Police, military dog handlers headed to Myrtle Beach for pro tips, K9 development
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A unique event designed to give law enforcement and military dog owners a chance to share ideas and techniques is kicking off Tuesday in Myrtle Beach.
Hold the Line K9 Conference runs through Thursday at the city’s convention center.
Organizer Joseph Lutkowski has more than 20 years as a K9 handler and is a long-time member of the North American Police Dog Work Association. He launched the event in 2018 and said no matter how long someone has been a K9 handler, there’s always more for them to learn.
More than 400 are expected to attend this year’s program.
“We bring in anywhere between 30 to 40 of the top K9 instructors from all over the world,” he said. “We have a three-day classroom and we have classes all day long. Handlers can pick and choose where they want to go to, what classes they want to attend, and we try to get every topic that we deal with as K9 handlers, and it’s specifically for military and law enforcement only.”
Lutkowski said that since most handlers only know one specific type of training, it is always best to stay open-minded.
“Going and exploring some different techniques and trainings from all over the country, I just felt that there was a need,” he said.”But like if you broaden your horizon, it’s like anything else, you got to be open-minded and so we came up with the idea of like, um, you know, getting all these different trainers with different techniques and bring them all in one area.”
Since every handler trains differently, Lutkowski said the conference offers unique opportunities to learn from other experts.
“I feel like the guys could grab, like, a bunch of different training techniques and methods from all over the country, because you know, we do things differently up north than guys do down south,” he said.
Lutkowski said some of the participants come from the U.S. Secret Service or Los Angeles’ SWAT team, for example.
“If they could take one thing away from the conference to either make their team better or even save their lives, I mean, it’s a win for us,” he said.
In addition to classroom opportunities, vendors will be on hand with live demonstrations of products.
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Hannah Huffstickler is a multimedia journalist at News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2024 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in December of 2023. Keep up with Hannah on Facebook and Instagram. You can also read more of her work here.
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