Introduction: Working dogs and their handlers share a unique relationship that directly impacts their working performance. Changing a dog’s handler may generate conflict and reduce their performance, however, few studies currently support this. Here I will explore the behavioural and performance impact of having detection dogs handled by multiple handlers.
Methodology: Nine detection dogs (3M: 6F) were accuracy tested with two handlers. Both handlers were female with similar dog handling experience. Handler 1 was also the dogs’ trainer. The detection dogs were tested along brick lines containing target and non-target samples. Testing occurred over four sessions. At testing conclusion, each dog had been tested along 144 samples. After a rest day, the dogs were tested with the other handler. The dogs’ sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Power (PPP) and Negative Predictive Power (NPP) were calculated. Testing sessions were filmed and the dogs’ behaviours were coded using BORIS.
Main results: The dogs had significantly higher sensitivity (p = 0.045) and NPP (p = 0.041) scores when handled by Handler 1. The dogs also had higher PPP scores (Handler 1 mean – 80.9; Handler 2 mean – 53.5), however this was not statistically significant. The dogs performed more stress related behaviours with Handler 2, such as tail lowering (p = 0.035), and were distracted for a higher proportion of time (p = 0.012). The dogs’ performances did not improve over the four testing sessions with Handler 2 (p = 0.553), but did improve with Handler 1 (p = 0.017).
Principal conclusions and implications: These findings suggest that a detection dog’s performance is reduced when handled by another handler, and stress related behaviours increase. This may challenge working dogs being transferred to, and used by, multiple handlers. Further research is required to determine the time it takes for a dog to adapt to working with multiple handlers, though this is likely dependent on the individual dog and handler.