Psychology, discipline key to training 'hero' police dogs

Ahead of the pack

At the police dog training base of Ezhou public security bureau's criminal investigation detachment, nine police dogs are partnered with different handlers.

German Shepherd Xuanfeng, or whirlwind, and handler Yin Ziyang are considered one of the best teams.

"Xuanfeng is a responsible and strong police dog, skilled in bloodstain detection," said Yin.

In May 2021, over 1 million yuan ($137,015) in funds was stolen in a burglary in the city. Xuanfeng played a crucial role in finding the suspect from a drop of blood.

In March 2023, Yin became Xuanfeng's handler after a colleague was transferred. He felt under immense pressure as Xuanfeng was a star police dog.

The canine was proficient in tasks such as explosives detection, search operations, and security checks, and had served in security roles at important international conferences.

In 2018, Xuanfeng secured fourth place in the 5th National Police Dog Skills Competition.

Yin said at the start of their partnership he was not sure whether the dog could accept a new handler.

However, he invested a lot of energy and time into learning how to cooperate with the canine. Yin arranges Xuanfeng's food intake and diet, organizes regular health checks, administers vaccinations, deworms the dog, and interacts and plays with it every day.

"Handlers should constantly monitor the physical and psychological well-being of their dogs," he said.

Huang Chuanhua is an experienced police dog trainer with a deep understanding of canine psychology. He works at the police dog training base of Dangyang public security bureau.

"To cultivate outstanding police dogs it is not enough to just have excellent physical training. What is more important is to develop the psychological qualities of the dogs," he said.

Huang started to train Luhu, or tiger on the road, when the dog was only six months old.

Initially, Luhu seemed a bit slow to respond to various commands and would make unexpected movements. So Huang changed his approach and used more playful training methods, which gradually increased the dog's interest in learning and its obedience.

Luhu is now nine years old, and the duo has participated in numerous missions.

In March 2024, they won first place in the tracking category at the inaugural police dog skills competition held by the public security bureau of Yichang, Hubei province.