I'm a Police Dog Handler - AMA

[Stopeatingmybiscuits]

Working tomorrow, but I'll try and answer questions in the evening.

Are you a woman? Do you have to be fitter than other police?

Do you wish you could let the dog do more biting?

Yes, I'm a woman.
Definately not fitter, unfortunately! I'm certainly not as good at chasing and restraining as many of my colleagues. I wish I was more ninja like.
Probably stronger than a lot of them, as I have to be able to easily lift my mutt.

And yes, of course I would like some to be bitten. Or at least run away. Purely as it's part of the 'game' for the dog, of course!

How old are police dogs when they are retired? What happens to them then?

What breed do you handle? (understand if you can't answer this for outing reasons). If you can't answer that, which breeds do you have in your local dog unit?

If you're in the UK can you assure me that our police dogs will continue to be referred to as 'PD' rather than 'K9 Officer' as they are in the USA ?

How long does the training take? For the dogs I mean!

Do you ever get attached to the dogs, like they're your pet?

I currently have a German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois cross operational dog and share a specialist spaniel.

In my Force, the specialist dogs (explosives, drugs, firearms etc.) are handled, but shared, by the 'usual' handlers. You don't need such a bond (and dogs are very expensive, I guess).

Do you take your dog home at night?

Who looks after your dog when you go on holiday?

What do you do when you’re on shift and a dog isn’t required. Do you attend without a dog? Do you have other job roles as a dog handler?

How do you train the dogs to pay attention to you and to be calm - to be aggressive on command and to stop right away.

The dogs retire after about 8/9 years. They are firstly offered to their handlers, but if not, there are some very special lovely people who seem to love taking on old working dogs. Some obviously aren't that lucky, but in all honesty I try not to think about that as it's too upsetting.
I feel.more for old security dogs where certain care packages aren't in place.

I'm stroking the best dog I've ever known with my feet,right now. After 8 years of willing to die for me, it's the least I can do!

I won't keep the spaniel, but more than likely will keep my Shepherd. They are my weakness!!

How did you get into it?
Was it always what you wanted to do?
Do you get to drive on lights and sirens? (Not jealous much)

Yes, of course I get attached. And if anyone hurt my dogs, i would go ape-shit (and probably arrested and fired.) We are both willing to sacrifice so much for each other. I doubt I would ever feel that way about a human colleague.

They call us 'the dogs' or 'the dog unit', but they do wear a little embroidered 'K9' on their vests. Is that OK? ! Lol!
They wear a

Do you work with drug sniffing dogs? How accurate do you find they are? In Oz, there's a lot of debate about police dogs at music festivals at the moment.

Do you mean the dogs get put down if someone isn’t willing to take them after retirement?

No, dogs are kennelled every night. And if I am on leave, although I will pop in and see her, play (and train play).

Ds has wanted to be a police dog handler since he was 4, he's now nearly 10.

Any suggestions as to wheres best to start first police first or can you go straight into dog handler?

I don't really want to say what my specialist dog does, if that's OK. There aren't many females doing this and I don't want to be outed.

Do you work with the goodest boi?

Dog handlers are sourced from inside, so I'd suggest your son does animal interest things in conjuction to set himself apart.
I fostered German Shepherds for a time which is fab training in itself.

Training is long, hard-going, tiresome and repetitive. Think 2 solid weeks of feeding a niblet of chicken tiresome. Then more weeks walking in the middle of nowhere trying to get your dog to just look at you.

Goodest boi? No! Is he a husky? I don't really like them and would.certainly never trust one around my children.

Apart from dogs and horses - I can't think of any other 'service animals'. Are there any?

We watched a couple of police dogs being trained in the park last night. One was very good but the other one was very excited and kept the trying to chase the smaller dogs (it was funny). Lovely animals (German Shepherds).

It'seems a bit of a misnomer that the dogs are actually mega super aggressive. If they are when puppies, then they are deemed unsuitable.

It is a big game to them. If you notice when they are barking and snarling, they wag their tails like mad. Admittedly at the thought of a playing with a human chew toy, but that's how they see it.

They would not turn aggressive unless i was attacked. They essentially want to protect and please the handlers.

I have children at home, including a rambunctious toddler and obviously I would not allow an aggressive dog around them.

I've seen fab TV programmes on rats being used in Cambodia for sniffing out landmines. They have to put suncream on them which the kids found hilarious.

Service parrots, and horses for visually impaired. Pretty cool, but nothing beats a dog IMO!
www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04Creatures-t.html

Love GSDs....have one myself. ..totally jealous of your career path !

Hi OP. I'm a dog lover and am fascinated by working dogs!

Can you explain the process through which you were paired with your dog? Did you meet with various pups, or was it just like "this is your dog"? Do any partnerships ever fail in the first few weeks/months, due to lack of bonding or anything like that?