Rock Island Argus., 1908-03-04
New York CANNES Put in Ser.
vice to Keep Providers Out
of Districts,
PATROL POSTS WITH MEN
Clever Animals Have Been Taught to
Trip Suspicious Characters
While on the Run.

in the morning and muzZled dog
looking like a cross between a collie |
and bull terrier barks ut you. one of
the best things TO do is to stop. You |
will stop anyway, Willy nilly. and |
probably at the cost of bruised shin, |
for the dog belongs to the new canine |
police squad. and the first thing he |
does when he sees a suspicious looking |
person on the run is to dash in be- |
tween his legs and send him on his |
collar bone. This is because it's thf !
first rule in the code book of the new
canine patrol squad No. l, n. Y. P. D..
says the New York Sun.
The new squad OF police dogs is fully |
trained. and there always will be this
insurance against their biting a piece
out of q respectable citizen under the
impression that he is a second story
man-they can't Each doggle cop is SO
muzzled that he can drink water, bark
vehemently and have his nose petted.
but cannot eat poisoned meat from
some false friend. inadvertently chew
up the pillars Of society or accept
bologna from a butcher who wants to
keep open after hours.
The dogs have been in training for
their duties since they were brought
over from Ghent. Belgium, a few
months ago. These dogs of this half
collie half mastiff breed have been
used in police work for years with
good results. Third Deputy Commits
sioner Arthur Woods determined to
get some dogs to use in the outlying
precincts of New York to fight the
summer epidemics of attacks on chill
dren and help out the police with the
long beats all the year around.
He at first thought of bloodhounds,
but these did not seem practicable. At
the suggestion Of Robert L. Bacon, a
son of the assistant secretary of state.
Mr.. Woods sent Lieutenant George K.
Wakefield over to Belgium to look at
the police dogs of Brussels. Client and
other cities. Wakefield liked the meth
DDS of Client best. bought four Ghent
puppies and an English Airedale to ex
pertinent with and brought them over.
Since then three policemen have been
having the time of their lives playing
| trolmen Charles Beerman and Miles
Mcdonald are the lucky cops whose
| daily job has been to so to South
| Washington park and train five frollc-
| some pups how to be good policemen.
One of the Belgians quickly showed
| that he would never make a cop and
was stricken from the probationary list.
| The squad have been taught one
| thing at time. First came obedience
| to orders like Come to heel" After
him, boy" and the like Next came
knowing policeman in uniform and
| always working with the uniform.
More difficult than this was learning to
distinguish policeman's whistle from
other whistles. Now the dogs will pick
out a policemans every time and run
IN its direction.
Revolver Has No Effect.
Another accomplishment these fouI
footed Dogberrys are now up on is
that of paying no more attention to {;
fusillade Of revolver bullets than a
tried retriever pays to a volley of bird
shot. The highwayman test is another
one. The part of the highwayman is
taken by the man who has been feed
ing the dogs and with whom ordinary
dogs would be friendly.
Strange cop walks up, with Fido COP
trotting Obediently at heels. Out
springs Mr.. Highwayman and falls
upon strange cop. Fido cop realizes al
once that it Is case of being true to
either duty or his dinner. Hesitate
Not he. One glance at the blue uni
form of his friend, and to his assist
ance he flies. Mr.. Highwayman natu
rally is soon down and out. What
would happen If the quondam high
wayman failed to perform his function
Of handing out dinner the next time
vealed at police headquarters.
The dogs will be sent out with indi
vidual policemen, the man holding his
A partner In leash. When In the middle
of his beat, which the dog has already
I been made familiar with so that he
knows it as a beat of his, own, doggie
is released and chases himself on his
duties. He scours fields and runs
through alleys, has a look at cellar
i uVOAS, -ALk aNk4Cn iC Hccto SuS
picious barks like a good fellow. The
cop runs up. and they investigate. Il
he sees any one running In a suspicious
manner, the dog jumps right in, trips
up the runner and stands baying over
him until the officer comes up.
Three Of the four Belgians are named
Nogi, Max and Donner. The fourth
for reasons, is named Lady. In the
gossip of the police department is an
item to the effect that Lady will sooI
add somewhat to the number of Bel.
gian dog cops. Dogs young enough to
train for New York uses cost sic
apiece In Belgium, and 1t costs SIC
more to bring them here. So Lady's
pups will be worth at least $50 apiece
to the department and at no added
outlay to the police appropriation.
The fifth dog, the English one, is
called Jim. In many ways he is the
liveliest OF the lot If the experiment
with the dogs succeeds and they do not
bowl over too many middle aged re-
spectabilities who are running for troll