FAQ

Why do we use imported German Shepherd dogs?

One of the questions that we are always asked is why we import German Shepherd dogs from Europe instead of acquiring them here. There are a number of reasons for this, as I will try to explain. The St. Paul Police K-9 Unit relied on the general public for donated dogs to fulfill the need of canine candidates for training. This may seem to be a very cost effective way of acquiring K-9 candidates but in actuality it is not. Each donated dog has to be evaluated by the training staff to find out if the dog has potential as a police service dog. This evaluation takes approximately three days per dog, with as many of 15 dogs needed per class it is a time consuming task to evaluate all the dogs necessary. The rejection rate is also very high as it may require the evaluation of 15 dogs to find one that is suitable for police canine duty. After finding a suitable candidate for training, the dog is checked by the veterinary staff for any health issues, which leads to more rejections. The training staff is police K-9 officers first and their time evaluating dogs keeps them from their primary duties.

In 1999 the St. Paul Police K-9 Foundation, after many conversations with the training staff about this problem, purchased a canine candidate from a vendor that acquires these special purpose dogs from Europe. All the screening of the dogs for suitability is done by the vendor and is guaranteed that if any time during training the dog does not perform up to the expectations of the training staff, the vendor at no additional cost will replace the dog. Needless to say the experiment worked well and we have been working with vendor's ever since.

Why Europe and not the USA? All of the dogs are working breed German Shepherd dogs between the ages of 14-24 months old when the are purchased for training. Some breeders in the USA have working breed dogs, but most specialize in show quality dogs and not many breeder want to keep dogs for 14-24 months prior to selling. The number of dogs required by law enforcement agencies throughout the United States would be difficult for US breeders to accommodate. The European German Shepherd dogs have maintained much of the original breeds qualities that the dog was originally bred for and is the most desirable for police service work.

Sincerely,
St. Paul Police K-9 Foundation