A Police Dog Wears Many Hats

The term "police dog," is not an official breed classification. The AKC, American Kennel Club does not recognize such a breed; yet don't underestimate their importance.

A police dog is a term for any breed that works as an assistant in law enforcement. You may have heard of the term "K9." This is the official name for the unit of dogs that are trained for police work.

The K9 unit is what the United States Police have named their working dogs. But you may be surprised to know that many countries use police dogs. Germany is one country that has utilized police dogs for years.

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Most often the German Shepherd is the police dog of choice. Not only do they have ties to police work, but also to the military. Germany is known for its long relationship with police and German Shepherds. In fact, some countries will only train German Shepherd for professional police work.

But don't be fooled, the German shepherd is not the only dog capable for police work. The Rottweiler and Labrador Retriever are other popular police dogs. Even though there are many breeds suitable for police work, it is interesting that most of them are descendants of Germanic countries.

Professional Training

Police dogs love to train! Many research hours have been devoted to understanding which dogs will do best in police work and why. The chosen dog will have a natural ability for the job and be easy to train.

One way these dogs learn so quickly is that learning how to "find," "guard," "chase," and "intimidate," are forms of play for the dog. A one word command will send the dog immediately to task. Just as important as learning the commands the police dog is learning to follow the handler's lead.


Law Enforcement Utilization

A police dog is most certainly trained to grab and hold a suspect. If an officer is running after a suspect he or she will most definitely give the command for the dog to grab the suspect. Keep in mind this is different than biting, it is holding. A police dog is never trained to bite, but in the heat of battle, a suspect may get injured as the dog performs its job.

Of course an altercation is avoided if possible, but this is not always the case. The officer involved will give a verbal warning before giving his dog the command to hold. If a person is smart, he or she will comply with the officer and not risk getting injured by the dog.

Police dogs don't just chase and hold suspects. They actually have a whole host of jobs they can perform. A few other tasks they are trained to do include tracking suspects, tracking and finding people or things and also to sniff out drugs, explosives or any other compound. Even though most police dogs are not bloodhounds, they still have an incredible sense of smell and are an invaluable asset to their handler.

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