How are police dogs trained? | Training of Police K9s

Police dogs are highly trained officers just like their owners. It can be envious sightseeing of a perfectly trained police dog obeying the orders of his owner and being happy about it. These dogs are trained for months or years to perform the complicated tasks that the police dogs are required to accomplish. Their training is rigorous and different from what your pet might need and that’s why we usually see just a few specific breeds being trained as police dogs.

How Police Dog Training is Special?

You must have wondered how police dogs are trained to be so disciplined, smart, and agile when on the job? The way these dogs are trained is important, when on duty these dogs perform several tasks like search for something, detecting drugs with their strong sense of smell, and protecting officers from criminals.

But before being promoted to patrol the streets, police dogs have the basic training they need to pass.

These K9s have been playing an active role in safeguarding the streets and citizens of the US along with the United States police for quite some time now. They are considered as one of the biggest resources available as a part of law enforcement agencies across the country. These dogs are vital to their security, as they save lives and deter crime on a daily basis. A lot of hard work and attention goes into training the police dogs from the time they are puppies until they retire.

As we just mentioned not all dogs are eligible to become police dogs, seven dog breeds are specifically trained in police agencies to be used as K9s. The police dog breeds are:

• Belgian Malinois
• German Shepherd Dogs
• Bloodhounds
• Dutch Shepherds
• Labrador Retrievers
• Rottweilers
• Beagles

These are some of the finest dog breeds used as police K9s and are known for their incredible working ability. For police officers who are the handlers to these dogs, it is fun and challenging to take care of these dogs. They need to have completed a 2-year probationary period before being able to apply to join the Dog Section. Also, they need to learn about canine psychology, legislation, and veterinary practices before they start working together. But in the end, all the hard work and demanding training pay off as the bond between the handler and their dogs becomes very strong.

How Are They Trained?

The police canines meet their trainers for the first time when they are 7 weeks old where they are required to go through a basic test. This test is conducted to identify the natural ability of a dog to follow orders, holding them down, squeezing their paw, crunching paper, fetch, bowl bang and clash and ragtime to judge whether they have what it takes to enter the force or not. These dogs are taught to use their instincts on instruction and in a supervised manner.

Police K9s are rewarded for their good work. While on the training they receive good care, food, exercise, protection, and the training have an emphasis on safety, control, and efficiency. They learn obedience, following commands, search, attack, tracking, substance detection and how to keep focused on distracting situations so that they are prepared for any eventuality while on duty. Dogs are known to be a man’s best friend it is for us to see that they are not overworked. After all, a happy dog is a healthy dog.

What happens to Police dogs when they retire?

Usually, these dogs are adopted by their trainers on retirement. They spent years together and are like family to each other, so this works out well for both the dog and the officer.

Summing-up

We at Shergroup understand the growing security needs of people and that is why we have partnered with the Vapor Wake K9 security specialists. VWK9 is the most innovative and forward-thinking K9 company in the world that supplies Vapor Detection Dogs that can sniff from body-worn explosives to a Covid-19 virus scent in the human body. For our clients across the world who are looking for a security solution to protect their vacant premise, ensure safety for a live event or double up the security standards for public places like airports, hospitals, stadiums, shopping marts and more, K9 security dogs are a perfect way to ensure it.

Drop us a mail at [email protected] or live chat with us on our website www.shergroup.com to discuss your requirements.