Shelter Dogs: From the Dog Pound to K-9 Duty
Dogs have been used in police operations since the earliest days of organized
law enforcement. Over the centuries a wide variety of canines have been trained
to be patrol partners. However, in recent years two breeds of dogs have been
primarily favored for K-9 patrol duties: the German shepherd and the Belgian
Malinois.
But that doesn’t mean that other varieties of man’s best friend can’t be police
dogs. It’s not unusual to see a wide range of dogs—including bloodhounds used
for tracking and cadaver recovery and Labrador retrievers and beagles used to
sniff out explosives and illegal narcotics—working alongside police officers.
And recently, a number of law enforcement agencies have decided to expand their
K-9 ranks to include some unusual breeds and mixed breed dogs from shelters and
dog rescues. There are now organizations that are funding the training of
shelter dogs for police work or training and placing dogs with agencies.
Universal K9 (www.universalk9inc.com) has been training shelter dogs to serve
in law enforcement since 2010. But that’s just one aspect of the company’s
mission. “Our program is like no other and we produce more dogs and handlers
per month (civilian side) than any other company profit or non-profit I know
of,” says Brad Croft, Universal K9’s founder and operations director. Croft
says to date Universal K9 has saved and placed hundreds of fully trained dogs
with law enforcement agencies.
By saving dogs and donating them once they are trained for law enforcement
operations, Universal K9 ensures the dogs are well taken care of and tax
dollars are saved. “I realized I didn’t need to buy expensive purebred dogs to
do police work,” says Croft. “I knew there were plenty of capable dogs in
shelters.”
Croft says this new concept has proven successful for both his company and law
enforcement agencies. “Many times these dogs are overlooked by families and put
down.” He says that by adopting these dogs, taking care of them, and training
them, Universal K9 is able to offer a service that helps unwanted dogs and also
cuts down on costs for the law enforcement agency and the city where the dogs
were sheltered.
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