022. Patrol Dogs
Description
This article is from the Working Dogs FAQ, posted to rec.pets.dogs newsgroup. Maintained by Cindy Tittle Moore with numerous contributions by others.
022. Patrol Dogs
This is a very general term. Technically, any dog working for a police or sheriff department is a "police" or "patrol" dog, this can include narcotic, evidence, tracking, trailing, and attack dogs. SAR and narcotic and evidence search have already been covered. The popular notion of the term "police dog" refers to "attack" dogs kept by law enforcement departments. Dogs can do more than one job; there is no reason that a dog couldn't trail/track people, sniff out narcotics, and locate arson material. But attack dogs are usually used only for chasing suspects and bringing them down. Of interest in our litigous society is the current trend of going to bark and hold, which means that the dog barks at the subject to hold him, and only attacks if the suspect continues to flee or if the suspect attempts to attack the dog or a bystander. Other departments maintain that it is safer for the dog and handler if the dog attacks directly. In either case, the handler should be able to call the dog off an ordered attack should the suspect surrender.
Schutzhund training shows that attack training does not exclude other abilities, but for whatever reasons, this is not often done (Schutzhund training itself is difficult; the Schutzhund section describes the difficulty of finding suitable candidates for the training). There are often liability concerns; an "attack" dog will be viewed unfavorably by most judges and juries if it attacked someone, even justifiably, while doing something else.
There are no national or even state-wide standards for these dogs. However, the National Association of Protection Dogs has been formed to try and establish a national standard for protection work, and to educate the general public about them. They may be reached at NAPDSecty@aol.com.
Many patrol dogs are Schutzhund trained. Some are well trained, others are not. German Shepherd Dogs are commonly used, but any large breed with energy and drive can be used: Bouvier des Flandres, Doberman Pinschers, Malinois, Rottweilers and others have also been used as patrol dogs.
The use of patrol dogs, in an organized fashion, began in the US in 1907 with South Orange, New Jersey, and New York Police Departments. These were followed by departments in Glen Ridge, NJ (1910), Detroit (1917), Berkeley, CA (1930), Pennsylvania State Police (1931), Royal Canadian Mounted Police K-9 Section (1937), and the Connecticut State Police (1944). Many other departments have since created programs of their own to utilize dogs. This is the reason for the lack of uniform standards across the country, as each department makes its own.
For a detailed reference, including history, try:
Chapman, Samuel G. _Police Dogs in America_. Bureau of Government Research, 1979.
For information on training dogs for different types of police work (but not attack or protection), see:
Tolhurst, Bill. _The Police Textbook for Dog Handlers_. Sharp Printing, 3477 Lockport Road, Sanborn, NY 14132. 1991. (Paperback, 89 pages.)
This book is only available from the author. $14 plus $2 shipping and handling. Write to Bill Tolhurst, 383 Willow Street, Lockport, NY 14094. The most comprehensive training book available. Contains information not available from any other source. Contains updated information covered by the original National Police Bloodhound Training Manual (1977). Plus: how to train a land-cadaver dog, a water-cadaver dog, an article-search dog, an accelerant (arson) dog. Information on the Scent Transfer Machine, about radio-controlled dogs, on crime scene dog development, on the use of a scent sleeve. Discusses seminars, Bloodhound misconceptions, testifying in court, commands, puppy profiles (how to select a puppy) and more.
Also:
Eden, Bob. _K9 Officer's Manual_, _Dog Training for Law Enforcement_ . Available from Direct Book Publishing at 1-800-776-2665.
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