A Dog Is Not a Gun: Observations on K9 Policing

Patrick Colgan is the former executive director of the Canadian Museum
of Nature.

These four volumes focus on the use of dogs in policing actions.
Kaldenbach, a longtime Dutch security trainer whose “favorite judge
lives in a kennel,” considers the canine perceptual world,
interactions with humans, and many aspects of chemoreception, from
anatomy and physiology to consequences for training.

Stark is a Saskatchewan psychologist, and her book, dedicated to a
departed dog, consists of reprints of articles she published in police
periodicals. Included in the articles, which reflect her strong belief
that dogs should not be treated as just another piece of equipment, is a
behavioral critique of training and handling, as well as interviews with
leaders in the field who discuss such issues as the administration of
canine units, muzzle training, and political pressures both within and
outside security forces.

Two of the books are training manuals. Gerritsen and Haak, prominent
European trainers, discuss strategies for establishing dog–handler
bonds, odor perception, aspects of training, and types of searches. As
in Kaldenbach’s book, case files illustrate the general points.
Mistafa, a veteran with the Calgary police, reviews breeds of dogs and
presents detailed accounts of explosives and training procedures for
dealing with them. His book stresses the limitations of noncanine
mechanical alternatives and has much to say about what he perceives as
bureaucratic ineptitude and tight-fistedness resulting in canine units
being of secondary importance in police departments.

There is disagreement among the four books over interpreting canine
behavior in terms of drives. Drives in the tradition of Konrad Lorenz
are prominent in the presentations by Gerritsen and Haak and by
Kaldenbach, but Stark spends two chapters criticizing these concepts,
thus participating in a decades-old controversy in ethology and
psychology. As with most such sustained disagreements, there is much
that can be said in support of each side. It’s unfortunate that none
of the books under review addresses this conflict.

To sum up, these are specialty books suitable for security forces and
animal trainers, although Kaldenbach’s book will also interest dog
lovers generally.