U.S. police are increasingly taking pit bulls from shelters. Dogs of the fighting breed are trained in special programs.
Usually German shepherds or Belgian Malinois shepherds serve in the police force. They cost tens of thousands of dollars to train. Training pit bulls is less expensive.
Pit bulls become good partners for the police and military and serve in the K-9 unit.
In the process, they learn everything from detecting drugs, explosives, dead bodies and arson to apprehending criminals.
“We have an individual approach to each dog. We don’t pay attention to its appearance or its past. They’re just dogs,” says K-9 trainer Bernice Clifford.
Police departments across the country are already taking on pit bulls.
If the dogs were not taken for police work, many of them would be killed in shelters. Police department instructors say pit bulls are ideal for training. The only difficulty they have with this breed is getting them to be aggressive toward people!
