I follow a few of these on twitter and they seem to eat, live, breathe and work with their dogs!
I am just wondering, I assume dog handlers must have a different "contract" to other officers? I am thinking of food costs, costs incurred at home for them, exercising them on days off etc etc?
Anyone know how it works?
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If the police are like ours, they get all dog related costs either refunded or in the vast majority of expenses are under a contract so never see a bill.
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Been involved on the periphery of police dog training. Policy varies by force, Some - Like GMP breed their own, some buy them in ( one sold, partially trained, to Northants police for 6 grand) Breed choice varies by need, cockers or springers are fav for detection, GSD's or BSD's for the rough stuff.
Training varies by force, some foster their pups out till about 12 months old, and then are joined with their officer for training, and if it passes, deployment where dog and handler stay together till career end of either.
The dog lives in a kennel in the garden of the handler, food and heating paid for by the force, and the handler is expected to exercise the dog on rest days. Its kennelled (commercially or in force kennels) during holidays
Generally speaking, police dog training is poor, the dogs are not as fit as they should be, and the handling is not brilliant.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Dec 18 at 11:59
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>>Generally speaking, police dog training is poor, the dogs are not as fit as they should be, and the handling is not brilliant.
Compared to the average mutt?
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>> >>Generally speaking, police dog training is poor, the dogs are not as fit as they
>> should be, and the handling is not brilliant.
>>
>> Compared to the average mutt?
I dont DO average mutts!
Compared to the dog sports IPO & Shutzhund, even to Working Trials, all dog sports derived from police dog handling, all of which now surpass the dogs, handlers, training and skills of Police forces in the UK. Ok I accept none of the handlers are skilled in any other useful way as police officers.
The point is, police dog breeding, training, and handling is light years behind what it could be.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Dec 18 at 13:18
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Presumably there are different kinds of police dogs - sniffer dogs, arrest dogs, crowd control dogs?
Like blooodhounds, alsatians, sheep dogs?
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>> Presumably there are different kinds of police dogs - sniffer dogs, arrest dogs, crowd control
>> dogs?
>> Like blooodhounds, alsatians, sheep dogs?
Essentially only two roles required and trained for. Sniffer or General purpose. Its not uncommon for the same handler to have both dogs and work out of the same van
As I said above, detection dogs are now mostly springers and cockers, because they are smallish, agile, very keen, easy to train, fantastic nose. Sometimes Labs are used, but falling out of favour.
general purpose dogs, you use for all the other work. Usually GSD's or BSD's (Malinois), because they have a good nose for tracking, they are big and imposing, brave, can be fierce, very loyal and protective. Of the two, Malinois are ahead on every count, much keener and faster then a GSD, and far less prone to hip and back issues.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 20 Dec 18 at 13:58
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>> >>
>>
>> Essentially only two roles required and trained for. Sniffer or General purpose. Its not uncommon
>> for the same handler to have both dogs and work out of the same van
>>
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>> As I said above, detection dogs are now mostly springers and cockers, because they are
>> smallish, agile, very keen, easy to train, fantastic nose.
>>
>>
Interesting, thanks - even though I don't like dogs :)
I had imagined that sniffer dogs were much more specifically trained to detect drugs, explosives, or to follow a particular scent, without being distracted by the "wrong" smells while on the search.
I suppose I was picturing a cross between a wine sniffer and Sherlock Holmes with a bloodhound following aniseed on a cab wheel. :)
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>> I had imagined that sniffer dogs were much more specifically trained to detect drugs, explosives,
>> or to follow a particular scent, without being distracted by the "wrong" smells while on
>> the search.
>> I suppose I was picturing a cross between a wine sniffer and Sherlock Holmes with
>> a bloodhound following aniseed on a cab wheel. :)
They are, they can be trained to find/follow drugs, explosives, food, money and or any scent you give them an indicator for. If well trained they will search for the scent you provide a sample for and ignore decoy smells.
All dogs can do it, some are better than others.
For Example, I compete in obedience with my dog, one of the tasks is to find and retrieve a cloth with a given scent on it among a pattern of identical looking others some with decoy smells on. This she does very well, very keenly and stylishly.
We also compete in ScentworkUK, where the dog has to search rooms, vehicles, outside spaces, work spaces, warehouses etc for specific items that have certain smells, usually gun oil or cloves, This is not a retrieve exercise, merely an indicate to handler exercise.
I have an issue at the moment in doing both sports, where she is now no longer sure wether to indicate or retrieve and present. An undesirable thing if we do the wrong action in the wrong sport.
So currently working on that little issue.
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>>Compared to the average mutt?
I was referring to the 'rats' and bull terriers that seemed to be owned by the folk today. People seem to think that owning a dog doesn't involve any sense of responsibility.
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>> >>Compared to the average mutt?
>>
>> I was referring to the 'rats' and bull terriers that seemed to be owned by
>> the folk today. People seem to think that owning a dog doesn't involve any sense
>> of responsibility.
Generally speaking there are no bad dogs, just bad owners.. Ok some dogs had such a bad start in life that they are genuinely bad and dangerous and will never be safe you can always trace human input, or lack of it as a root cause.
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One of my muttleys amazes me with the power of his nose, - he is 10yrs old and totally blind, yet when I take him onto the shore I can pick up a stone and throw it for him to find, He stands still till he hears it land, then runs to the approximate spot and after sniffing about in ever decreasing circles, he manages to find it, every time! even though there must be millions of other stones around it and I have only held it about 2 seconds! My other two muttleys are strictly sight- hunters, if they lose sight of the stone they dont get it, maybe it's because he's blind that his sniff has improved to this level.
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Dogs have become "fashionable" again, sadly though, too many of their owners clearly haven't a clue how to train them.
I'm no dog trainer either, but I've been around dogs all my life and it really isn't difficult to keep them on side. They are not toys or surrogate children, they are dogs, and it's the owners responsibility to think and plan for them.
My current wee dog is a delight, friendly but obedient, not at all aggressive and hardly ever needs to be on a lead. In fact the only time he is on one is if we're in town or near heavy traffic, and that's more about me being careful and respectful that some people might be nervous of him, than any worries that he'd run off or cause any bother.
If he had a watch, he'd be tapping it shortly to remind me that it's getting close to his lunchtime walk...
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>>One of my muttleys amazes me with the power of his nose
I had a springer who would retrieve a pebble from a puddle on a pebble beach. How on earth she did that I'll never know.
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I couldn't even pronounce that...
;-)
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That's the name of a cocktail isn't it?
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Police Dog Handlers - sooty123
