How to Donate a Dog for Law Enforcement

It takes a rare dog to work in law enforcement.

Dogs perform a variety of tasks in law enforcement, from helping to sniff out drugs and contraband to helping to catch criminal suspects to guarding prison boundaries. These highly skilled dogs often need 2 to 3 years of training, and they are retired when they are too old or too ill to work. This long training period and often short career means that the turnover rate of dogs in law enforcement is high.

Things You'll Need

• Vet
• Breeder's contact information (if applicable)

Instructions

1. Contact your local police department and your local political representative to determine what law or drug enforcement departments in your area accept donated dogs. This varies widely from area to area.

2. Contact local shelters, breed rescues and breeders. They may have insights about law or drug enforcement department that take donated dogs.

3. Make sure your dog is up to date on its shots. Be sure you can get a letter testifying to its health from your veterinarian.

4. Let a dog trainer of an interested agency give your dog a number of personality tests. The trainer will assess whether your dog has the right personality for police work.

5. Read and sign any contract that the law enforcement team gives you to turn over legal ownership of your dog. Be sure you know whether they will contact you to take the dog back if training does not work out.

Tips & Warnings

• American police dogs that serve in finding and immobilizing criminals are generally from specific breeders that have gone through rigorous training, often from Europe. Drug or contraband sniffing dogs are often found through shelters or breed rescues. Dogs of the herding group, beagles and retrievers make up the bulk of drug-sniffing dogs. Dogs suitable for police work must be in good health and have lots of energy and often an obsession for a toy like a tennis ball. That toy then becomes the reward for learning how to work for law enforcement. All dogs must pass numerous personality tests to be considered for police work. If your dog is trainable and is dependable off the leash, then consider joining a local volunteer search-and-rescue team. Search and rescue is not a part of law enforcement and is done by volunteers and their dogs.

Resources

• National Search and Rescue Organizations
• Prison Employs Dangerous Dogs
• United States Police Canine Association