The questions you've always want to ask a police dog

Are there questions you always wanted to ask a police dog — but were afraid to get close enough to ask? Here are some answers from K-9 handlers:

Are police dogs naturally aggressive? No, said Lt. Evan Boulanger of the Belmont Police Department. “They are trained to be confident and are usually alpha in their pack.” They’re trained to stay calm and focused — and to be aggressive on command.

As herding dogs that are schooled to function as enforcement partners, they have bred-in abilities to interface and work with humans, reading body and hand signals as well as potential dangers and fear. They have a sense of the job, derive satisfaction from it, and usually look forward to doing it, said Boulanger. And they can make split-second decisions. In many situations, “Vito is ‘Stand out of my way, I’ll do this and report back to you when I’m successful,’” Boulanger said of his K-9 partner.

Can I pet a police dog? Yes, but only with the handler’s permission, said Jenn Schaaff, executive director of the Working Dog Foundation in Raymond, which has gifted 15 K-9s to local police departments since 2015. Allied to the New Hampshire Police K-9 Academy, the foundation helps front purchase and training costs for small police departments. 

“Just like pets, some dogs are good in public and some dogs are not,” Schaff said. “If a police dog is working a scene, you need to not interrupt them. They’re either detecting a scent or tracking a suspect or under command of a handler, and you don’t want to distract them.” These dogs are primed to react, disarm or deflect, and might view a sudden movement towards them as a threat to themselves or their handler.

When they’re off duty, it may be a different story. Most of the dogs are well socialized, said Schaaff. “All of those dogs live with their handlers. In their personal lives, they have kids and other pets around.”

Still, it’s always important to ask before you pet someone else’s dog.

How involved is their training? Very, and it continues throughout their career. Police dogs and handlers train with counterparts from other departments, and practice their skills together around New Hampshire, including in Epsom and Durham. There are some basic things they need to be taught — just like puppies who are purchased as pets. Schaff said police dog school begins with sit, stay and come when the dogs are young then quickly progresses to searching for hidden articles, gun residues and drug scents on cars. Patrol dogs are trained to work the street, prepared for drug searches and apprehensions, she said.

When Lt. Boulanger in Belmont acquired Vito at 10 months, the puppy had never learned to sit. He pointed to a photo of them together on a postcard Boulanger sent out one year as a holiday greeting. The dog had amassed a local following and had a Christmas card list. “I had to push his butt down and say, ‘Please, just stay. I need a picture of you.’”

Is having a police dog like having a pet who is constantly with you? What bond do you have with your police dog that I don’t have with my terrier who lives on the couch and sometimes chews it?  “It’s a bond like no other,” said Lt. Dustin Parent, who retired his canine cohort after 10 years of working together at the Gilford Police Department. It’s stronger and more long-lasting than many owners have with their pets. “You may have a bumper sticker for your pet. You’ll use your life savings to save a pet. You buy them a Christmas stocking. Imagine that bond – it’s way more than that.”

As a K-9 officer, “You go to work with them every single day. You need to be able to read your dog’s movements, mood and expressions. Whether you want him to do it or not, he’s absolutely able to read yours,” said Parent. “You know what he looks like when he’s on odor, and whether he’s tracking a deer or a human being. If you’re angry or in a bad mood or your head’s not in the game, he knows it. They claim the leash is an extension of your body. Your feelings go right down that leash to your dog.”

“I would describe it as indescribable,” said Capt. Mike Finogle at Laconia Police Department, who had two K-9 partners there, starting with Yogi in 2000, followed by Jago in 2007. “It’s a connection with an animal that most people never get to experience. You’re providing a high liability service together. You see something that you don’t anticipate seeing in an animal. Personality traits come out.

“They can’t talk, but you understand their emotions,” he said, “whether they’re having an off night or experiencing fear. The hyper-vigilance of the dog when they’re at work versus at home is amazing.”

While in the U.S. Army, Finogle worked as a bomb dog handler, then switched to police work in civilian life. He has partnered with seven dogs over two careers.

“We spent all our time with our dogs,” said Finogle. “Every canine’s different.  It’s an established relationship between the two of you,” one that another person can’t fill in your place. “You understand each other’s body language. It can be a minor gesture. You’re not yelling commands at your dog. Out in the field at night, you can hear a change in their breathing, or see a change in their body language and know you’re close — whether it’s to someone missing you’re looking for, or someone who’s armed and dangerous.”

What do police dogs do when they retire? Mostly just what they want, with the odd requirement thrown in. Like most dogs, they become part of the family pack, and adapt accordingly to their new role in family life.

At this point, Vito still wakes up Boulanger at 6 every morning so the two can head to work, probably because he’s still in retirement denial. The family intends to keep him physically active and as mentally stimulated as possible, Boulanger said, which is what he’s accustomed to.

When Lt. Parent’s German Shepherd, Agbar, retired after 10 years with the Gilford Police Department, the plan was to give him an extended vacation, while spoiling him as if he were on a cruise.

“He lived with me and I never gave him a single command again until he passed away,” Parent said. “The last year and a half he ate steak. I let him live his life. He was pretty happy. I took him up to camp, where he was off leash for entire weekends and loved it,” surrounded by woods around Dixville Notch.

Still, there were times when retirement was hard, and Agbar longed to reminisce.  

“It was quite heartbreaking,” said Parent. “Any time I’d leave for work he’d go out and sit next to the cruiser and wait for me to take him with me. And every once in a while, I’d take him for a ride in the cruiser.”