How old does a dog have to be o become a police dog?

Answer 1

Around 6 years of age, but it depends on the dog and the state. Belgian Malinois are usually retired at 6 years old.
Most police dogs work until their bodies become old and infirm at which time they are retired. Others may turn out to be temperamentally unsuited for the work and are retired early.

Usually the police officer assigned to the dog is given first choice to keep the dog as a pet when it retires. Police dogs, even retired ones, require special handling and are not generally released as pets to the public.
Police Officers and their K-9's share a special bond as equal partners focused on a common goal. Many police K-9's are specially bread for the work they are intended to preform. K-9's are trained to detect narcotics, explosives, flammable liquids, firearms, mold, termites, and even human scent among other things. K-9's can be trained to find many things because of their keen sense of smell, they can smell a million times better than a human can.

Police K-9's go through a rigorous selection process before they can begin their training. Most police K-9's begin their training at 9-12 months of age. This ensures they are mature and focused enough to do the job.

Likewise, a Police Officer selected to be a K-9 handler is selected only after completing several years as a Police Officer. This ensures the Officer knows their job as well.

A Police Officer and K-9 begin their training together and learn how to work as a team. The handler learns about how to care for his K-9 partner, feed, clean, as well as how the K-9 learns and behaves. The K-9 is also learning a lot about how the handler acts, how they move, give commands and corrections, as well as how to detect an odder.

Police Officers and K-9's communicate in verbal and non-verbal ways. K-9's are trained to understand verbal commands like sit, lay down, and stay. These commands can be given in several different languages as the K-9 only understands tone and inflection in the handlers voice, not the exact word or phrase. K-9's also understand hand signals which command them to do different things, like sit, attack, stay, and come. This insures the ability for the Officer and K-9 to operate covertly or in an area where verbal commands would not work, such as: at a long distances or loud environments.

Many K-9's live with their handlers and their handlers families. This solidifies the bond between handler and K-9 as inseparable partners. Many K-9's have died in the line of duty to protect their handlers, that kind of loyalty is born of trust, commitment, and love.

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."

-- Author Unknown

Answer 2

Usually around 12 to 15 months of age.

Answer 3

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