Pure-bred dogs ‘the future’ for police
Specially bred dogs are still the primary choice for drug detection and patrolling because of their health and ability, New Zealand Police say.
A rescued drug detection dog called Tasman, who works out of Wellington, sparked questions last week about why the country’s police force did not adopt more canines from animal rescue services such as the SPCA.
Police also have restrictions on their preferred breeds of working dogs, using german shepherds for patrol animals and labradors mostly as detection workers.
Tasman – known as Tas – was a homeless bull-terrier cross who bucked that trend, graduating from the Police Dog Training Centre three years ago.
She overcame adversity as well as a paralysing stroke to become the nation’s second-best detection dog.
However, despite Tas’ great abilities, New Zealand Police Dog Section national co-ordinator Inspector Todd Southall said specialised breeding programmes were the future of working police dogs.
Southall said german shepherds were the dog of choice for patrol work because it was a highdemand, high-risk job. But a breed such as a schnauzer wouldn’t be effective. ‘‘[German shepherds] are reliable. It has to do with their strength, size and nerves.’’
Detection dogs need a high drive for searching, and while labradors are the canine of choice, police were open to looking at alternative breeds.
Many rescue dogs, like Tas, did not pass the training, Southall added. Others encountered healthrelated issues. ‘‘Tas is a good example. She is a good dog but had health issues we weren’t aware of. It costs a lot of train dogs.’’
A detection dog is worth about $20,000.
Police work with experts to breed patrol dogs and have had a breeding programme for german shepherds for over 20 years, with each dog worth about $50,000.
A similar breeding programme for detection dogs began 18 months ago, spurred by an increased need for skilled dogs in service, Southall said.