K9 Canines
Tuesday, August 12th, 2014The Least Successful Police Dogs
America has a very strong candidate in “La Dur”, a fearsome looking schnauzer hound, who was retired from the Orlando police force in Florida in 1978. He consistently refused to do anything which might ruffle or offend the criminal classes.
His handling officer, Rick Grim, had to admit: “He just won’t go up and bite them. I got sick and tired of doing that dog’s work for him.”
The British contenders in this category, however, took things a stage further. “Laddie” and “Boy” were trained as detector dogs for drug raids. Their employment was terminated following a raid in the Midlands in 1967.
While the investigating officer questioned two suspects, they patted and stroked the dogs who eventually fell asleep in front of the fire. When the officer moved to arrest the suspects, one dog growled at him while the other leapt up and bit his thigh.
— Stephen Pile, “The Book of Heroic Failures”