A canine in training at the Canine Training Center (CTC photo)
This month, the Canine Training Center (CTC) is turning 140 in dog years. Converting that number to human years, the agency’s canine program is celebrating two decades of excellence in training and pairing canines and handlers. This program has become an indispensable layer of TSA security screening at airports, train stations, ports and special national event.
TSA’s canines are beloved and often more popular with onlookers than their human partners. CTC instructors will half-jokingly say it’s easier to train the dog than the handler; dogs don’t talk back.
But when you sniff out the backstory, it’s easy to see the canines’ actions and reactions do the talking for them. CTC instructors are responsible for ensuring the canines are properly trained to a certain level of proficiency before they are paired with students. Only candidates – both human and four-legged – who show an aptitude toward becoming a successful partner join TSA Explosives Detection Canine teams.
Twenty years in, CTC has grown in size, shape and mission, adapting to the constantly changing enemy threat. Having originated under the direction of the Federal Aviation Administration beneath a Department of Defense umbrella prior to 9/11, the canine training program transitioned to a TSA training branch in 2002. The training instructors, however, remained U.S. Air Force civilian employees until 2005 when they applied for and were rehired as TSA employees.
“When initially formed, canine training was conducted by three separate units - the instruction unit, the initial dog training unit and the advanced dog training unit,” said Supervisory Training Instructor (STI) James Kohlrenken. “Now we do what we call cradle to grave training. Each training specialist/canine instructor must be able to do all three functions with their assigned teams.”
The CTC facility, located at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio, Texas, grew from just a few Air Force hand-me-down buildings to 25,000 square feet of dedicated TSA space for classroom and hands-on training by a staff of 140. The site includes a top-rate kennel and veterinary space for 350 dogs at any given time.
Resembling a movie soundstage and exterior Hollywood backlots, the CTC campus houses mock-ups of airport concourses, terminals, checkpoints and cargo interiors used as training labs. Stepping outside, open area and trailing search venues provide training for detecting odors in external locations. TSA has repurposed decommissioned light rail, aircraft fuselages and vehicles to provide controlled training settings in life-like environments.
Upon arrival at the CTC, the canines receive veterinary assessments before beginning their training. Depending on their abilities, each canine undergoes a specific level of pre-training. Explosives detection canines receive six weeks of pretraining, while passenger screening canines receive eight weeks.
“Once the pairing begins, it becomes a choreography,” said Kohlrenken. “The best students we have are the ones who just go with the flow and pay attention to what the dog’s doing to the messages the dog is sending to the handler through its body actions,” said Kohlrenken.
Relevant and agile curricula
The CTC nimbly adapted canine training in response to the shoe and underwear bombers. The new procedures were born from trail-and-error processes built on top of the sound training techniques and principles already in play for carry-on bags. They used the same approach when adjusting the training curriculum for searching vehicles and cargo.
“We had to develop an entirely new course, and so much was unknown,” said Kohlrenken. “The dogs were used to inanimate, stationary targets (carry-on bags) that didn’t move or breathe. We came up with a plan on how to teach dogs that people are productive ‘items’ to search. We built on what we had, beginning with searching movable luggage, and then moved up from there. We call that successive approximation – simple to complex.”
Modifications in canine rewards (toys versus food) were a nuanced, but lesser-known change.
“Food was only used occasionally as a reward,” explained STI Noah Burnett. “The canines had to be ready to search at a moment’s notice. Food is perishable and expensive in comparison to a toy, which lasts longer and is easily replaced if needed. Additionally, if the food reward canine had just eaten, their drive to search could be diminished.”
Maintaining high standards
When handlers lose a partner, either by retirement or death, they’re paired with another canine, although some law enforcement officer canine units are one and done.
“We have fully validated dogs which haven’t been assigned to a handler,” explained Kohlrenken. “Any canines not assigned to a student finish training and become available for any handler in need. We maintain those dogs and send them directly to the handler in the field.”
Handlers who need a replacement canine will spend a week at the CTC, training with available dogs to identify the best match.
Bedrock training and accountability
“Probably the hardest part of administering training is maintaining standardization,” said Kohlrenken. “Without that, none of the rest of it matters. We’ve got to be able to conduct the training every single time with the student the same way. That way, not only do we ensure that they have the base knowledge when they get out there, but they have that platform to build from.”
And TSA has stats to back up the efficiency.
“The CTC is a huge asset to the Capabilities Management group because they provide a plethora of canines and trainers to truly assess our capabilities,” said Canine Capabilities Readiness Lead Matt McKenzie. “Because they are such a well-respected group of trainers with a consistent product, we can leverage them as a resource to create traceable requirements through research, baseline and operational analysis, testing and evaluation.”
“The extra intelligence that a passenger screening canine has to have is unbelievable,” said Kohlrenken. “It takes an exceptional dog.”
Their trainers are pretty special, too. Happy 20th anniversary, Canine Training Center - the doggoned best.
By Karen Robicheaux, TSA Strategic Communications & Public Affairs