Orr, Ken
Ken Orr resides in Anchorage, Alaska, works for the Alaska Department of Corrections, and has been involved in search and rescue since 2018, when he began his work with North Paw K9 Search and Recovery. He currently serves as both a trainer and evaluator for the organization. Ken also supports the Alaska Department of Corrections by assisting in the development and training of their K9 units.
His K9 partner, Thor, is a 7-year-old golden retriever certified in human remains detection and trailing. Together, Ken and Thor are deployed by the Anchorage Police Department, the Alaska State Troopers, the FBI, and multiple additional law enforcement and emergency management agencies throughout Alaska. Their missions include lost-person searches, evidence location, and specialized HRD deployments across diverse terrain and conditions.
When he is not actively training or deploying with North Paw K9, Ken teaches and evaluates K9 teams throughout the lower 48 states. Outside of his professional and volunteer commitments, he enjoys fishing and exploring the Alaskan outdoors.
Class: The Trailing K9 – How Scent Theory, Environment and Time Play a Role and How to Trouble Shoot
Topics to be covered in this class include:
- Trailing focus, how to set the track making it productive to learning for handler and k9.
- Developing skills, how scent theory and discrimination plays into the details of track composition.
- How that scent theory plays into the environment, terrain.
- Trouble shooting.
- What are the environmental influences, training methods utilized for that scent discrimination.
- Surface changes, how to maximize your training, with discussion on how to set up the training, what it should look like, how to trouble shoot.