Leerburg / Ask Cindy / Categories / Working Dogs / My husband will be getting a new police K9 soon. W...

May 18, 2011

My husband will be getting a new police K9 soon. We already have a dog, so what do we need to do when the new dog comes into the family?

Full Question:

Hi Mr. Frawley,

Thank you for taking the time to read my email. I think your web site is wonderful and have purchased several of your DVDs. I have a question and it's probably located somewhere in your web site but I cannot find anything so I was wondering if you would help. My husband is a police officer with the Ardmore PD and they have been without a canine for several years. The state has awarded a grant for this and he has been selected to be the canine handler. He will be attending training classes and all that. My question is this. We already have a GSD who is a year and 4 months old. He lives in the house with us and is part of the family. What do we need to do when the other GSD comes into our family? We have a crate we keep Max in when we are out and at night. Can you please give us some suggestions as to how to keep the two dogs? We are planning on building a kennel in our back yard for two dogs.

Thank you!
Karen

Ed's Answer:

I am not a fan of keeping a police dog as a house dog. It makes Pets out of them. They are working animals not pets.

I also do not believe that two males are going to get along together. In fact I would not try. You can read the article I wrote on how to introduce a new dog into a home with existing dogs. But I do not believe that you should do this.

Your husband could be well advised to get some of the police K9 training DVDs that I have done.

Here is the short list: