Steve Sprouse

Steve Sprouse was in Law Enforcement for 35 years and a Police K-9 handler/trainer for 30 years. He retired in 2018 as the patrol dog trainer for the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in South East Florida. The Broward County Sheriff’s is the largest accredited Sheriff’s Office in the country with 3,000 sworn deputies and over 40 work dogs within the agency. Steve is a Florida Department of Law Enforcement K-9 Instructor and K-9 Team Evaluator. Along with teaching basic patrol dog classes, he has taught at numerous police canine training seminars and conferences throughout North America and the Caribbean. He has had several K-9 training articles published in various police canine publications since the mid 1990s. He has also been employed to testify as a K-9 use of force expert in civil court proceedings. Steve has placed as high as first place in several regional and national police K-9 competitions, but strongly believes preparing for real deployments should be a priority. In 1989, Steve was shot and seriously wounded during a K-9 deployment because training fell short of reality. Since Steve’s shooting, he has been passionate about training others the skills needed to transition training to reality. In addition to training, Steve worked 6 patrol dogs over his career and has been involved in hundreds of K-9 apprehensions. He tries to use his experiences to help other patrol dog teams maximize success. He is currently the originator and owner of ArminLegganr®

Class: Patrol Dog Training for Reality through Prosthetics

The age-old problem of dogs not engaging during a real deployment is still occurring today. This can be attributed to several factors; but high on the list is the dog failing to make the transition from the training field to real life encounters. The dog sees one picture in training and may see the complete opposite on the street. Using prosthetics can be one tool of many to increase the patrol dog’s bite on the street.

The originator and owner of ArminLeggan  K9 bite prosthetics will discuss the purpose and goal of using prosthetics to bridge the gap from training to reality. The class will address important concepts of how the dog should perceive this type of training and how the trainer/handler should go forward safely and purposely.