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Causes of loss or retirement from active duty for New Zealand police German shepherd dogs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

AJ Worth ,
M Sandford ,
B Gibson ,
R Stratton ,
V Erceg ,
J Bridges  and
B Jones
AJ Worth*
Affiliation:
Centre for Service and Working Dog Health, Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand
M Sandford
Affiliation:
New Zealand Police Dog Section, Trentham, New Zealand
B Gibson
Affiliation:
New Zealand Police Dog Section, Trentham, New Zealand
R Stratton
Affiliation:
Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
V Erceg
Affiliation:
Centre for Service and Working Dog Health, Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand
J Bridges
Affiliation:
Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
B Jones
Affiliation:
Centre for Service and Working Dog Health, Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Private Bag 11-222, Palmerston North, New Zealand
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
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Abstract

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The aim of this study was to determine the causes of loss from active duty amongst German shepherd dogs in service with the New Zealand Police Dog Section. Current or previous police dog handlers (n = 149) completed a postal survey for each dog they had worked with during their career including their current dog. Causes of loss were categorised as either retirement, euthanasia whilst still in active duty, death from illness/natural causes, or being killed whilst on duty. Of 182 dogs with completed questionnaires, 48 dogs were still in service, leaving 134 that were retired (94), had been euthanased (24), had died (11) or had been killed (5). The mean and median age at loss for all dogs no longer in service was 6.6 years. The nominal age for planned retirement (8 years) was only reached by 40% of dogs. The single most important cause of retirement was the inability to cope with the physical demands of the job (61/94 dogs or 65%). Degenerative musculoskeletal disease was cited as the primary factor in 42/61 of these dogs (69%). When both retired and euthanased dogs where considered together, 27% were retired or euthanased due to back/spinal problems, and a high proportion of these were believed to have involved the lumbosacral joint. Greater research efforts should be targeted at identification of the factors that lead to degenerative musculoskeletal and lumbo-sacral disease to determine methods of lowering their incidence in police working dogs. Such research could lead to increasing the average working life and ‘in work’ welfare of a police German shepherd dog in New Zealand.

Keywords

animal welfarecanineGerman shepherdpoliceretirementworking dog
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , May 2013 , pp. 167 - 174
Copyright
© 2013 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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