The Kansas Police Dog Association was founded and became an official association in the fall of 1998 following our first certification seminar. The association was formed to achieve two main goals. First to ensure that quality training was the foundation for dog work with police organizations in the State of Kansas. Second to work towards the philosophy that we, as an organized unit, would not allow an outside/non-dog related faction to mandate what should and should not be the standards for working police service dogs in the State of Kansas.

The association began with 12 Canine teams, all of which attended the first certification. The association has since grown and continues to do so. Our membership averages 30 canine teams and a handful of other members who are not currently handlers. These other members include associate members, honorary members, and corporate sponsors.

It is our philosophy that only canine handlers, in conjunction with the respective prosecuting attorney's, should be responsible for defining the scope of the canine team's activity with regards to job functions. With that said, it is at the discretion of each handler to decide if his/her activities benefit the organization, their individual department standards of canine conduct, and the applicable case law that is present. Thus we became the Kansas Police Dog Association.

We are not loyal to any single vendor or trainer. We, as an organization, strive to acheive what is best for our individual respective departments and the organization as a whole. We only want to strengthen our job application in court so it will further benefit our canine team's credibility. Bad case law, not only in the State of Kansas but also nationally, affects all canine teams. The Kansas Police Dog Association stands for standard excellence in canine deployment, use, and knowledge.