Editors Note: This article was originally published in the July 19, 2023 issue of the Chronicle Progress. Some information may be outdated.
Training dogs has been part of Roxane Dutson’s life for as long as she can remember.
Growing up around Dobermans— her father bred them—Dutson took to teaching the family pets tricks from an early age.
She was good at it, too. So, when she got older, she joined a training club in junior high and high school.
Then she trained her first dog as an adult in the late 1990s. It was a Labrador retriever she and her husband, Kirt, owned. She taught the canine to fulfill its breed’s purpose—retrieve waterfowl and the like. They ran their business in South Dakota before relocating to Oak City in the spring. Kirt is from the small community.
“That’s where it all fell into place, with labs and training hunting dogs,” Dutson said.
Since 1999, the Dutsons have been operating K and R Labradors, specializing in breeding and selling hunting companions. Some of the dogs became family pets, others joined the workforce, like in Colorado as search and rescue dogs.
“That kind of got my interest into working dogs,” Dutson said. “We also had some diabetic detection dogs that got us interested in another aspect.”
In 2019, Dutson began raising and selling dogs to agencies across the country, as part of the “Patriotic Puppy Program,” meant to localize and limit the need for buying dogs from foreign breeders.
“I’ve been in the program since it took off,” Dutson said. Since then, K and R Labradors have trained fish and game, avalanche, bomb and drug detection canines, and even service dogs.
“We just had one we donated to veterans as a service dog,” Dutson said. “We also have one we just sold to the USDA; he will be working at airports looking for food or insects coming in through cargo or suitcases that are not allowed in the United States.”
And, just to add to her expansive repertoire, Dutson has also trained a cadaver dog.
Dutson starts training her dogs young—about four to eight weeks old—and looks for specific traits.
“We look for dogs that can handle stress, and need to have lots of drive… they want to work,” Dutson said. “We start introducing them fairly early, because they need to be sound as a working dog.”
Candidates are raised up to a year old, and then are placed in departments looking for working dogs, where they finish their training with human partners.
While the Dutsons now primarily breed and place working dogs, if one doesn’t meet the criteria for working, they’re offered up as family or hunting companions. Rarely does a pooch leave the Dutsons’ kennels without a purpose.
Training includes toy drive—or making the dog want to search for its reward—crowd and noise acclimation, and more.
“We are always looking for places that allow us to bring our dogs in to train,” Dutson said. “If you imagine everywhere a police dog goes or a dog in an airport dealing with thousands of people and searching suitcases, or loud sirens or anything, we need to prepare the dog for that, and make sure they can handle it.”
Working with labradors is a perfect fit for Dutson in the working dog world, as agencies are beginning to shift on selecting more “approachable” breeds.
“They’re looking for what they call the ‘floppy ear dog,’ because the public accepts it more,” Dutson said. “They’re not as terrifying as a pointy eared dog.”
A general perception of police or working dogs include German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois.
“It decompresses a lot of stress, because they (labradors) look more friendly,” Dutson explained.
Her work does bring her fulfillment, Dutson said.
“I’d always hear back from pet owners how much they loved their dogs and great they were at hunting,” Dutson said. “But I wanted more for my dogs, and so it has been rewarding now I actually have dogs who were old enough to be placed, to hear what they are doing.”
For example, one of Dutson’s dogs placed in Minnesota helped during a major drug bust.
“He found a massive amount of money and drugs,” Dutson said. “So to hear that’s one of our dogs, and those drugs are off the street…it’s really gratifying to know that they’re helping the communities they’re living in.”
Another dog working for Maine’s fish and game department helped rescue a woman lost in a forest. He was two weeks on the job, a hero nonetheless.
“Things like that make training— even when it’s tough or overwhelming—rewarding, knowing this dog is going somewhere and helping somebody,” Dutson said.
And her hard work has paid off. Dutson has been recognized by the American Kennel Club conference for her training and breeding efforts.
Recently, she was recognized as being a “top producer” within the AKC, her husband, Kirt, added.
“At this time,” Roxane humbly said. “I am raising the most dogs at a time within the AKC, but that can change.”
