DOGS FOR POLICE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 783, 5 April 1910, Page 7

DOGS FOR POLICE.

EXECUTIVE AND CRIMINAL TRACKING-

AN INTERESTING LETTER.

. (By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) Auckland, April i. Dr. Stopford; of Auckland, who actively interests himself in canine matters generally, and who recently brought under the notice of Ssir Joseph Ward /the:value'.of dogs for police work, has received a letter from Major Richardson, the leading English authority on this • subject. The major offers to send out a brace of trained bloodhounds, dog and bitch, for ,£SO the brace. He gives a most interesting account of the uses to which these and other dogs are put by tho police at Home. To quote his lettori

"Yon should clearly understand that thero are two sorts of dogs used for police and ambulance work. There is ■ the 'executive', dog. This is used for going out at night with the policeman on night duty. The objects of this dog are; . . "(1) To give warning of anything unusual. ■"'■'. V "(2) To protect the policeman in case of attack. '. ' • ' ' "''' '. "(3) To capture and ,hold escaping criminals. ■ -. " ! "This dog is not expected to do any tracking, tnat is to say running cola trails. Ho gives warning, of anyone in the neighbourhood by his acute hearing and scenting powers, and ho acts as a scout. I have been experimenting for years on the host type.of dog for this purpose, and I have evolved a heavy typo of "dog (crossbred Airedale and sheep dog) which in temperament and physical development is in every way perfect for tho work. Hβ is faithful, sagacious, very powerful, and suspicious of strangers, with a good nose and keen -hearing, lor the last eighteen months I have been supplying the Admiralty with the dogs for a very important purpose of defence they have been found to ■' fill so satisfactorily. I yesterday re-: ceived the sixth repeated order from then; for further supplies of these dogs. I can send you out for your Auckland Town Council 'dogs for this purpose at £5 each, which is what the Admiralty pays and also foreign ,constabulares. With the dogs I would send out (as I did for the naval dogs) a list of instructions as to their management, feeding, and kennelling, so as to bring out their fullest efficacy. ■ "Beside tho 'Executive' dog, there aro 'Criminal tracking , dogs. 'Criminal tracking, dogs are "for a completely different purpose from tho 'Executive' dog. They are to supplement the work of the other dogs—that is to say, after the criminal has got clear away. The dog that is capable of running a cold traij is necessary for this purpose. I have found bloodhounds are tue best, but- they must be carefully selected and well trained. They aro therefore expensive dogs, and a pro-perly-trained hound costs £30. One hound, however,, is quite sufficient for a town and for the surrounding hood, but ho must bo brought to the spot within an hour or two of the crime. After that time curiosity generally brings so many people te tho spot that it is found impossible to keep the trail clear enough for successful work. Therefore pno hound should not be expected to work a larger area than its own town and near district. I ■use these tracking hounds in war time for ambulance, that is for tracking wounded soldiers." Major Eicbardson concludes: "Were your city supplied with 'Executive' dogs and a tracking hound you would find crime practically non-existent."