Although sometimes deemed a luxury, grooming your dog is an essential part of your pet’s health.  Visiting a professional groomer every four to six weeks will ensure a clean, happy animal. Although many owners are able to bathe their dogs at home on a regular basis, a professional groomer can help do the “dirty” work including deep cleaning, cutting the nails, cleaning the ears and external anal gland expressions.   If your dog has a longer coat, a professional groomer can trim or style.  Using sharp instruments like scissors or clippers are not recommended at home without proper training as it could lead to serious injury to you and your animal.

Don’t just leave grooming to the professionals.  A daily or at least weekly home regimen can keep the coat well maintained and clean.  It’s also a great opportunity to bond with your dog and reinforce your relationship. Brushing removes dead hair and combats heavy shedding. It also distributes healthy, natural oils throughout the coat and increases circulation to the hair follicles. 

Regular grooming at home can also play a key part in detecting harmful ailments in their early stages.   Fleas, ticks, hotspots, and mange are easily identifiable with routine combing, and any irregular growths or areas of sensitivity should also become apparent with home maintenance.

Matting is the most common problem for dogs with longer coats. Coat mats are a tight tangle of hair usually pressed closed to the dog’s skin.  The best way to deal with mats is to prevent them from forming in the first place. Matting can cause severe discomfort and skin irritation for the dogs. If left unresolved, this can lead to serious medical issues such as hematomas.   

We do not recommend de-matting at home as it takes special tools like a de-matting comb with sharp edges to break up the mats. In many cases, the mats will be too tight to cut or break and can only be shaved out.  Often times, the skin will be irritated beneath the mat from the pulling and, in some cases, forms open sores.   Matting can be avoided at home with a regular brushing routine. Different coats require specific brushes and combs, depending on length and texture. Our groomers will gladly show you which tools are appropriate and how to use them at home.     

Whether grooming at home or going to a professional, keeping your canine companion clean and regularly maintained serves an important role in the prevention and early detection of many issues. Developing a consistent home routine can also be a rewarding way to spend some quality time with your canine companion. Occasional pampering is nice, but remember that regular grooming plays an essential role in the health and happiness of your dog.     

Dogs play an integral role in law enforcement operations.  Most enforcement agencies, from local to federal offices, have canine (K-9) units; dogs here are trained to perform a number of vital, crime-fighting functions.  These functions include sniffing out bombs and narcotics.  Scent dogs even sniff out cell phones hidden in inmates’ jail cells.  If you are interested in getting your dog involved in public service, the following advice may be useful.

As a preliminary matter, try to assess what type of dogs your local agencies utilize and need.  Depending on the anticipated function of the dog, some breeds are more popular for certain roles than others.  For example, most canine units have a good number of German Shepherds: these dogs are intelligent, hard-working, easy to train, and have good temperament.  Sporting dogs, like Golden Retrievers and Labradors, are frequently used for scent detection work – their powerful noses sniff out bombs, narcotics, agents used in suspected cases of arson, and even dead bodies (cadavers).

The age of the dog also is important, as many law enforcement agencies will not take dogs that are too young or too old.  Dogs that are younger than 8 or 10 months are generally too young to have the attention span and concentration required for the police training and obedience work.  On the flip side, dogs who are more than 2 or 3 years old are frequently considered too old for enforcement work. 

In addition, your dog must be in overall good health.  If asked, your veterinarian should be able to certify that your dog’s shots are up to date and that his overall health and well-being is good.  The canine unit also likely will ask whether your dog may be prone to chronic conditions, such as elbow or hip dysplasia. 

Other than your dog’s age and health, your dog’s temperament is the most critical factor in deciding whether your dog can be a law enforcement dog.  Law enforcement agencies are looking to recruit dogs who will not only succeed in the training, but will work in the high stress, very excited environment of police work.  Canine recruiters often pick dogs that dominant, but not aggressive.  Dogs in law enforcement generally have temperaments that are friendly, but self-controlled: they will allow people to approach and even handle them without fleeing or engaging in aggressive behavior. 

Recruiters also look for dogs who are naturally curious.  If an unexpected sight is seen, or sound is heard, does your dog explore the source, or run away?  Recruited dogs must not fear, or must be able to learn not to fear, sudden and harsh noises like gunfire, meaning that the dog cannot be naturally too skittish or submissive.  Many agencies use the umbrella test: the dog is placed in the sitting position in front of an umbrella.  The handler opens the umbrella abruptly and suddenly.  The dog’s reaction – curious, frightened, unfazed, confused – is noted and is a factor in their overall score. 

To gauge your dog’s temperament, canine handlers will put your dog through a number of comprehensive indoor and field tests to evaluate him for different strengths and weaknesses.  The dog’s score on these tests will ultimately determine whether your dog is the type of dog they are looking for in their particular line of work.   Dogs who are candidates for the scenting units undergo specialized examinations designed to test their tracking and scent abilities. 

As mentioned above, if you believe your dog would prove a valuable asset to your local law enforcement agency, try contacting your city police department for resources and referrals.  They will be in the best position to tell you their precise hiring and application process.

Alternatively, consider joining the local search and rescue team as a volunteer.  Handlers and dogs must be healthy, fit, and able to respond when called, especially during emergencies.  Similar to law enforcement dogs, search and rescue dogs must be trainable, dominant, curious, and approachable.  Both handler and dog must be committed to the training process, as the training process can take a year or more.  The only dogs expressly disallowed from search and rescue teams are overtly aggressive dogs – the aggression in those dogs must be controlled properly before they can be trusted with searching and finding lost and missing persons.  For more information, check out the National Association for Search and Rescue’s website here.

Dogs have a number of roles in law enforcement.  Your dog, with the proper training, can help defend the public and take a bite out of crime.