Training methods provide top skills

Four national training centers and research quarters have been set up across the country to fulfill the need for police dogs. The four centers focus on different fields involved in canine training, such as dog disease control and prevention, information management and police dog training research, and are responsible for operational guidance of dogs from certain areas and provinces in China.

Popular selections for use of police dogs include the German Shepherd for its keen sense of smell and high intelligence, Malinois for its talents in explosives detection and suspect tracking, and the Rottweiler, which is famous for its incredible biting power.

The centers are in Shenyang of Liaoning province, Nanchang of Jiangxi province, Nanjing of Jiangsu province and Kunming of Yunnan province.

"Canine training centers in China have adopted a training method called positive reinforcement, which helps keep the rejection rate of canines at 5 to 10 percent during the training process," said Bai Yan, a police officer in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province with 13 years experience in police dog training.

"Canine training centers in China have abandoned the training method of negative reinforcement because of its high reject ion rate and the injuries it causes the puppies, and have adopted the positive method, such as giving additional stimulus and awards to the canines," he said.

Dogs are selected for training when they are eight months old, though Bai would like to see them chosen even earlier. "If the training starts for dogs at two months old, the dogs can easily become dependent on the handlers and the tacit understanding between the pair can be enhanced with time," Bai said.

Handlers select candidates from a group of puppies and take these potential police dogs through the training period.

According to a report by Beijing Youth Daily, the training courses aim to examine the puppies' nature, health and courage, and are followed by a judgment on their future potential and direction for training.

The general training period usually lasts three months, during which the canines will be trained to obey orders from handlers in the first month and receive targeted training courses for their future assigned work in last two months.

Dogs trained for searching in snow and detecting explosive items can master their skills and perform missions four weeks after they have practiced in the field. The dogs will be assigned to different public security departments and brigades after finishing their training courses.

For the officers, the dogs are classified as police inventory and losing a police dog is as serious for its officer as losing a gun. And intentional killing or hurting the dog is legally defined as criminal behavior.

The average service time for police dogs is eight years, during which daily and annual health checks will be conducted to secure their health and working conditions. Canines retire from the units after eight years, but those who suffer from disease will be eased out during their service.

The retired police dogs in China will be found new homes by the public security departments or the units they served. Some of the retired canines spend their remaining years in the units and others can be adopted by the handlers. Civilians who love dogs can also apply to adopt retired police dogs.

Cheng Si contributed to this story.