is important however is that the  methods they use in their programs work for them! You have an  opportunity to gain knowledge from their expertise, filter through the  information which is provided for you at these conferences, and use  those theories, training methods and techniques which you feel are  applicable to your program, or to your personal abilities as a handler,  trainer, or administrator.

I firmly believe that none of us have perfected the art of  dog training. We are all students who are continuing to improve our  skills in this field. Each of our instructors learns as much from  working with the participants as do the officers who attend the  conference as students. In choosing instructors with open minds and  objective viewpoints, I feel we have maintained a quality within the  conference that is hard to match.

In my opinion, there is no finer or more challenging career  to work, than when you combine policing with the skills of K9 work.  These conferences provide an opportunity to test your skills and to  improve on those training problems that you might have. You have an  opportunity for these five days to draw upon the knowledge of not only  the finest world renowned instructors on the continent, but also from  each other. Do not under estimate the skills and knowledge of your  fellow classmates. The most important lessons you may learn during these  programs might not come from the instructors or the lesson material,  but from your fellow officers in sharing training information.

The times ahead will be troubled times in the law enforcement  community. Police dog applications are a particularly favorite target  of civil liberty agencies throughout the United States at this point in  time. It is up to you to maintain a level of professionalism that will  protect all of us from those who seek to restrict K9 work in law  enforcement. As working the streets becomes more of a danger to the  officers and the citizens who we protect, there are those who are  consistently trying to strip us of any physical, mental or spiritual  security we now have as police officers. As police officers, and as K9  handlers, we cannot allow that to happen. Regardless of what training or  apprehension methods you might adhere to, the time has come for all  agencies to come together and work towards a common goal. That goal  should be to provide the most effective and ethical service possible to  the community for which we work. This cannot be done on continued  restricted budgets and will need the support of police administrations  around the country if it is to succeed.

Bruce Jackson of the Pierce County Sheriff Dept, made a  statement that has set a standard for me for many years. I don’t think  he realized how much of an influence he had on me at the time, but I  feel his statement stands true for today just as it did then...

“Your mission is clear cut and well defined. The set of  philosophies you develop in order to achieve that mission will determine  whether you make a beneficial contribution to the role police dogs play  in modern law enforcement or whether you become a liability which  undermines the good work of many men and women before you.”

We need to support each other, regardless of philosophical  differences if we are going to succeed in meeting these objectives. We  are striving to put together the most informative K9 package available.  If you have any comments or suggestions on how we can better improve our  services to you, please do not hesitate to ask.

Robert S. Eden - Director

Eden Consulting Group