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

Abstract

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.

CT and gross pathology are comparable methods for detecting some degenerative sacroiliac joint lesions in dogs

“…Degenerative sacroiliac joint disease is one of the causes of lumbosacral region pain in dogs . Risk factors may include skeletal malformations, trauma, or repetitive task‐related injuries.…”

“…Degenerative sacroiliac joint disease is one of the causes of lumbosacral region pain in dogs. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Risk factors may include skeletal malformations, trauma, or repetitive task-related injuries. Current standard diagnostic tests for this disease in dogs include history, clinical evidence of pain on palpation of the sacroiliac joint, kinematic tests, radiography, and postmortem examination.…”

“…session into a spreadsheet (Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011, version 14.0.0, Redmond, WA, MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7, AppleInc., Cupertino, CA). Values for each of the following variables were entered: dog number(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), method (CT, gross pathology), reading session(1)(2)(3)(4), sacroiliac joint side (right, left), and presence/absence for each lesion type in that joint (present = 1, absent = 0). Any additional reader comments were also entered into the spreadsheet.Frequency and percentage values for each lesion and each method F I G U R E 3 Transverse, bone window CT image (A) and gross pathology slice photograph (B) illustrating subchondral sclerosis lesion detection by both methods.…”

Evaluation of the rostral projection of the sacral lamina as a component of degenerative lumbosacral stenosis in German shepherd dogs

“…Similarly to many civil enforcement agencies, the New Zealand police force employs a number of GSD for mixed duties including tracking, patrol, and apprehension of offenders. A previous cross‐sectional study described a total of 34% of dogs that had been retired or lost from police service due to conditions affecting the spine, with 73% of these cases characterized by lesions localized to the LS junction . The vast majority of these were presumed to be due to DLSS.…”

“…A previous cross-sectional study described a total of 34% of dogs that had been retired or lost from police service due to conditions affecting the spine, with 73% of these cases characterized by lesions localized to the LS junction. 7 The vast majority of these were presumed to be due to DLSS. Police dogs are trained to scale vertical walls, an activity that requires maximal LS extension, and to bite and hold an offender by the arm, an activity requiring maximal LS flexion.…”