# Adopting a military police dog



## My GSD

Does anyone know more on this? Is there certain requirements? Like can just anyone apply to get, as I saw a story but one who adopted a dog was a marine seg. 

I thought I would ask in this section, and if no replies I'll post it in the general section.


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## R3C0NWARR10R

Well depending on where the dog is coming from and what they are trained in there will likley be a few requirements. As the military views the dogs as property and not companions some dogs have had multiple handlers and may be a little bit of a handful.


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## Mary Beth

Here's a link http://www.militaryworkingdogadoptions.com/ - since a new law was passed civilians can adopt these dogs - this site explains the process step by step. Your dog will love this link - it has "sound effects".


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## My GSD

Mary Beth said:


> Here's a link http://www.militaryworkingdogadoptions.com/ - since a new law was passed civilians can adopt these dogs - this site explains the process step by step. Your dog will love this link - it has "sound effects".


Thank you! 

And this is exactly the site I was looking at, but I was quite confused. I would love one but as they might be retiree's I won't be able to do schutzhund. As I am guessing they might be old. I read some might suffer from illnesses down the road as they were worked hard... What do you guys think? And thanks again


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## My GSD

Man is this such a good looking GSD police dog over in Germany.


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## R3C0NWARR10R

Do your research on where the dog has been if you can get it. The dogs are worked VERY hard depending on where they are coming from. If they are coming from overseas they will likley be trained as bomb dogs and they are puprosly trained docile, but will be relativly high drive. Most will be retired as I said before the military looks as them as property. I just read a story the other day from some soldiers who when leaving wanted to keep the dogs but were not allowed and they had to pass their dogs to the next one coming in. I felt sorry for the dogs because of all the flipping and working they are doing.


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## AbbyK9

You're actually posting in the wrong category - this should be in the Military Working Dog section, which is the forum right below this one in the main forum view. 

The Military Working Dog Adoptions website linked above has a lot of information and is written by a civilian who has adopted one of these dogs, so it should have all the information you need to get started pursuing MWD adoption yourself.

Dogs that are available for adoption usually fall into one of two categories - the first, and more common category are dogs that are being retired due to the fact that their age or health no longer allows them to continue working. This is the majority of dogs. The second, smaller category, consists of dogs that are young but were either found unsuitable during initial training or found to be unhealthy - like the 2 year old female listed on Lackland's adoption page right now, due to Degenerative Lumbo-Sacral Stenosis.

And you're quite right - it is highly unlikely that the dogs that are adopted out are suitable to pursue a performance sport such as Schutzhund. If the dogs could work, they would be sold to Law Enforcement before they would consider adopting them out into retirement homes.


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## My GSD

Sorry about the wrong section 

And yeah, I am in general a very active person but this is going to be my first GSD so I am imagining this will be too much of a dog for me. I suppose I have nothing to lose by applying.


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## AbbyK9

> And yeah, I am in general a very active person but this is going to be my first GSD so I am imagining this will be too much of a dog for me. I suppose I have nothing to lose by applying.


I don't think a retired MWD would be "too much dog" for you, as most of them are old and ready to live out their remaining months or years in comfort and in a good home. Most will have a fair amount of prey drive for those balls and other toys, some more than others.

I would definitely go ahead and apply. Do be aware that they give priority for adoption to former handlers, and about 90% of dogs are adopted by their handlers. The ones that are left usually have fairly long waiting lists for them (Lackland AFB says to expect about 6 months or more from the time you submit an application).

Lackland AFB's website is Lackland Air Force Base - 341st MWD


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## doggiedad

if you think a Military Dog is going
to be to much for you to handle
why apply for one???



My GSD said:


> Sorry about the wrong section
> 
> And yeah, I am in general a very active person but this is going to be my first GSD so I am imagining this will be too much of a dog for me. I suppose I have nothing to lose by applying.


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## My GSD

doggiedad said:


> if you think a Military Dog is going
> to be to much for you to handle
> why apply for one???



I am referring to the aspect of being severely trained in aggressiveness. 
or am I getting it wrong and would be better as they are trained to listen?


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## Mrs.K

http://www.lackland.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090703-007.pdf

You know, this actually worries me. I really really hope they know what they are doing and don't just produce large numbers of puppies in hope to find the one dog that qualifies... 

PLUS, did you know that the US ARMY wanted to injure pets in Grafenwoehr (Germany) to teach their medics on real-life simulations and didn't get through with it because German Government denied their request? That was recently in German news. So I hope that those dogs, that don't qualify don't end up in anything like that in the States. Who can control how many puppies they produce, how many dogs are set up for adoption and how many end up injured on a training field for real-life simulation?

For those that speak and can read German:
http://zeitung.grafenwoehr.com/2010/05/19/us-militar-will-tiere-zu-ausbildungszwecken-verletzen/4130


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## AbbyK9

I am not sure that the breeding program is something to be concerned about. 

The military has had a breeding program for some time, and their breeding requirements are very, very stringent. If I remember correctly, they only breed dogs that are OFA Excellent, for example, and they only breed dogs that are proven working dogs. I am sure they are still producing some pups not suitable for military use (as any working dog breeder would) but it's not really an equation of breeding a large number of puppies to get one single one that is suitable.

The majority of their dogs come from working dog breeders, and a large portion of them comes from overseas. I know that they have been investigated to see whether they were violating the Buy American Act by purchasing such a large percentage of dogs overseas, but as the "quality of dogs needed" is not available in the US, it was found that it was appropriate for them to buy the dogs from the sources they buy them from.

As far as teaching medics on live animals - which seems to take this thread very far off topic - I have never heard of the military using "pets" in general or dogs in particular for this purpose since the Reagan administration. The article doesn't talk about "pets" either - it says they were planning to use pigs and goats. The military DOES use pigs in trauma training because of the similarity in tissue, etc.


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## Mrs.K

Well, I sometimes confuse pets and animals. To me it's sort of the same, over here it's all "Haustiere" and a goat to me is a pet. Anyhow, it just made me think what it could lead to. They haven't made the best choices in the past, like with that contractor... anyhow, I didn't want to steal that topic and opened another one in the "current dog affairs" section.


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## AbbyK9

> I am referring to the aspect of being severely trained in aggressiveness.
> or am I getting it wrong and would be better as they are trained to listen?


If a dog was severely aggressive, he would not be considered for public adoption. The dogs that are available for public adoption are dogs that are safe for the public to adopt.

If you do adopt a dog, and the dog tends to be handler protective (which many of them are), they should make you aware of that during the adoption process.

Incidentally, if you'd like a copy of the adoption application (I don't believe it's on the website anymore at the moment), I can email it to you if you send me your email address.


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## Mrs.K

I guess that is also a reason why they offer certain dogs only for experienced hands. Like the second dog on the Lackland listing has a note


> NOTE: Requires Former MWD/Police Canine Handler


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## AbbyK9

> I guess that is also a reason why they offer certain dogs only for experienced hands. Like the second dog on the Lackland listing has a note


Yup.  They also ask peoples' experience level with dogs - like whether they have ever owned a dominant dog before, and such.


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## My GSD

AbbyK9 said:


> If a dog was severely aggressive, he would not be considered for public adoption. The dogs that are available for public adoption are dogs that are safe for the public to adopt.
> 
> If you do adopt a dog, and the dog tends to be handler protective (which many of them are), they should make you aware of that during the adoption process.
> 
> Incidentally, if you'd like a copy of the adoption application (I don't believe it's on the website anymore at the moment), I can email it to you if you send me your email address.


If you could that would be good, it's [email protected]


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## AbbyK9

Sent.


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