# Pointers as police dogs



## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

I just had an interesting thing happen tonight. After posting a picture of our GSP foster on a GSP Facebook site showing the aftermath of his destruction of a toy I was contacted by a man via message. He's a police officer who works with a drug task force who is looking for a new detection dog. He specifically is interested in finding a pointing breed to train as he noted that he wants a nonaggressive breed with great hunt and retrieve drive. I'm not sure the GSP we are fostering has the qualities he needs, but it's an interesting thought.

I suppose I never thought of a vizsla or GSP as a good option for a drug sniffing dog. Then again, I don't think I ever thought about it. They clearly have the stamina necessary, the noses necessary and the prey drive necessary. Of course, it also depends on the specific dog and lineage. Have you ever heard of a pointing breed being a police dog? What are your thoughts? I'm curious to see what everyone thinks since this never really was a thought I had about the breeds.


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## Ksana (Mar 30, 2013)

Yes, I have seen TV episodes about Vizslas as police dogs searching for drugs or bombs (they should never be trained to do both though). If you google, there is more info; I just found one male police Vizsla dog for sale for $2,000: http://www.worldwidecanine.com/HEX2.htm


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## KB87 (Jan 30, 2012)

Very cool!! I sent the link to the guy who contacted me in case it's something he may be into. If they were to get that V I would definitely need to make the 3 hour drive to his department to meet him and see him in action.


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## KiwiPaws (Feb 14, 2013)

Hi,

Yes, over here in NZ there is a show on TV that shows the GSP as a drug detector dog for the prisons and searches car and visitors as they enter. It's great to see. You can tell the dogs just love it.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

KB87,
Pointers could make great police dogs. During the first 45 years of the 20th century in the Hungarian - Austrian Empire, the Vizsla was the police dog of the empire.

In April 2010, I posted the below:

_http://www.val.org/research.aspx 

Researchers from "The Center for Canine Health and Performance" - A Program Jointly Supported by the Van Andel Reseach Institute and The Translational Genomics Research Institute - came to the Northern California Vizsla Field Trial last weekend.

Their mission was to collect DNA material from a group of dogs that were at the event. The project is searching for the "pointing" gene in the Continental Breeds. The researchers told me they have a large data base from German Shorthairs and a few other pointing breeds but wanted the Vizsla added to the data base.

They asked the organizers to pick the best 5 dogs in the group that had a "natural point." I was pleased that Bailey was included in the 5 selected and the researchers drew about 2 ounces of blood from Bailey. After that, they asked if they could take a saliva swab from Chloe to add to the data base. "Of course, ' I said.

This is all quite interesting. The "pointing gene" researchers and I talked for a while about the unique character of the ability and the complexity of how the "point" is different from the genes for the senses. A pointing breed can't have too strong of a scent-tracing ability like the bloodhound; otherwise, it would "point" too early. Law enforcement is interested in this too, understandably, as a good "pointer" could point out the "bad guy" or the drugs or other illegal items that have a scent._


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