Dogs

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LovelyLadyLux
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Dogs

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Went to the training/info sessions today put on by the RCMP for us Block Watch Captains. Part of the conversation was a demonstration of the skills and abilities of one of the German Shepherd dogs the RCMP use.

Apparently the RCMP have bred their own dogs, only German Shepherds, for the past 17 years. Each puppy is totally and completely assessed from birth and even points are given for birth order as they're looking for full of energy dominant dogs. At one point in time they used to use Belgian Malinois however those dogs were so prey driven they would go go go go go despite any obstacles and had no shut off valve once on the job. Apparently there were a few instances of these dogs going non-stop full out in hot weather to the point of death.

The working dogs then became German Shepherd because, as a breed, they do have the instinctive ability to ultimately stop, lay down and rest prior to going into convulsions and dying.

Each dog costs approximately $70,000 and is with one handler only. All commands are in German. They are not allowed to be pets at all. They don't come in the house and play. They live exclusively in kennels when not working with their handler.

They're trained on command to track and bite and hold on however if they are then attacked they're taught to fight back. They primarily track, have olifactory abilities into the hundreds of millions stronger than ours. Cadaver dogs can scent out a body 8 meters down and the Handler RCMP fellow said it was also totally remarkable how they could scent a dead body under water and particularly moving water.

During the Q&A it was asked what would happen to this dog if the Handler could no longer handle. Would the dog obey anybody else. The answer was that the dog would be kenneled for approximately 3 weeks to 1 month with minimal contact and definitely no play time or affection. As they're essentially pack animals they love company, the pack. The theory is that after that long being starved for affection they'd respond to the next Handler who was introduced and would be quite ok working with him. Mostly male dogs are used and most training is centered on training the dog to ignore other animals and to keep focus'd on their job. Females are mostly spayed cause when they come into heat their natural instincts just take over (that got quite a chuckle from the crowd)

They did a demo of the dogs ability to find teeny tiny objects in the room. Quite impressed with the dogs abilities plus he was a beautiful looking animal.


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Re: Dogs

Post by Grandad »

Sounds as if they are trained to be almost like wolves LLL. And why do they use commands in German?
As far as I know, police dogs here live with the handlers family but are trained to know when they are working, probably when their handler is in uniform, they are transported in the van, and the working commands are used. I did think the RCMP use of dogs seemed extreme but if it works, do it. :up
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Re: Dogs

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

The use of commands question was asked and answered and the answer goes - it is presumed that most people (bad guys) wouldn't know the commands in German so wouldn't in any way be able to throw out a command to the dog (i.e. the command to attack if the dog was just standing there in public). Personally I wouldn't think the commands in German are that obscure but ?

I also thought these dogs were basically inside with the Handlers family but apparently not. That I find a bit extreme and personally if I was the Handler I'd want to know the dog wasn't going to bite a spouse or one of my children. He said the dog has a large dog house and a 6' x 12' chain link run but as presented the dog is quite separate from the family.

I know from my work in the USA the Law Enforcement guys had special vehicles to transport the dogs and signs were all over it to 'stay away.' Those slathering snarling huge beasts didn't present as friendly at all and even if you want near the vehicle barked their heads off. No idea if they lived with the family or not however the guys on the Military Base seemed to use dogs lots and it was always my guess and assumption that those dogs were integrated into the family when they were not working however I have no way to truly know.

This Handler said too that some dogs were specifically trained on one scent (explosives or cadaver) while others were trained to scent out a mix of scents.

All in all it is quite impressive what they can do.
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