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Police dogs are true four-legged heroes who spend a good part of their lives, between eight and nine years, serving alongside the security forces. When they begin to lose their faculties, generally due to age, they are retired and go to live with the agent they worked with or they try to find an adoption family. In this sense, the NGO Héroes de 4 Patas is in charge of providing them with a good home through adoption.
The answer is no. To start with, the agents carry out a series of tests as a first contact to see if the furry is willing to work and obey orders. In addition, not all breeds are eligible for the position of police dog as certain physical conditions and ability to concentrate are sought. The most frequent in the Police Force are: the German Shepherd, the Belgian Shepherd and the Labrador. Arms and water dogs are also used.
Police dogs begin their training at approximately one year of age . In this first stage, the most important thing is that they socialize correctly. It must be borne in mind that in their day-to-day life, these furry dogs will have to deal with noise, conflicts, traffic, riots and other overwhelming situations and if they are not able to cope with them, they cannot be police dogs as they could suffer psychological problems.
If the dog does move up the socialization ladder, his handler will identify the object that he will use to reward him . It can be a ball, a rolling pin, a certain toy, food … The idea is that the animal takes its work as a fun game in which in the end it receives a reward. They do not identify work as such but as entertainment.
At this point, the agent will look for the dog’s specialization: location of explosives, search for drugs, defense and accompaniment, rescue, detection of fire accelerators (in order to prevent fires), location of hidden persons, REHU (Search, location and recovery of corpses, human remains and biological fluids) and search for legal tender bills. Both basic and specific obedience to each field are worked on.
Dogs are trained in canine education centers that have spaces for training such as gyms, dormitories and simulation of risk situations such as zulos full of rubble. In addition, any police officer is not suitable to train a dog but has to pass a course of eighteen weeks as well as periodic training. After obtaining the necessary qualification, the officer will be awarded a police dog.
The techniques used with police dogs will differ depending on their role. For example, in the case of drug detection, the animal will be able to sit when it finds the narcotic substance or it will bark and bite the element found.
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