Our Mission
The Working Dog Foundation was established to ensure that communities in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts would always be able to train and care for their K-9 teams. As town and municipal budgets are reduced, police and public safety departments have been forced to review their K-9 resources. As a result, budgets for training and travel to out-of-state training facilities have often been cut or eliminated.
We are a single, trusted resource for communities and law enforcement agencies who want to maintain high-quality K-9 programs. In addition to locating and placing qualified dogs, the Working Dog Foundation raises funds and provides facilities for training, testing, and certifying police K-9's and their handlers.
A properly trained and handled Police K-9 is one of the best locating tools and
non-lethal aids in the prevention and detection of crime.
HELPING THE COMMUNITY
Police dogs prove themselves every day in public safety and law enforcement. These skilled, highly trained dogs are professionals in every sense of the word, risking their lives to help make our communities safer. Quite simply, police dogs possess abilities that people do not: their acute sense of smell and finely tune hearing make them specialists in some of the most demanding jobs in law enforcement and public safety:
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Searching buildings and areas for unauthorized persons
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Tracking down criminals
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Searching for Alzheimer's patients, lost children, and other missing persons
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Searching for evidence dropped or hidden by fleeing suspects
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Pursuing and apprehending, with minimum force, criminals fleeing a serious crime
Some dogs have further training in narcotics detection, bomb detection, or cadaver work. Others are trained in the specific needs of their department or agency, such as Fish and Game.
Properly trained Police K-9’s are a sound investment. Their skills can dramatically cut the time and expense of a search and rescue mission. And their ability to locate vital evidence can bring criminals to justice more quickly—and make more effective use of court time and legal resources.
Perhaps most important, police dogs protect and save the lives of law enforcement officers and the citizens they serve. Without these dogs, the jobs of police and search and rescue workers would be far riskier, for example: detecting an explosive device or entering a darkened building. Without a trained K-9 corps, a community faces a greater potential for death or injury of its law enforcement officers.
When life and property are at stake, there is simply no substitute for a well trained police dog.
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