Police and army on alert: protective dogs in danger!

Police and army on alert: protective dogs in danger!

A new ban on training protective dogs for civilian breeders raises serious questions about the future security of the police and the federal army. As the Krone , the Green Minister Johannes Rauch issued a regulation on his last day in office that will come into force from April 15th. This ban means that private breeders are no longer licensed for the training of service dogs, which brings great dangers for the quality of the dogs used. So far, protection dogs have been bred and evaluated by private breeders before they were taken over by the police and the army.

With the elimination of this preliminary evaluation, which was guaranteed by private breeders, the Federal Army fears a "considerable risk". It is pointed out that the army breeds its own Rottweiler and Malinois, but is still dependent on additional dogs to strengthen the bloodline. In the future, however, these dogs will be bought either "into the blue" or from abroad - and there is a risk of receiving less high -quality animals, since the strict animal welfare standards abroad could not have the same importance as in Austria. This was also made clear in the Military Dog Center in Kaisersteinbuch, where the breeding and training of the service dogs takes place.

critical effects on personnel recruitment

The ban not only affects dog training, but also on the recruitment of military dog handlers. About 40 percent of the dog handlers have so far been recruited from dog sports. With the new law, a decline in the recruitment rate is expected, since fewer applicants are allowed to come into training with sufficient knowledge. These developments could lead to serious bottlenecks and endanger the operational performance of the police and the army. There are currently over 170 military dogs and more than 120 dog handlers who contribute to safety and various operations both in Germany and abroad, for example in disaster assistance.