Jake Read

Kinlea Hensel
English IV
September 17, 2015
Annotated Bibliography: Police Canines
Question: How do police canines help police forces?
Thesis: Police canines benefit police forces in many ways, they help keep canine handlers and
officers out of harms way by apprehending a suspect, they find drugs easier and faster than an
officer would, and they are much better for tracking missing persons.

Axel, Richard. "Anatomy of the Dog's Nose." Anatomy of the Dog's Nose. Medical Detection
Dogs, 2014. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
This articles discuss the anatomy of a dogs nose and olfactory system. This plays a huge
factor in canine detection work such as drug detection, bomb detection, tracking for missing
persons, and finding missing articles such as guns, knives, and other various weapons. This paper
describe the canines olfactory system and how it works like how the cilia traps the scent and is
passed through a pathway of tiny nerves which recognizes the scent and sends a message to the
brain dedicated to olfaction. Talks about how important the dog's snout is to their olfactory
system. Also describes in great detail how much stronger it is then a human's olfactory system
and how beneficial it is in police canine work.

Merritt, Patrick. "Dogs and Drive." The American Police Canine Association. The American
Police Canine Association, 2014. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.

This articles describes the many drives a dog has and how it affects the reaction to any
situation. It talks about the two main drives a dog has which are prey and defense drive and how
they react when a threat is posed. Such as a person yelling and screaming at the dog's handler the
dogs mind set will switch into a defense drive and want to defend or protect its handler. Another
example would be if a police officer is in pursuit of a suspect and gets them on foot and the
suspect is running the dogs mid will switch into a prey drive which will make the dog want to
chase and catch the person running from the officer.

"Police Canines in History." Dogs for Law Enforcement. Dogs for Law Enforcement, 2013.
Web. 24 Sept. 2015.
This article talks about the history of police canines. How they were used in history and
in past wars with neighboring countries such as Vietnam and how they were used to detect booby
traps and mines. Also talks about how Romans and Spanish conquistadors used them during war
times for various jobs like sentry dog, scout or patrol dogs, messenger dogs, or mine dogs. Lists
various dog breeds and how they were selectively bred to perform a desired task. Talks about
how training goes for a police canine how long it generally takes and the commitment of the
handler to get the canine to work how they want them to. Article describes the process of
domesticating dogs from their wild tendencies and how they are descendants of the grey wolf to
become a domesticated animal and work for the handler.