Ive heard from from more than one source that biting police dogs are being phased out and in 5 years there wont be that many left. Ofcourse narcotic dogs and tracking dogs will always be in demand. I dont know if I believe that in 5 years biting police dogs will be like dinosaurs in the K-9 world but I could believe there could be a signifigant trend away from them. I dont know, I hope not, but I thought Id ask if others have heard this or have seen a trend away from them. If so, what would be the reason for it? Would it be for liability reasons? Would it be a result of departments doing a poor job training their own dogs because they dont have the money to buy trained dogs or cant afford help with maintanence training from private contractors?

The civil liability of a service dog trained to apprehend is well documented and costs agency's huge dollars. To look in from the outside, it appears logical that patrol or handler protection trained dogs would be phased out in order to reduce liability and the resulting settlements. If one takes a closer look, every agency that I know of, to included my own, is looking for methods and tools that give its officers alternatives to lethal force, hence the issue of OC and electric devices. I don't see it happening.

I have actually seen an increase in departments obtaining dual purpose dogs, in other words dogs that will bite. Some departments are concerned with the liability, however, a properly trained K9 team should not be a liability. I truly doubt that this portion of K9 work would be phased out. It is too valuable and offers handler protection, option in the use of force continuum, among other things. I would be interested to know where you heard that from.

I think that's probably true David as far as street biting dogs. But I don't think it's because of liability, but because of an increase in technology. I would think that there are always new methods in development for stopping criminals, so the demand for a biting dog may decline as the years pass. Who knows? But nothing beats a dog's nose to track a substance or a suspect.

Thats bunk, ask some of the major dog dealers/importers if they are seeing a decline in bite dog demand.


I talked to my cousin, she lives in Zlin and makes a good side living buying and reselling dogs to the US. She has had a HUGE few years since 9/11. The demand is such that she said there is talk of the WUSV Czech registration authority freezing export pedigrees in an attempt to halt the outflow of dogs to the US and other parts of the world. If may be just a lot of talk, but there is a pretty good demand still in the US for bite dogs.


I also expect that as dogsport continues to grow in the US, we will see more dogs in service.

“I believe that in 5 years biting police dogs will be like dinosaurs in the K-9 world”

“What would be the reason for it? Would it be for liability reasons? Would it be a result of departments doing a poor job training their own dogs because they don’t have the money to buy trained dogs or cant afford help with maintenance training from private contractors?”

Well, its “always” politically motivated, (yes“ always” is a broad term but prove me wrong in this instance) I can not see any decline in this sector, we have just passed out the biggest class of patrol dogs ever here, crime is growing like fungus, all over the world, it’s getting more violent, and no machine can take the place of a well trained police dog, The intention or motivation for the use of dogs, are to intervene where high risk, violent criminals are hiding in a confined area, to apprehend them, mostly, they have many other uses as well.

So I think that the perception that working dogs, or patrol dogs are on there way out, never, I think they will be with us, for as long as dogs are around to be trained.

What is true how ever, we as administrators have a very hard time to find quality police men that will make good handlers, very hard words, but yes test this with other K9 units - hard

The only thing that I have noticed is more departments, want to know more about the hold and bark, instead of going in and biting. But it would appear that departments have increased (this being fact in some bigger cities) thier patrol dogs. I agree that perhaps some departments will not be deploying a dog as fast on a guy say that it threating people with a piece of pipe on the street, as there are other tools that do not inflict any lasting trama even in the short term, but there will always be a need for a bitng service dog here in America.

PSD's are as an important part of American policing as apple pie and the fourth of July are to American culture. There always will be police dogs in American Cities and and the number in outlying areas are ever increasing. The IACP and other organizations are leading the push for bark and hold dogs, for liability reduction reasons. You are seeing a huge increase in bomb and narcotics dogs due to the increase in drug consumption in the US and post 9-11 needs.

The skinny of the matter is that PSD's save officers lives. Be it the psychological effect at a riot or large street fight or the dog that gets sent in first at the scene of a burglary. You read about k9 heros in the papers who are shot and killed or beaten and killed, these dogs died so that police officers may live.

I know there will always be police dogs, my question is about a possible trend away from biting police dogs. I would like to see alot more bark and hold dogs in law enforcement. I hear alot of law enforcement talk about how much they dont like or believe in the bark and hold. I think the real reason they critisize it is because it is to difficult for them to successfully teach. They seem to have a hard enough time to teach the dogs to out on command.Seems like departments would rather buy green dogs and train the dog theirself, to save money.This in alot of cases limits the potential of the dog.As far as saying there is a huge demand for bomb dogs, its my understanding that-that train was filled and left. At this stage of the bomb dog game the departments would rather buy green dogs and train them.

I too believe that the reason for some Officers not liking the Bark and Hold is that it is hard to teach. Most of the arguments that you hear do not hold water, and the guys that are against it, cannot even get thier dog to out, or to comeback after being sent.They barley get by, and this is just another brick wall for them to have to deal with. This is not directed to all of the Officers that I have spoken with, but the majority. I think it is sad to see Police dogs that run along side of a decoy and look for the sleeve (when the decoy has a hidden-sleeve on) and not engage, or when a dog is on the street and does not bite because the bad guy is wearing a sleeve or suit. Try adding a B@H for these dogs and trainers. Also there are alot of vendors that bring in green dogs, that train these departments, and so teaching the B@H is a longer process. I also feel that when a dog is trained to do the B@H you will see alot more of the weaknesses come out in the dog, then a dog that is just trained to bite. This makes bad business for vendors. It will, I feel for the most part increase the washout rate on green dogs. So thus one of the reasons for the Find @ Bite.