How quickly can a detection dog be trained?

[Jax's Mom]

This afternoon I was just casually playing "find it" in the snow in the snow in the park when I was approached by a handler from an organization that uses detection dogs... He suggested to me that Jax be trained in detection and also that they may have some openings I'm the near future. He told me about the benefits and pay (as if I would somehow require convincing for this dream job) and my mind started racing about how to approach this 'too-good-to-be-true' opportunity... Try to train my own dog or purchase a proven dog to work with?
If all possible I'd love to train Jax because the satisfaction of training my own dog would be awesome but don't want to pass up an opportunity for my dream job...

[ladylaw203]

what kind of detection work?

[Jax's Mom]

Just contraband, no remains or anything (that I know of).

[GSDElsa]

THey do that in Canada? Usually it's agency dogs and handlers that do this here from what I've seen, not civilians.

[Jax's Mom]

Originally Posted by GSDElsa

THey do that in Canada? Usually it's agency dogs and handlers that do this here from what I've seen, not civilians.

Which is why I'm completely unprepared and don't know what to do with myself.
I thought the same thing. If I had known this earlier, I would have done things differently.

[GSDElsa]

Have you tried to research this guy and his company yet? Most dog related positions do not pay very well and are hard to come by. Obviously everyone's definition of good and bad is different...but I would be skeptical! But I'm skeptical by nature lol. I'd wonder about someone reputable would walk up to someone playing a game with their dog in a park and say that to them....

[Jax's Mom]

I've met the guy before... We used to talk quite a bit when we had just adopted our lab and he's really impressed with how well I trained her from what she was. (She was just a quick learner and no one had ever really bothered to train her before so nothing spectacular on my part)... and he saw Jax as a puppy but we haven't bumped into each other since then.
I too would have assumed that they would have better resources for acquiring handlers and I'm quite skeptical but for now I'm willing to play along

[Lora]

I would check things out a little further I am pretty sure we do not use civilians for that work here in Ontario. Our Lab Alley was trained for drug detection but we had to donate her to a facility for training and then she went on to a K9 handler with the Thunder Bay Police Department. I seriously would be asking some questions from people in authority not just believing an individual.

[Valkyrierider]

I don't know how long it takes to train a dog to do detection. First I would check into what if any licenses you may need to possess the training aids. There is a company called Rayallen.com that sells the sent kits, but look at the cost. WOW! I suppose you could find some private sector jobs but probably would not be admissable in court and could open yourself up to a lawsuit. Heck of an idea though. Good luck.

[Jax's Mom]

I don't want to give too much away about info the company...
This job wouldn't be working with the public. From what I understand, they do employ several police K9 teams but they run upwards of $120k/year and it sounds like they're looking for less expensive "helpers" as they have a lot of area to cover.
I got the impression that they also search for certain items of lesser importance than narcotics or firearms... which I guess is where people like me would come in.
I checked the guy out, he seems to be who he says he is and if this does pan out, it would be amazing
I'm not going to run out and purchase a dog in hopes or getting a job like this but if it happens, I'd like to be prepared it I had to.