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by Psycht on 03 December 2009 - 21:12
by MaggieMae on 03 December 2009 - 21:12
by Slamdunc on 04 December 2009 - 06:12
Hodie,
Very interesting thread and I'll add my experience to it. Regular K9 Body Armor costs about $650 to $800 for a Police K9. This is level III A the same protective level as Police Officers vests. It will stop most handgun rounds, but not rifle rounds or sharp objects. I have body armor for my K9. I have trained with it and have used it a few times in real world applications. Recently when I went into a stand of woods to search with my K9 for an armed car jacking suspect that had jumped head first out of a second floor window after a pursuit. I put his body armor on for that search. The body armor for the dog is hot, heavy and cumbersome and definitely curtails it's movement and ability to work in the heat.
A very generous citizen donated $5,000 to our K9 unit to ensure all of our dogs have vests, before that our PD had only 2 vests for the dogs. Now every dog in the unit has a vest.
I have trained with some very high end units that have equipment similar to what was mentioned in Hodies thread, perhaps even more sophisicated. I won't mention who the units are or what equipment they are employing. But, I will say I thought I was a decent handler and had a well trained dog till I worked with these guys. I saw a whole new level of expertise and training, they are really impressive and have super dogs. What they can do with dogs is nothing less than amazing.
The intruder system mention above sounds like a very good system, it is not going to be practical for most K9 units though. It would be attractive to some larger SWAT teams that incorporate K9's into their SWAT teams. It might also be good for federal agencies that utilize K9's with their tactical teams that have some deep pockets.
JMO FWIW,
Jim
by hodie on 04 December 2009 - 20:12
Just curious, what does your vest weigh? And what does the vest for your K-9 weigh? As equipment is improved, it will undoubtedly trickle down too to the K-9 units, be they police or military. I have a friend who has military application K-9s and experience and he says some of the new stuff coming out is fantastic, although pricey. Prices will come down eventually. Just like when I was a firefighter. A PASS device when they first came out, or certain types of cameras or protective equipment were terribly expensive. Now every FF wears a PASS or similar type device. Cameras too are being deployed more and more.
I think it is very interesting to know what dogs can be taught to do with this remote control equipment helping guide them. And giving the officer a heads' up on what is down the road, around the corner, or inside the building, or stand of weeds, cannot be a bad thing.
Thank you again Slamdunc for your service.
by Slamdunc on 05 December 2009 - 00:12
I've never weighed my vest seperately, but I guess around 6 or 7 lbs. My K9's vest is slightly heavier than mine, I say 8 or 9 lbs easy. I have weighed all of the equipment that I wear and it's close to 20 lbs. I have seen some of the high tech devices designed for the dogs and it is outstanding. I won't discuss it here on a public forum but I'll email you some details about the training and equipment. I've actually adopted and use some building clearing techniques that I learned from some of these guys.
Jim
by hodie on 05 December 2009 - 01:12
Take care and be careful out there!
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