K9s

[R.B.K9NC]

Whatis The Best Dog For All Around. FOR DRUGS/PROT/APP.

[olnacl]

nothing to see here

[Skip08]

I have a Rottie who is trained in tracking, man work, article searching, and active drug detection. I am partial to Rotties as I have had shepherds not as good as what I have now, the only thing is that you must keep them active and lean, my bloke is 4 years old and weighs in at 37 - 39 kgs works well in tropical north queensland

[hemicop]

My opinion? German Shepherds. Mals & Rotties are good dogs,no doubt, but i think them & their handlers are "specialists" . What i mean is,those dogs are especially good in 1 thing and/or need experienced handlers to get the maximum from them. A GSD however is adaptable,durable trainable & generally less "quirky" than some other breeds. Many years ago I stumbled on a Marine who was a Viet Nam vet. He told me in the 60's when the U.S. was first there the military tried a variety of dogs as their use was extremely varied. Sentry,guard, police trackers,scout,bomb,tunnel dogs--you name it.Ultimately the military decided on GSD. They were so good the VC put the same bounty on a dog/handler team as they did Green BERETS or SEALS! I think thats some damn good credentials for ANY animal !

[Dog Off Leash]

Hey all, I'm Phil, a former K-9 handler for the USAF (now I'm in the reserves - no dog for me ). Just wanted to stop by and say hello first.

Hemicop

While I'll say that the Mal is my favorite, and I'll agree that Mals require an experienced handler, I'll have to completely disagree that they're specialists or good at only 1 thing. Mals just require an experienced handler (or one with an open mind) because the dogs are problem solvers! You can use the same correction on a Shep over & over again (or the same fix to correct a problem), but Mals are natural problem solvers and that "fix" will only last until the Mal can figure a way around it. They're too damn smart for their own good sometimes! Trust me, i worked a Mal for 2 years! Awsome awsome AWSOME dogs! (I still love Sheps too )

Also, the Mal is starting to over-take the Shep as far as numbers are concerned and the US Military. Mals don't seem to have the genetic problems that Sheps do, and adapt just as fast as Sheps to the various climates.

However, everything else you've said is correct. During Vietnam, NO dog-led combat patrol was ever ambushed - EVER. If that's not a testamant to our dogs & handlers, I don't know what is.

Also, as far as bounties are concerned, they're still alive & well, and our puppy-pushers are high on Hadji's hit lists.

Stay safe
Phil

[hemicop]

Dog,glad to see someone here with experience in more than just police K9s. My Dept. is starting to get a few mals. (right now we have 11 dogs), but my comment was refering to the best overall. I once heard it said "Shepherds are THE best at nothing,but 2nd best at everything". In terms of work mals probably are better than GSDs since they haven't been "contaminated" by in & over-breeding. The mals intelligience, like a dobes make it, i think less suitable for new handlers or trainers that don't have the "tools" to work with them. I still love GSDs but maybe someday I'll try my hand at a mal. A K9 handler here swore by GSDs until he got his mal. I didn't know mohammed was so worried about dogs. When we had some Saudi cops here for training they hated them,claiming they were "unclean" & all that. Funny though, I had a friend in Germany that sold a bunch of GSDs to them some years ago.