A Weekend of Detection Dog Foundations at the Patriotic Puppy Program

What the puppies, the people, and the environment taught us over two full days of training

Author

Judith Guthrie
November 16, 2025

Earlier this month, I hosted the AKC Patriotic Puppy Program at my training facility at the Historic Wendover Airfield for two days of hands-on training with puppies ranging from 8 to 9 weeks old to over a year old.

Puppies ready to work!

The Patriotic Puppy Program supports the early development of future detection dogs in the United States by helping breeders, raisers, and trainers build strong foundations in environmental stability, reward engagement, socialization, and problem solving.

Environmental training on metal stairs in a real-world situation, detection dogs might have to work.

Over 30 puppies participated. The puppies were absolutely amazing. I have seen several of these breeders’ dogs before, and the quality just keeps going up. And up. You could see it in their confidence and their drive as soon as we got started.

Training Goals for the Weekend

A big part of the weekend was giving puppies and handlers clear, simple tools they can build on as the dogs mature. We focused on foundation work and understanding the purpose behind each exercise, not just the steps. When you come across an issue, you face it head-on. You do not go around it or ignore it. Learning to break problems into their components and address them directly helps puppies grow in confidence and helps handlers understand what their dogs need from them in the moment.

Detection dogs need to go everywhere, even on top of cars sometimes.

Throughout the seminar, we stayed focused on foundation: knowing the end goal, building skills in a systematic way, and supporting the puppies through challenges instead of bypassing them. Seeing people connect those principles with what their dogs were doing in real time is something I never get tired of.

Training inside airplane at the historic Wendover Airfiled.

For those who want to see more, the AKC shared a recap with videos from several of the weekend’s exercises, including the tower stairs and the cargo plane, in their article Historic Wendover Airfield Hosts AKC Patriotic Puppy Program Seminar.