Discipline Of Police Dogs

I don’t know if, like me, you’ve ever wondered how police dogs are trained. It is not something that does not let me sleep, but when I see one or some series on television in which one appears, I find it curious how much they become capable of doing. If you would like to know what his training consists of, read on.

What functions do police dogs have?

Police dogs have been very useful in the fight against different crimes. For example, they have the ability to locate drugs and weapons, but they can also find a missing body, recognize an aggressor, or know where a missing child or person is located.

Other tasks in which their skills are used are in detecting counterfeit money, explosives and for rescue work.

Since police dogs began to be used as such, they have been of great benefit to the community and the order of many countries in which they are kept.

Without a doubt, these animals have been and will continue to be very valuable, so we believed that they deserved a special article for them. We are going to see what type of training they receive to develop such special qualities.

Police dog training

As in all trades, not everyone is ready to be a police dog. Therefore,  the first step in training one is choosing the right dog. As you may have seen, almost all police dogs are German Shepherds, although there are countries like the Dominican Republic or Panama, where Labrador Retrievers are used.

This choice is because police dogs must be large to impose on criminals, they must have a large nose that allows them to develop a special sensitivity to smell, and they must have the ability to be aggressive. Although Retrievers do not seem like it, since their character is usually tender and they are used for other purposes, they can be trained to attack and for that reason they are chosen in many countries as police dogs.

The steps to follow are:

• Obedience. The first step police dogs are taught is to obey. They must learn to obey any kind of order from their human partner, under any kind of circumstance. It does not matter if it is an order to sit down, sit or jump from one terrace to another. The dog must learn to obey without fear and without doubts. For this, the training is daily and they are rewarded each time they comply with a given order.

• Agility and resistance. Police dogs are trained daily in aerobic exercises that raise the heart rate thus increasing their endurance. It is not known whether in the future the dog will need to be running up a mountain, on the beach or even across rooftops to chase someone, so this type of training is essential.
• Reliability. The police dogs are each trained by the same handler. In this way, the dog’s abilities, its weak points and what should be worked more with him are known. The agent must trust his dog 100% and for this, the dog must show that he will be willing to do anything in any situation. There is no reluctance that is valid in extreme situations.
• Concentration. We know very well that dogs are easily distracted, but police dogs cannot afford that luxury. They must be focused on their mission or the situation they are experiencing, so they will be subjected to loud noises, alarms, gunshots and car riot, so that they learn to ignore all of them and keep their gaze and their mind fixed on what to do.

• Detect items through odors. Police dogs must be taught to detect odors that they will later have to identify.

We are very grateful to these animals, of which many have lost their lives to save their companion’s. One more example of the excessive loyalty that dogs always show to people.