LAPD Begins Breeding, Training Its Own Service Dogs

[bigdoglover]

NBC 4 News

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Police Department has begun breeding and training its own service dogs, possibly the first large American law- enforcement agency to do so.

The department will continue to import dogs from Europe, which supplies most of the K-9 units in the United States, the Daily News reported. But with the animals costing $8,500 each, the LAPD hopes to save money while creating a supply of trained dogs for the future, according to the newspaper.

"This is not going to solve our need for dogs," Sgt. Doug Roller, the chief trainer for the LAPD's 22-dog K-9 Unit, told the newspaper.


"This is just a way to help us obtain dogs, to give us a break. It takes the pressure off. I can afford to have a young dog in hand without being worried about a dog getting too old."

The LAPD began breeding its own dogs this year, prompted by a spike in demand for police dogs after 9-11, the Daily News reported.

Harold Bennett, president of the North American Police Work Dog Association, told the Daily News he is unaware of any other major police department breeding its own puppies.

Some professional dog trainers question whether police departments are equipped to breed their own dogs.

Dave Reaver, president of Adlerhorst International Inc., which supplies imported dogs to the LAPD and some 300 other agencies, told the Daily News that departments take a risk when they breed their own dogs.

"It's probably not the most cost-effective way to do it," he told the newspaper. "If you breed your own dogs and you need 10 dogs a year, you have to have 40 to 50 puppies. (Many) won't make it."