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Police Dogs
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Police dogs are used by specially trained police officers to carry out their duties. The dogs in New Zealand are German Shepherds, because they are big, strong, and straight-forward to train.

These dogs learn to be totally obedient and do what their handler orders, even if it is dangerous. They learn to move in many sorts of environments, and to handle situations where other dogs would be frightened.

They must also learn to attack a criminal, and to hold on to him. Because police dogs have been trained as attack dogs, they are not safe to give away to ordinary owners.

People should never train their dogs to attack, because dogs that attack people can be put down. Only the police are allowed to do this, and they have to follow very strict rules.

Police dogs are often used to track criminals, or sometimes people who have got lost. All dogs have got tremendously powerful senses of smell, far better than humans, and can follow the smell left by a person.

Police dogs have to be totally obedient, and to ignore things that other dogs would run after.

All these dogs are learning that they have been told to sit and stay, and they must ignore the cat walking past their noses!

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