Are police dogs confined by the state of alarm?

The confinement decreed by the state of alarm also affects the police dogs of the Canine Units of the different Security Forces of our country. A good part of them are confined to their cheniles (cages) and the canine guides take turns to take them out to play and walk around the facilities of their unit; others not only have not stopped working but are now exhausted because they have doubled their services, the luckiest are at home with their guides and a part, especially local police, they patrol normally with their team.

The canine guides of the National Police have gone directly to exercise patrol functions, so their dogs do not perform the services they did before the coronavirus at this time of alarm. Those who lived with their guides continue to do so, and go out into the streets only to relieve themselves. While waiting for their guides to return from their workday, they play each other if they are lucky enough to be more than one at home., as in the case of Jordan and Mecha (in the photo), two of the five dogs of the Pedro Yagüe National Police. Jordan has been an explosives dog, he is now retired, and Mecha, a cattel dog puppy who is preparing for detection whose vitality does not stop her for a second.

The dogs of the National Police that live in the Unit located at Casa de Campo they go out daily for their facilities. The guides take turns, and the dogs usually play with each other, now they don't train, only games, get tired and go back to their chenil.

The five thousand four-legged agents that the Civil Guard has operatives are in a similar situation to their colleagues in the National Police. The Armed Institute has its Cynological School in the middle of Monte del Pardo with large facilities that allow them to exercise their dogs daily. Some live in their guides' houses, but the majority are now in the cheniles of the School. "I live in the same school and I am lucky to take him out every day, morning and afternoon, basically I do nothing but play and tire him, otherwise and with the other dogs assigned the same, they also get along great with each other and they go out together ”, indicates a canine guide to LA RAZÓN.

For his part, Defense Ministry dogs are active, since the Army is activated in the state of alarm performing functions in different autonomous communities. Some Canine Units have traveled with their unit, and their workday has doubled, like that of their guides, performing the tasks assigned in the state of alarm.

It is in the local police that the situation of the canine units varies a lot from each other. In the Madrid Local Police, where 24 dogs form the Dog Section, most of the dogs are in the facilities located in Casa de Campo, the first cheniles that were built in Spain with heating and music. Their guides take them out for a walk, and "If they had to do operations involving canine guides, they could do it, but at the moment none have come out"Says one of his managers.

In other locations, such as the little one from Huétor Vega, Granada, where the canine guide usually patrol alone with his dog, he still does it. "The dog is working with me," says Lolo, the police officer responsible for this Unit. Each municipality is making its own decision, and local police officers now tasked with monitoring that alarm measures are being followed feel more secure if they patrol with their dog, even if the dog is prepared to detect narcotic drugs. "It is supernecessary at this time to be able to patrol with the dog, to deter people and for our own safety.”, Tells LA RAZÓN a canine guide from Sierra Nevada, who is waiting to be able to work with his belgian shepherd malinois.

At first the Royal Decree does not dictate confinement for these agent dogs. If they are left in their cages or in their houses, it is because their guides have been mobilized in other functions that are not tracking with the dogs.

The dogs that are now completely stopped are those dedicated to therapy. They cannot enter any of their usual places of work, such as hospitals, residences, day centers, schools or boarding schools. Their guides now take care of them. "I am lucky to live in the fields and every day I can walk about three hours with the dogs," says Nicolás Montes de Hachiko Canine Education.