A while ago, a search and rescue dog became popular on the Internet. It was originally going to see a doctor, but after arriving at the hospital, it habitually searched for it, and actually found the hibernating turtle.
As an excellent police dog, who hasn't had an occupational disease yet?
Picture source from Weibo
In fact, in addition to search and rescue, an excellent police dog can also track, identify, chase, drug search, explosion search, patrol, escort and other operations. Some "super power" police dogs can also escort criminals, stop violent crimes, and even predict earthquakes.
So the question is, how did such a powerful police dog be refined?
If you want to wear a uniform, you must first pass the breed level
Not all dogs are qualified to wear uniforms. In addition to rigorous training, also needs to be qualified for "admission" before entering the "Police Dog Academy", and requires screening of dog intelligence, physical strength and endurance.
Image source: Veer gallery
In terms of body shape, traditional police dogs are mostly large dogs because they are tall and strong, have good physical fitness, and have strong weight bearing.
German Shepherd Picture source: pixabay
German Shepherd is the most common police dog breed. It is native to Germany. It has a tall body, a mighty appearance and excellent working ability. It was first cultivated by the German army and used as military dog , and later changed to police.
Labrador Retriever Image source: pixabay
Labrador Retriever is also very common. The dog is kind and gentle, has a high IQ, is kind to others, and is suitable for engaging in guides and search and rescue work.
Rottweiler dog Picture source: pixabay
Rottweiler dog has a fighting personality and is highly aggressive, but is highly obedient to orders and is also a common police dog breed.
In addition, there are also Scottish police dogs, Great Dane, Bloody Lip, Dubern and Marinua dogs.
With the progress of society, the work content of police dogs is becoming increasingly complex and diverse. Police dogs that were previously believed to be only large dogs can also start to join .
Japanese Chihuahua dog Xiaotao weighs only 3 kilograms. In the "Search and Rescue Project" exam, it quickly and accurately found the helper within 100 meters with the items left by the helper. Because of her petite figure, Xiao Tao can enter a narrow space that large dogs cannot enter, becoming a good helper for police criminal investigation and search and rescue work.
Police Dog Xiaotao Picture source: China Daily website
Coincidentally, the 5-year-old male teddy dog Pocky officially served as the "special police dog" to assist in the search operation in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan in 2015. Although standing next to other tall and mighty police dogs, Pocky seemed very delicate and seemed to be weak. But body shape is its advantage, its nose can be closer to the ground and undertake the task of "odor recognition dog".
Speaking of this, you may ask, does China have its own police dog breed?
At this time, Kunming dog will be on the stage.
Kunming dog was born in Kunming and is the first excellent breed dog bred by China. It rewrites the history of China's unfinished breed dogs and ends the history of my country's police dogs relying on imported breed dogs.
Kunming dog Picture source: China Police Network
From 1955, it was selected and bred based on the needs of military and social security, to breeding in 1988, and then to promotion in 2005 to all parts of the country and even abroad, Kunming dogs have entered the stage of large-scale social development.
Kunming dog has strong attachment, alertness and flexibility, agile movement, fierce biting, good obedience, easy to train, and has strong adaptability to plateau climate, severe cold environment and high temperatures. At the same time, Kunming dogs also have strong fertility, and the survival rate of weaned puppies can reach more than 80%.
Kunming dogs are competent for a variety of tasks. Border patrols, reconnaissance and case solving, and investigation of drugs and explosives are all right. They can also be used as guard dogs for units and individuals.
wants to become a police dog. The dog is not less than that of you.
has obtained the qualification for "admission". The dog needs to go through a series of rigorous training and pass the assessment before it can become a police dog.
To be outstanding, you have to work very hard.'s training on police dogs is comparable to the strictness of training people. About 45 days after birth, newly weaned puppies will start training.
Dog-style primary school—Adaptive training
The initial training was desensitization training . The little police dog has a strong curiosity and sensitivity to the world and always pays attention to strangers and things. This is sometimes not a good thing at work. The purpose of desensitization training is to improve the adaptability of police dogs to the environment , make them more courageous, ignore the sound of interference, and reduce their curiosity to actively explore the surrounding environment. To put it bluntly, it is to make them more solid. Training methods include constantly interfering with the eating of puppies.
Desensitization training Image source: pixabay
This is just a primary training, equivalent to , the primary school stage of humans, and it takes about 1 month.
The little police dogs complete the training while getting familiar with the trainer and establish discipline. After all, their goal is to become excellent socialist working dogs.
Dog-style Junior High School - Basic Training
Next, the police dog will start basic training, and the subjects are mainly to accept commands and ranks. During this period, the police dog should be familiar with and remember the basic commands, such as sitting, lying, standing, leaning, jumping, yelling, following, delaying, etc. Even if it cannot be done, at least it will react. The object-holding exercise is a compulsory course every day. The instructor will use a pick-up pole to train the police dog's desire to take, and sometimes he will deliberately train around strangers to exercise the courage of the police dog.
Title Image source: pixabay
This stage of learning is equivalent to junior high school education , which takes about 1 month.
Dog-style high school - a police dog trained at a distance of
3 months old, whose physical strength and mind are basically mature, can be treated as an adult dog, and start living a militarized life. At this stage, police dogs need to be trained to adapt to more complex environments and maintain their natural desire to ties. Of course, the focus is to train the police dog to obey commands, especially the ability of to obey commands from a distance , because the police dog must be released to perform tasks and cannot be around the instructor all the time. The instructions to be learned include picking items from a distance, sending items to a distance, turning back halfway, etc.
This stage of study is equivalent to high school and takes about 3 months.
Dog-style university - training in majors
After graduating from high school, the half-year-old police dog officially entered the major university stage . According to the breed and expertise of each police dog, the instructor will train them in categories and . The police dogs mentioned at the beginning with different purposes are actually outstanding graduates from different majors.
The university stage is the highlight of police dog training and usually lasts for one year. The training for subjects such as drug search, explosion search, bloodstain, physical evidence, bite, and tracking is carried out separately according to the major, while the public courses are routine cage running training and military training, such as crossing a single-plank bridge, a herringbone wall and a cable bridge under the scorching sun. This is to allow them to fully adapt to the harsh practical environment of .
Fitness training Image source: pixabay
When the major study at the university is completed, the police dog will usher in an exam that determines its destiny. Only trained dogs who have passed the professional subjects and public course tests can truly become police dogs.
After graduating from "Police Dog Academy", what jobs can police dogs find?
police dog technology can be divided into three main directions: criminal investigation, public security guard and search for . It can basically meet the current changing social security needs. The specific uses include the following.
1. Tracking dog . Expert in tracking and searching the criminals' whereabouts based on the source of the odor, until they find the hidden criminals.
2. Patrol dog. 's main job is to patrol with patrol police, and is good at reminding patrol police to pay attention to potential dangers and is the "guidor" of security work.
3. Anti-drug dog . Suitable for exploring and testing various drugs at airports and customs. They have a sharp sense of smell, flexible movements and delicate body shape, and are the best assistants to assist drug anti-drug personnel to arrest drug smugglers and drug dealers.
Dog's sense of smell is very sensitive. Picture source: pixabay
4. Rescue dog . He is good at searching and rescuing people who have not escaped from danger in various natural disasters, which brings great support to police rescue and civil protection work.
5. protect dog . Some important figures often become targets of criminals’ kidnapping and extortion, and their protection is an important part of the work of maintaining social stability. Protective dogs can assist security personnel in the protection tasks and prevent problems before they happen.
Police dogs retire, can ordinary people take them home?
After completing the police dog training, it is about one and a half years old to two years old, which is the age of in its prime. Like humans, after officially becoming a police dog, you must first conduct a work internship. After serving, police dogs will also return to the training base regularly to participate in re-training to ensure good condition. The best service period for police dogs is one and a half years old to five years old, and the excellent ones can reach seven or eight years old. Some of them are still serving over ten years old. They are really old horses.
The lifespan of medium and large dogs is generally between fifteen and twenty years, and the service life of police dogs is about eight years, and they will be retired later. Retirement is equivalent to the retirement of mankind.
According to relevant regulations, there are three main ways for police dogs to go after retirement:
military dogs with outstanding meritorious achievements can stay in their original garrison after retirement and continue to be raised by the original officers and soldiers;
More military dogs will be sent to a special retired military dog sanatorium nearby, with dedicated people taking care of their later years;
Ordinary people also have the opportunity to adopt retired military dogs, but the review of adoption is very strict, and basically only the breeders of police dogs have the opportunity to take them home.
In September 2018, the first batch of Kunming dogs "Gray Wolf" who entered Hong Kong to serve officially retired. The Hong Kong police specially held a glorious retirement ceremony for it, and hoped that dog lovers with spacious environments at home would adopt it. However, adopters must submit an application first, and then the police force visits home to evaluate the environment, and then pass a special committee review before adoption. He is really very careful about retired police dogs.
8-year-old male Kunming dog "Gray Wolf" retires. Image source: China News Network
When did the police dog appear?
Police dogs have a very significant role in maintaining social stability. So, when did dogs become police dogs?
In China, the use of police dogs can be traced back to during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Mo Zi, a defensive military theorist who adheres to the concept of "non-offensive", thought of using Chinese pastoral dogs to serve as a warning task: one dog in each of the holes, and the dog barking means someone. The police dogs here are alert dogs, and they still use their ability to guard the house.
Chinese pastoral dog Image source: pixabay
Du Mu's grandfather Du You also has similar records in "Tongdian": I am afraid that the enemy will ride on the city at night, hang headlights at halfway up the city every thirty steps, and place the police dog on the city, and add fat torches where they bark.
From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, it took about 1,000 years, and dogs were used as guards to defend the city. It can be seen that in ancient times, the use of police dogs was already very common. Police dogs had at least two functions at that time: one was to defend tunnel battles, and the other was to defend night attacks. In fact, there should be a third one - when there is not enough food in the city, it can be eaten.
The change of alert dogs to police dogs means that the function of dogs has changed from military to civilian.
In 1945, Shanghai Police School officially established a police dog station. A total of more than 10 personnel have carried out various teaching and training work for police dogs, laying a solid foundation for the development of police dog technology in our country. At that time, police dogs were mainly used to arrest suspects and monitor prisoners . Although the functions are single, these functions have fallen within the scope of use of police dogs in the modern sense.
When the new China was first established, the public security work faced a huge challenge to crack down on enemy spies' sabotage activities. At that time, the investigation technology was not yet developed, and the police dog technology brought great support to the police work. Shanghai Public Security Bureau held the first police dog technical training class in 1950, and trained a group of "seed" police dog trainer for various parts of East China.The Border Defense and Security Department of the Ministry of Public Security also held three consecutive police dog technical training classes from 1950 to 1954, and trained more than 150 police dog trainers in total. The police dog technology work in New China has developed rapidly, and has embarked on a path of police dog technology with Chinese characteristics in .
Social change is an important opportunity for the development of police dog technology. After the reform and opening up, various crimes in China have become increasingly diversified and complex, and public security work is under increasing pressure. Therefore, driven by social security needs, police dog technology has begun a new round of improvement and development, with more professional classification and wider uses.
police dog, is it a "police equipment" or a "police officer"?
In the UK, police dog Finn triggered the entry of a bill.
On the evening of October 5, 2016, while chasing the armed robbery suspect, the police dog Finn was stabbed by a 25-centimeter knife and still bit the criminal to death, assisting police officer Dave to arrest the criminal. The seriously injured Finn passed by Death and did not fully recover 11 weeks after the operation. The heroic Finn received multiple honors including the "Animal George Cross".
Police officer Dave and police dog Finn. Image source: Dazhe.com
However, during the trial, the suspect was only charged with assaulting police officers and damage to property.
It turns out that according to the British law at that time, police dogs were "property" and were worth only 50 pounds, so the judge believed that the value of the "property" being damaged was too low and there was no need to be a separate crime to be punished separately.
What's even more annoying is that the suspect was only 16 years old. Although he admitted in court that he was panicked and had the intention of killing the police and the police dog, he was sentenced to only four months in prison because he was under 18 years old and did not cause much harm to the police.
This judgment made Dave and the police very dissatisfied. The policeman's close partner risked his life to save his master and was almost killed by the suspect and was seriously injured. In the end, the crime he convicted on the suspect was worse than breaking a piece of glass.
Dave is seeking support online and submits a petition, hoping to pass a new bill to improve the treatment of working dogs. The huge petition event ended with nearly 1.3 million signatures, and Congress launched an inspirational debate and finally passed the Animal (Environment Service) Welfare Act. The bill, known as the "Finn Act", stipulates that
attacks an animal in service constitutes an independent crime to protect the rights and interests of the animals in service. Any intentional injury to police dogs and horses is prohibited, and violators may be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
Finn Act protects working animals Image source: British government official website
Dave said: "I firmly believe that this bill will definitely become law. Because Finn is not only my partner, but also my child! I believe that in the near future, police dogs will definitely gain legal status and be regarded as a member of the police station, not property."
Finn triggered the public's thinking about police dogs. Is police dogs equipment (a type of police equipment) or police officers?
U.S. police believe that police dogs are police officers, not weapons or police weapons, and police dogs enjoy their own welfare benefits;
In Russian legal norms, police dogs are defined as special police equipment; German police believe that police dogs are a kind of police equipment with similar properties to police equipment.
Chinese police dog researcher believes that the definition of the equipment attributes of police dogs should not only fully demonstrate its special biological attributes, but also reflect its police equipment attributes that assist police law enforcement. Therefore, Chinese police dog experts have proposed the concept of biological police equipment.
Do you think the police dog should be a "police weapon" or a "police officer"?
Drug-killing dog at work Picture source: Ta Kung Pao
No matter what the answer is, at least for police officers, police dogs are their most loyal comrades.
Produced by: Popular Science China
Production: Wangxi ( Sichuan Police Academy )
Producer: Computer Network Information Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Articles only represent the author's views and do not represent the position of China's Popular Science Expo
