page_title: Police dog
section_title: Popular breeds
hierarchical_section_title: Police dog / Popular breeds
caption_attribution_description: This photo shows Axel the police dog alongside his handler PC Gez Cotter. Axel and his handler were responsible for tracking down two criminals who had tried to escape police by driving at 180mph. Axel managed to track the two men to a block of flats in Wolverhampton following the pursuit. Due to his high quality training and fearless pursuit skills, Axel managed to locate both men despite them breaking a bottle of aftershave onto the floor in a bid to hide their scent, and / or cause injury to the dog. Thanks to Axel and his handler, as well as further members of the Dogs Unit and Force Traffic, both men were arrested and later jailed for a combined total of 13 years.
context_page_description: A police dog is a dog trained to help police and other law enforcement people. German Shepherds are the most common breed, but other breeds are also used. If a police dog is killed in duty, it is usually given a full police funeral. K-9s are often given their own ballistic vests, and some are given their own police IDs and badges.
context_section_description: Different breeds of police dogs tend to be good at different things.  However, any good police dog should be intelligent, aggressive, strong, and have a good sense of smell. Many police dogs are male and unneutered (because neutering can make a dog less aggressive).  However, there are female police dogs, which are used for rescue, tracking, and locating bombs and drugs. German Shepherd Dogs and Belgian Malinois are the most commonly used; however, other dog breeds (and their specialties) include:
  American Pitbull Terrier (skilled at search and rescue/tracking, attack dogs, and finding bombs and drugs)
  Beagle (good at locating bombs and drugs. Used worldwide.)
  Belgian Malinois (often used for protection, attack dogs, finding IEDs, finding evidence and drugs, prisoner transport, and human tracking.)
  Bloodhound (very good at tracking and identifying things by their smell; used for tracking and locating bombs, drugs, and evidence.)
  Doberman Pinscher (used as a protection and attack dog)
  Dutch Shepherd (also used as a protection and attack dog)
  Springer Spaniel (good at locating bombs and drugs)
  German Shepherd Dog (often used for protection, attack dogs, ground-based tracking, air-based tracking, and finding dead bodies, drugs, evidence, and IEDs)
  German Shorthaired Pointer (good at ground-based tracking and air-based tracking, as well as finding drugs and evidence)
  Labrador Retriever (skilled at locating bombs and drugs)
caption: German Shepherd police dog
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