Jeff Schettler

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Jeff Schettler

Jeff Schettler is a retired police K9 handler who worked for the City of Alameda and County of Amador in California and was attached to the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Teams’ K9 Assistance Program for two years. This program was designed to locate and apprehend high-risk fugitives on the run. 

He is a certified military trainer graduating from the prestigious US Army’s Leadership Academy also known as Drill Sergeant School.

Jeff has worked hundreds of trailing cases across the USA and is a specialist in the areas of tactical tracking applications.  He is also considered an expert witness in tracking/ trailing. 

As an international K9 trainer, he spends 12 weeks a year training throughout Europe, South America, and Asia. His program is in use with numerous international police agencies as well as NATO military units. Jeff’s company, GAK9.com,  was founded in 2005.

Jeff’s work has been seen on CNN, ABC, CBS, HLN, Unsolved Mysteries, and Mythbusters.  Through the years, he has become a renowned author of the following books on K9 Tracking Work.

Red Dog Rising– A K9 Tracking Autobiography

K9 Trailing; The Straightest Path– A primer on starting a K9 team on human scent discrimination and trailing work.

Tactical Tracker Teams– A practical guide to surviving high-risk fugitive manhunts.

Tao of Trailing – The Tao of Trailing is my fourth and final book on the art of trailing or tracking human scent with police, search and rescue, or military K9.

Two  Weeks to Operational Tracking - A Training manual designed to take exceptional dogs from rural tracking to urban within two weeks. 
Trailing/ Tracking Dogs: Deployment Viability
13 October 2024 11:30 - 12:15
Silfurberg A

In this presentation, Jeff will discuss the pros and cons of trailing/ tracking dogs for Search & Rescue and general missing person cases. There are a wide range of parameters used when considering the use trailing/ tracking dogs; the primary element often being age of the track of the missing person.  Some practitioners claiming that their dogs are capable of detecting an individuals unique scent after many months or a year have passed are being used on actual missing persons and criminal cases. Jeff has been working, training, and testing trailing/ tracking dogs for 30 years and is considered an expert witness for criminal trailing/ tracking cases in the USA and Argentina. He created the first double blind testing model for tailing/ tracking dogs and to date, over 2000 dog teams have been evaluated. Jeff’s presentation will provide search managers with the best parameters to be used when deploying tracking/ trailing dogs while dispelling the controversial myths that habitually surround them.