NICE TO MEET YOU

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Here are some of the highlights and credentials of my 20+ years’ experience in working with police dogs.

• Founder and Owner of American Standard Dog Training, LLC
• Founder and Owner of DIYK9 LLC
• Owner and Training Director of American Overwatch K9 Services, LLC
• 18-year Law Enforcement Veteran
• Commander – Tactical Investigations Unit
• Senior Police K9 Unit Supervisor
• Patrol K-9 Handler
• Narcotics K-9 Handler
• Civilian EOD K-9 Handler
• Instructor – 2022 Police K-9 Magazine Conference – Las Vegas, NV.
• Instructor – 2021 Police K-9 Magazine Conference – Las Vegas, NV.
• Instructor – 2021 K9 Cop Magazine Conference – Nashville, TN.
• Instructor – 2019 Police K-9 Magazine Conference – Las Vegas, NV.
• Instructor – 2019 K9 Cop Magazine Conference – Nashville, TN.
• Instructor – 2018 K9 Cop Magazine Conference – Nashville, TN. 
• Special Guest “Donut Shop Podcast” – Police K9 – September 2020
• Special Guest "Police K9 Radio Podcast" – February, 2019
• Lead Instructor "High Risk Tactical K9 Tracking" Summerville, SC S.C.D.N.R. February 2021
• Lead Instructor "E-collar for Police K9s"  Seminar  –  Manatee County Sheriff's Office 2020
• Lead Instructor "High Risk Tactical K9 Tracking" Richmond, VA Virginia Police Working Dog Association 2019
• Lead Instructor “High Risk Tactical K9 Tracking" – St. Louis, Missouri Illinois State Police 2019
• Lead Instructor “Streetworthy K-9” Seminar – Hutto, TX.  Hutto Police Department 2019
• Lead Instructor “Streetworthy K-9” Seminar – Sarasota, FL. Northport Police Department 2018

MY LIFE WITH DOGS

The companies I have founded and operate (DIYK9, American Standard Dog Training & American Overwatch K9 Services) are the culmination of decades of personal experience living and working with police K9s. My father worked as a police K9 handler for nearly 30 years, for a major metropolitan police agency in South Florida. When I was born in 1983, there was already a fully trained police K9 in our home, as part of our family.

Police dogs have always been a significant part of my life. When I grew up, my father’s police dogs were like brothers to me. Instead of conventional family holidays, we would travel to police K9 competitions and demonstrations across the country. Some of my earliest memories revolve around traveling to these events and watching my father and other police K9 handlers compete. Over the years, I have watched thousands of dogs and handlers compete. And to this day, I still get excited going to these competitions. But, now I get to join in the competition myself - and train others to compete as well.

EDUCATION, TRAINING & CERTIFICATIONS

• Master’s Degree- Organizational Leadership

• Bachelor’s Degree- Emergency Services Management

• Southern Police Institute (SPI)
  • Command Officers Development Course - 400 hours
  • SPI Organizational Management Course - 160 hours
• Florida Department of Law Enforcement
  • Patrol Canine Team Certification – 480 hours
  • General Instructor Certification – 80 hours 
  • FITW Certified Firearms Instructor - 40 hours
  • FDLE Dignitary Protection Certificate - 80 hours
  • FDLE Line Supervision - 80 hours
  • FDLE Middle Management - 80 hours 

• Certified IFRI/NFSTC Narcotics Detector Dog Team

• In-Service Police K-9 Training Records – Over 3,000 hours

• NePoPo Law Enforcement K9 Ecollar Class - 20 hours
  • Justin Rigney K9 Services Unlimited

• Las Vegas Police K-9 Conference Attendee – 2015

• K9 Legal for Supervisors - 40 hours
  • John Peters 
• Police & Military Working Dog Conference Attendee - 2013

• The Modern Approach to Police Dog Training Certification – 40 hour

  •  Police Service Dogs L. Cabrera

•  Police K-9 Decoy Workshop 2013 Certification – 40 hours

  •  Police Service Dogs L. Cabrera

• Police K9 Street Scenario 1% Workshop - 40 hours
  • Dick Van Leenen Commander Dutch Police K9 Unit
• Advanced Undercover Narcotics Investigations - 40 hours
  • J. Beliveau Undercover Narcotics Training
• Supervising Undercover Narcotics Agents - 40 hours
  • J. Beliveau Undercover Narcotics Training

MY CANINE TRAINING INITIATION

It would be an understatement to say that I “grew up around police K9s”. My first time catching a police dog on a bite sleeve was at the age of 8 years old. Back then, my father was organizing a police K9 demonstration for a kindergarten class, and his usual decoys were not available. Therefore, he threw the bite sleeve towards me, and told me to hide in the bushes.

Cowering there in those bushes, I knew that the incoming dog was my family pet. But I also knew that when the time came to work, this was not the same animal I was used to petting at home... Right after I had finished that thought, a 100-pound German Shepherd Police Dog came plowing through those bushes, intent on crushing whatever he would find. There was fire in his eyes, and all semblance of the sweet family pet I knew from home was gone. The dog looked possessed, and I was all but paralyzed with fear. But there was no time to think about my fear, so I just stuck my arm out, and delivered the sleeve as I had seen decoys do many times before. The massive German Shepherd came in, bit the sleeve, and it was all over in a moment. This was a tremendously powerful experience for a boy of my age. And by the time I walked out of those bushes, I was forever changed.

Becoming a Police Canine Handler

Fast forward to the age of 16, I started going on ride-alongs with my father during his shifts. He would mostly work the afternoon- or night shift, and he was an extremely pro-active police officer. Therefore, we would find action almost every night, working in a very busy and often violent big city.

During one of those nights, I experienced my very first police K-9 search/track for a criminal suspect. I walked closely behind as the K-9 on duty (my father) tracked and apprehended a suspect. The suspect had fled from the police, and was refusing to leave his hiding place. I was present from start to finish of this operation, and after that night, I was "hooked".

There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter.

- Ernest Hemingway

Most of the times I rode along with my father on duty, we would get the opportunity to either deploy his own K9 - or back up another police K9 handler in pursuit of a suspect. The officers involved were very proficient, and the deployments always ended in the K9 locating, and apprehending, the suspect.

By the time I was 18, I had been on more K9 searches (and witnessed more K9 apprehensions aka "bites") than most police officers would in their entire career. Accompanying K9 teams during a search is considered a distinct privilege within the law enforcement community. Such assignments are usually reserved for K9 handlers, SWAT officers, or a very few hand-selected tactically sound police officers.

WORKING AS AN EOD K9 HANDLER

When I turned 18, I started working for a well-known company in the field of importing and selling highly-trained canines. This was in early 2002, when our country had just experienced the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I was hired and trained as an EOD K9 Handler (Explosive Ordnance Detection). My job was to work highly trained dogs at the Port of Miami and Port Everglades, sweeping cruise ship cargo. My father took me under his wing, and personally taught me the art of working dogs in odor, rewarding them with toys and praise.

Most of the dogs I worked and trained with were acquired for the purpose of being sold to police agencies across the country. Many were titled Schutzhund or IPO dogs (German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds, and Malinois), imported from Europe. Our job was to work them at the ports, and keep them sharp - as they would all be eventually shown and sold to police K9 units.

Most police K9 handlers will leave the K-9 unit after working just one dog. By the time I was 20, I had personally worked with, handled and trained dozens of dogs of different breeds, sizes, and temperaments.

In 2004, at the age of 20, I was hired as a police officer at the same police agency my father had been working for nearly 25 years. Yes, the same one where I had already done numerous ride-alongs and K9 searches.  Two years into my career, I jumped at my first opportunity to become a police K9 handler. When I transferred into the K-9 Unit I was working alongside my father and step-mother (also a police K9 handler in the same unit). I don't think in the history of police work there has ever been three K-9 handlers from the same family - serving in the same unit at the same time. It felt like a family-run business! I was eventually promoted to the rank of sergeant and had the opportunity to come back to the K9 unit as a supervisor.

For the next 3 years I was soaking up as much knowledge as I could, whilst traveling to seminars across the country, learning from others in the industry. These were the best years in the department for me, because running a K9 unit devoted to handling and training police dogs to be the best that they can be and hunting for bad guys never felt like “work” to me.

DIYK9 ONLINE DOG TRAINING COURSES

My initial success and the vast bulk of my business to date has been almost purely via word of mouth, and referrals from past clients. Now, almost three years into the success of training civilian dogs, I find myself obligated to make my work accessible to dog owners all over the world: This is how DIYK9 came into being - as a platform to provide high-end, video-based canine training courses.

These courses are the culmination of 20+ years of personal experience with hundreds of dogs. My exclusive local Board & Train Program at American Standard Dog Training is extremely successful. And whilst I am very grateful to be in this position, I want to do more for people out there: I want to ensure that EVERYONE can access my knowledge and expertise in dog training, and behavioral modification.

No longer do I want to limit my offerings to the dogs in our in-house training programs. The success of our companies continues to grow, and I am very thankful for all of my customers who have given us the opportunity to serve them along the way. I want to thank you, the reader, for taking the time to come to our website and find out about our new online training programs. I am excited about the opportunity to provide you with a spectrum of high-end online training programs. These courses follow the same principles, and standards, that we are known for. Thank you again for your interest in our work. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have. We look forward to hearing from you!

Yours sincerely,

Garret Wing
Owner and Founder
DIYK9.com 
American Standard Dog Training
American Overwatch K9 Services