Dogs on the payroll Print E-mail
Written by Anna Milford, 2005   
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Dogs play an increasingly important and integral part of our emergency services. Anna Milford investigates. 

In 1899 Belgium became the first country to use trained police dogs, although earlier in the decade Topper was attached to the Hyde Park station and, within weeks, assaults and robberies in the area dropped dramatically. More than a century later there are over 2,500 police dogs in England and Wales, 90 in Customs & Excise, while the rescue and arson detection dogs in the fire service will soon be increased to around 60.

Police dogs

Basic training for dogs is similar whether destined for the police or fire service. The Police Dog Training Establishment at Keston in Kent has been training its own dogs, and for other organisations, for over 50 years. More specialised training follows basic - pursuit and capture for police dogs, search and rescue in destroyed buildings for fire dogs, guard duties for the armed forces.

German shepherds are 'hard' dogs, particularly suited to police work because they are wary of strangers; although never vicious they are naturally aggressive. Collies - perhaps seeing everyone as errant sheep - are excellent searchers for missing persons, while spaniels and Labradors - gun dog breeds - make ideal detectives. In fact, a dog unsuitable by temperament as a pet will frequently make a fine working dog.

Dog walkers, many of them volunteers from the community, care for suitable puppies for the first three months, after which they each have their own personal trainer. It is hard to hand over a much-loved pup, but walkers follow the careers of their charges over the years and have often had the pleasure of choosing its name - Beth, Sword or Ben. Civilians cannot become handlers since all teams must have police powers.

One meal a day is the rule. Dogs always sleep in kennels since they must work in all weathers and all seasons - it also keeps their coats in good condition. Dogs regard their handler as a pack leader and usually stay with the same one throughout their career. If the officer is off sick, the dog gets the day off. A working life is from seven to eight years and though many handlers keep their dog as a pet after its retirement, others go to farmers or gamekeepers.

Fourteen weeks' intensive training starts at a year old, during which particular traits and skills are noted for later selection: it is all done by patience, repetition, praise and reward. Basic stages of learning are obedience, heel work, tracking, scenting, barking when target is found, chase and attack - even if threatened with a weapon or gun. Both dog and handler are reassessed every four months.

After experience in the real world, promising dogs are selected for further training: eight weeks for Explosives and six for Drugs, before joining these or other units such as Tactical Firearms. General work is as varied as escorting prisoners, tracking law-breakers and crowd control at demonstration or football matches.

The latest technology has dogs wired for sound and wearing head cameras utilising infra-red light and a telescopic pole for night work and dangerous searches. In the US, but not yet over here, forensic evidence uncovered by fire or police dogs is acceptable in court.

Competition between police forces is fierce at the annual Dog Trials. There are four disciplines - general obedience, criminal work, nose work, searching - and a dog must excel at all to carry off the championship. In recent years the honour has gone to Sabre from Strathclyde and George from the City of London.

Scotland Yard says: "Dogs never cease to amaze us in what they can do. Given the right circumstances a track can be followed up to 24 hours after it has been laid by a human."

Several years ago the Home Office, not the most charismatic of ministries, funded a study on the cost-effectiveness of bloodhounds, a breed phased out of the police in the 1930s. When hounds showed that they were better and quicker than other breeds in finding missing people and saving money at the same time, the go-ahead was given to three forces to attract recruits.

Dyfed-Powys police needed no convincing: "Merlin and his brother Morgan are tremendous tracking dogs... even when the trail has been contaminated by other people in towns and cities. Bloodhounds are excellent at identifying an individual and following the trail with amazing determination."

Fire service

Dogs only enter buildings once a fire is under control; they keep in contact with the handler through a long leash attached to its chest harness. Dubious finds are sent for analysis and if proven positive, the evidence is forwarded to the police since traces of petrol, thinners and other accelerants detected in the wrong place indicate a scene of a crime. Instead of the mere five million receptors in the human nasal cavity a dog has 222 million, far superior at isolating animal and chemical smell than the most sophisticated electronic equipment.

Insurance companies are delighted at the increasing number of specialist dogs, which is hardly surprising with losses running at £360 million annually according to the Arson Prevention Bureau. Star, a Labrador with West Midlands whose pedigree included explosive expert parents and a drug-hunting sister, was the country's first fire dog in 1996.

Then came Phoenix in 1997, signing on in Northumberland, complete with heavy-duty boots to protect his paws from being burned or cut by broken glass. Nelson, a German shepherd and collie cross rescued by the RSPCA, later joined the Cornwall Service.


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