Hello / New Member / Need Help!

[americankraut]

Hello all my name is Ben, I currently have an old cat, and two younger brothers (3 cats). My wife and I grew up with dogs more than cats, myself with labs, and she with Aussies. We are looking at adopting an older DS, that is a retiring police dog. We are moving into a new house a week before we can get the dog. In that time we will acclimate the cats to the new environment before introducing the dog.
The dog itself is a 9 year old short hair male. He was imported (to the US) from Holland as a pup after professional training, and then trained again by the current police agency. He did his job very well and is highly trained. Important note, he was not used as a bite dog / attack dog, only for locating. He has been in "retirement" for 1-2 months, and lived with a family that has 2 young kids.

My questions for you experts are as follows

1. Is a well trained / old DS capable living with cats (especially two that are 1 year old)?
2. If anyone has experience with police dogs, do they do well in retirement?
3. Is daily walking good enough exercise for an old DS, or do they need daily drills as well?

Any added input is welcome, glad to meet you all
Thanks, Ben

[dawg]

Has nothing to do with breed and everything to do with the individual dog, its temperament its training and life experience.

Have a well built kennel and a good size run completed before you get this dog. Train your cats with a safe dog before your dog gets there, train your dog with cats before it gets there. Control the environment no loose animals at all ever until you got a handle on it.

Retrain the dog in SAR or competition nose work, whichever is closest to his service work. You will bond and the dog will get the mental stimulation it needs.

[americankraut]

Thanks for input, the cats have been dog friendly with my parents old Lab, they just took some time to get acquainted. This dog is well trained and behaved, but the DS in it shows through its high energy. The younger cats have high energy, and I do not know how that will go. I think I will introduce the pets to smells first, then viewing through a gate of some sort. I do not think I will leave the pets together while we are away. My biggest concern will be its transition to being a pet instead of a working dog only.

[dawg]

not bite trained is an advantage. will you have time to give it some work? The dog will need some stimulation. It has served humans its whole life, it needs some dignity and be allowed to do some nose work.

[Dutchringgirl]

9 is not old LOL Thalie is 13 and still going fairly strong. A walk is not enough unless that is all he can do. If he is in good health and fitness he will need more than that.

What will your day with the dog be like? will you be home with it during the day?

With his good training, you may be fine with the cats. I did Ring Sport for years and we put a hamster in a ball and put the dog in a down, and the dog must leave it alone. But by the time we do that with the hamster, the dog has a SOLID " leave it" and 'look" where the dog looks at you until you tell him not to

I have a feeling you should be okay, if he is only a detection dog, he may have a lower drive.

Even though he is 9, put him on a long leash for a week or so . this way you can keep him near you to show him the ropes around your house and if he does want to eat the cats, you can grab him before he does.

You will want to watch him to learn his behavior so you can see that he wants to eat them , before he gets to them.

I also agree with Dawg that you should keep up the games with him for detection, have him find things, socks, humans, that will keep his mind sharp.

If he will be home alone all day with not alot of exercise, he will go down hill fast.

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

Single purpose dogs are still high drive, they just don't have the necessary drives/wants for bite work or dual purpose. A walk alone is not enough especially for a dog used to working. If he can track, that's a great low key way for you to keep him busy, and if you want to do nose games he's trained to do a certain search pattern so I would work with a nose work trainer at first to learn the best games and to get used to how he works - on leash, off leash, what's his alert, etc. That being said, you should also check into why he was retired. If he burned out then doing nose work and such as his sole way of mental stimulation may be a bad idea. Nine years is a tad young for a DS police dog without another reason, but each department has different rules on retirement so it could just be that nine is their cut off, especially if they only used GSDs previously.

That being said, does he have any medical problems? Arthritis? Was he kept at home or in a kennel while off duty? Dogs who were kept in a kennel don't really understand house manners so that needs to be taught. If he was kept at home that's good, and since he's been in a temp home he may already have house manners. He will need a source of mental and physical stimulation and will need to be worked multiple times daily (this can differ based on Dog's temperment), and if he's used to being around his handler all the time will need the same. I would also see what you can find out about his training and the methods used because that will need to be at least similar and upkept.

As far as cats that depends on the dog. Training can get you a long way but if the dog naturally hates cats then you will never be able to let your guard down. Always worth a try but I would certainly be aware of the likelihood of it not working out in the cats' favor and also to follow the above advice from other members. Best of luck.

[Dutchringgirl]

excellent points Kira !!!