Psychology, discipline key to training 'hero' police dogs

Expert handler

Yang Wentao is captain of the police dog training brigade in the criminal investigation detachment of the Huangshi public security bureau, which has 35 police dogs.

After graduating from the police dog technology department of the Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Yang has handled seven police dogs.

Every day, he feeds, trains, and washes the dogs, willingly devoting himself to his passion for the past 25 years.

"What's going on? Kunlun doesn't seem to be in a good mood today, the dog's lacking focus during training," Yang shouts to a young handler.

He later learns that Kunlun was upset after seeing the handler interacting with another dog.

"The intelligence of some police dogs is equivalent to that of a four or five-year-old child," said Yang, adding that understanding canine psychology is essential to effectively train police dogs.

"Sometimes, they pretend not to understand what you're saying when they want to slack off. They are actually very clever," he said.

Yang said it generally takes five to 10 months to train a police dog. The maximum service life of a police dog is around eight years.

After retirement, the police dog base allows the canines to live out their remaining years in comfort at the base.

"In my view, each police dog is a hero dog," said Yang.

Contact the writers at liukun@chinadaily.com.cn