Are drug dogs and bomb dogs strictly different or are they sometimes trained for both? If a dog is a cop I’m automatically sus.
the dog above is a malinois, a super high drive dog that can do just about anything. they excel at nosework, any kind of work task you can train them, and protection work (running, biting and detaining). They’re not naturally mean or aggressive, but really really high drive with an amped prey drive, so it’s all about what you train them to do. nosework dogs can be trained to sniff for bombs, drugs, corpses, and now even diseases like covid or cancer for instance. You could take a bomb dog and retrain them to smell for drugs, because they understand the basic mecanism, but obviously, the dog will perform better on the task if it has a lot of experience. you can use a large variety of dogs for nosework, so you’ll see TSA bomb dogs that are like cute cuddly labs and hounds, but if you want to use the dog for law enforcement or military functions, you need something like a malinois, dutch shepherd, german shepherd that have high prey drives and lowered fear reaction. I have a dutchie, and she’s an amazing dog, but is nothing like my parent’s standard poodles for instance–she requires a lot of training and management. We do not use her for protection (other than barking at anything that makes a noise on our porch I guess). Anyway, they’re perfectly loving and friendly dogs, but they require you to build a relationship with them, they do not approach situations with strangers with an open heart like a nice golden retriever does.
Oh, that’s some good DOG FACTS right there, Hotspur. Which is a totally great name tho. If I ever commandeer a three master tall-ship and leave for the sea and a life if piracy, that’s totes what I’m gonna name my ship. The Hotspur!
Where was I. Oh, yeah, dope DOG FACTS. Your dog sounds like a great pal. Give her my best.
Dogs are definitely good if they help people. Watching videos of rescue dogs just melts my heart, they’re so happy to help save people.
yeah SAR dogs get really depressed and get PTSD just like other first responders. If they’ve had a bad day, like only finding dead people in rubble after a building collapse, the handler will often stage a find with a friend so that the dog can find someone alive, because they will seriously get depressed and start to burn out. There’s nothing naturally evil in dogs, it’s just what we do to them that’s evil. Kinda like kids, I guess… I suppose you can have a few natural psychopaths in both kids and dogs, but usually, it’s abuse or mistreatment that results in the real bad stuff.
