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Paper keeps a record. DogBase keeps the record, proves when it was written, and shows you what it means for the dog.
Paper logbooks, binders, and spreadsheets cost nothing to start and work anywhere. They also can't prove when an entry was written, can't be searched across years, and can't tell you a dog has plateaued. DogBase keeps the same training and deployment records, then adds timestamps, edit history, automatic field conditions, health records, and AI insights. The log stops sitting in a drawer and starts working for your team.
Paper works when one handler runs one dog and nobody else needs the records. It's cheap, it's familiar, and it doesn't need a signal. The trouble starts the day someone asks to see them.
DogBase is built for teams whose records get read: by a supervisor, a certifying body, a client, or a court. Every session lands in one searchable system with its date, conditions, and edit history attached. Health, certifications, and training sit on the same file. And AI reads across all of it to show you what's working and what's slipping.
Paper here means the setups we see most often: notebooks, printed log sheets, binders, and spreadsheets on a laptop or shared drive. Updated October 2026. If your setup does more than this, tell us and we'll update the page.
| Feature | DogBase | Paper & spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Working dog programs across 12+ disciplines, from one handler to multi-location units | Whatever format your unit or trainer set up |
| Cost to start | Free trial, then per dog or one annual team price | A notebook, a binder, or a spreadsheet you already have |
| Training and deployment records | Yes, structured the same way every time | Yes, if every handler fills them in the same way |
| Log forms that match your SOPs | Custom Type Builder, 30+ widgets plus ready-made libraries | Printed templates, reprinted every time they change |
| Structured assessment on every session | Objective, Observations, Actions To Be Taken | Free text. Depends on the handler and the day |
| Version history and edit trail | Every record: who edited what and when | Crossed out lines on paper. Overwritten cells in a spreadsheet |
| Training date and saved time recorded separately | Yes, automatically on every record | No. A log written a week later looks the same as one written on scene |
| Automatic field data | GPS, terrain imagery, weather, temperature, wind, visibility, air quality, sunrise and sunset | Written from memory, if at all |
| Built in session timers | Yes | A stopwatch and a pen |
| Health records | Health Center: vet visits, medications, vaccinations, nutrition, measurements, notes | A separate folder, or the vet's office |
| Certifications and awards | Yes, linked to training history | Certificates in a separate binder |
| Reminders | Trainings, medications, vaccinations, appointments, events | A wall calendar, or memory |
| AI summaries, recaps, blind spot detection | Yes | None |
| Performance analytics | Team and dog comparison, Drilldown, Aggregate Insights | Manual tallies, if anyone has time |
| Unit activity | Live activity feed and inbox as sessions are logged | Logbooks collected and reviewed by hand |
| Roles and visibility | Handler, Trainer, Viewer types. All, team, or own records | Whoever holds the binder |
| Dog Booklet for handovers and audits | Yes, one export | Photocopies of every page |
| Share single records outside the account | Yes, by link | Scan, photocopy, or email a file |
| Joint training | Groups across agencies, records stay separate | Attendance sheets, copied into each team's logs |
| Exports | PDF, Excel, CSV | Photocopies, or a raw spreadsheet file |
| Searchable history | Any dog, handler, session type, or date range in seconds | Flip pages, or search one file at a time |
| Works in the field | Native iOS and Android apps, plus any browser | Yes. No signal or battery needed |
| Training aid inventory and scent aid tracking | Yes | A separate log sheet |
| Handler certification tracking with reminders | Yes | A separate list, checked by hand |
| If the record is lost | Hosted on Google Cloud in the United States. Nothing lives on one device | It's gone. Usually one copy, in one truck or on one laptop |
Scroll the table sideways on a narrow screen.
Paper can't tell a log written on scene from one written a month later. DogBase records the training date and the saved time separately, keeps version history on every record, and shows who edited what. So when your records get questioned, they answer for themselves.
Handwriting, shorthand, and skipped fields make paper logs hard to compare. The Training Assessment Framework captures Objective, Observations, and Actions To Be Taken on every session. Built in timers record duration to the second.
Nobody writes down wind speed after a long training day. DogBase records GPS, terrain imagery, weather, temperature, wind, visibility, air quality, and sunrise and sunset automatically. When a problem shows up, you can see the conditions it showed up in.
On paper, the vet file lives in one folder and the training log in another. The Health Center keeps vet visits, medications, vaccinations, nutrition, and measurements on the dog's profile, with reminders before boosters and meds are overdue.
Leaving paper doesn't mean giving up your format. The Custom Type Builder rebuilds your log sheets with your fields and your terminology, using 30+ widgets and ready-made libraries like K9 Deployment Log and Bite Incident Report.
A binder won't tell you a dog has run the same problem twelve times, or stalled on a skill for a month. Intelligent Summaries and AI Training Recaps read across your sessions and flag repetition, plateaus, and gaps. We call it breaking the Trainer's Blind.
When a court, auditor, or certifying body asks for records, you filter by dog, handler, or date and export to PDF, Excel, or CSV. No boxes. No photocopies. No missing pages.
Supervisors don't wait for logbooks to be handed in. The activity feed, team and dog comparison, and Drilldown Insights show every handler and dog in one place, and user types decide who sees what.
A notebook gets lost, soaked, or left in the wrong truck. A spreadsheet gets overwritten or lives on one laptop. DogBase data is hosted on Google Cloud in the United States, and every record keeps its full version history.
You're one handler with one dog, nobody outside your team reads your records, you rarely look back more than a few weeks, and you write up every session the same day.
Paper looks free until you count the hours. Handlers rewrite notes at the end of the day, supervisors chase missing logs, and someone loses days pulling records when they're requested. DogBase prices by the size of your program: individual handlers pay per dog, and teams pay one annual price with handlers, trainers, and supervisors included.
Switching doesn't mean starting from zero. Send us your current log sheets and we'll help rebuild them as custom types, so handlers keep the format they know. Nonprofit pricing is available for SAR and volunteer teams, and organization plans can be paid by invoice or purchase order.
DogBase started as one handler's training log. Almog Koren trained his Belgian Malinois, Echo, from service dog to operational SAR, and kept running into the same wall: the tools for documenting K9 work were built by people who'd never run a dog.
So he built his own. An IDF special forces veteran and software engineer with 15 years building mission-critical systems, he still deploys with Echo today. Every feature in DogBase exists because a working handler needed it.
He's presented on K9 data and AI at the International Police K-9 Conference, the World Police Summit, and the NYS Technical Rescue Conference.
Meet the team
