Police dog facts for kids

A police dog (also known as a K-9) is a special dog trained to help police officers and other law enforcement teams. These amazing dogs are like partners to the police! While German Shepherds are very common, many other breeds also serve. Police dogs are so important that if one is killed while on duty, it often gets a full police funeral, just like a human officer. Many K-9s even wear their own protective vests and sometimes have their own police IDs and badges.

What Do Police Dogs Do?

Police dogs can be trained for one specific job or for several different tasks. Here are some common jobs for K-9s:

• Finding drugs, like in prisons or during arrests.
• Sniffing out explosives (bombs).
• Searching for clues and evidence at crime scenes.
• Chasing and catching people who are running from the police.
• Helping to make suspects less likely to fight by barking loudly and looking tough (this is called "bark and hold"). The dog barks to scare the suspect while its handler holds the leash.
• Protecting police officers from danger.

Special Jobs for Police Dogs

Some police dogs have very special training for specific jobs. They are called "specialized" dogs because they have unique skills.

• Sentry and Attack Dogs: These dogs help find and catch suspects or enemies. They also guard important areas to keep them safe.
• Search and rescue Dogs (SAR): These dogs are experts at finding missing people, people who are hiding from the police, or even lost objects. Bloodhounds are often used for this because they have an amazing sense of smell and can follow scents very well.
• Detection Dogs: These dogs are trained to sniff out illegal drugs or explosives. For example, in many airports, friendly-looking beagles are used to sniff passengers' bags for things that aren't allowed. Because beagles are so friendly, they don't usually make travelers nervous.
• Arson Dogs: These dogs help investigate fires. They are trained to find traces of things that might have been used to start or make a fire worse, which helps police figure out if a fire was set on purpose.
• Cadaver Dogs: These dogs are trained to find the remains of people who are no longer alive. Their noses are so sensitive that they can even smell things that are under water! Thanks to special training techniques, these dogs are now almost 100% accurate in their searches.

Popular Police Dog Breeds

German Shepherd police dog

Different dog breeds are good at different police jobs. However, all good police dogs need to be smart, strong, and have an excellent sense of smell. Many police dogs are male, but female police dogs are also used, especially for rescue, tracking, and finding bombs or drugs.

The most common breeds used as police dogs are German Shepherd Dogs and Belgian Malinois. But here are some other breeds and what they are good at:

• American Pitbull Terrier: Great at search and rescue, tracking, being attack dogs, and finding bombs.
• Beagle: Excellent at finding bombs and used all over the world.
• Belgian Malinois: Often used for protection, as attack dogs, finding bombs (IEDs), finding evidence, transporting prisoners, and tracking people.
• Bloodhound: Super good at tracking and identifying things by smell; used for tracking and finding bombs and evidence.
• Doberman Pinscher: Used as a protection and attack dog.
• Dutch Shepherd: Also used as a protection and attack dog.
• Springer Spaniel: Good at finding bombs.
• German Shepherd Dog: Often used for protection, as attack dogs, tracking on the ground or in the air, and finding dead bodies, evidence, and bombs (IEDs).
• German Shorthaired Pointer: Good at tracking on the ground and in the air, and finding evidence.
• Labrador Retriever: Skilled at finding bombs.

Related Pages

• Dog
• List of dog breeds
• Best dogs for kids

Images for kids

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  Swedish police dogs during a demonstration in 2007

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  A police dog being trained to attack

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  A Belgian Malinois police dog during a demonstration in England

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  An FBI Dutch Shepherd police dog.

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  A German Shepherd police dog with an officer in Berlin, 1933

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  A Belgian Malinois being trained to attack

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  K9 units search for a missing person in York Region, Ontario.

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  An Italian police dog of Guardia di Finanza in Malpensa airport

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  A member of the Peruvian Army with a police dog during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru

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  MetPol Kiro Demi and PC Graham Clarke, UK National Police Dog Champion 2008

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  A Belgian Malinois police dog in Wisconsin.

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  Police badge of a New York K9 officer

See also

In Spanish: Perro policía para niños