Breed All About It

Photo courtesy Eden Consulting Group

Dogs come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, and not every breed of dog is suited for law enforcement work. For example, most police dogs are German shepherds, although Labrador retrievers, Belgian Malinois and several other breeds are used, too. So what does a dog need to make the squad? Intelligence, aggression, strength and strong sense of smell are a must.

Police departments get their dogs from a variety of sources. Some are donated while others are purchased from special training facilities in the United States or Europe. European trained dogs are considered the best in the business - but they can cost a lot. On average, a U.S. police department can expect to spend $8,500 to purchase and ship a dog from Europe. Fortunately, in many cases, police dogs end up "paying for themselves" because they're purchased using seized drug money.

Cool Fact Dogs from Europe are often given commands in their native language, such as Dutch or German. This is because it's much easier for the officer to learn a few Dutch or German words than to retrain the dog with new commands.