Rottweiler sinks its teeth into crime

Excessive inbreeding among German shepherd dogs has led to many becoming too timid to intimidate suspects, and to widespread problems with their physique.

But now a young Rottweiler is being bred as the first of what the police hope will be many to join Scottish forces, despite the dog’s poor reputation among the public following a string of savage attacks, often involving children.

Two-year-old ‘Mac’ is among the star pupils in his training class and it is expected that he will be on patrol by the end of the month.

Rottweilers could eventually become more widely used than German shepherds. The traditional police dog has been specifically bred for shows such as Crufts for so long that police forces are now having trouble finding suitable candidates.

But the ferocious reputation of the Rottweiler will ensure its mere presence will have a significant effect when dealing with crowd trouble or persuading a fleeing suspect to stop.

Sergeant Cameron Shanks, head of Central Scotland’s dog unit and chairman of the Scottish Police Dog Handlers Conference, looked after Mac for seven weeks after the dog was discovered stray on a golf course in Stirling.

"This is the first Rottweiler to be used in Scotland. If he is a success we may well use more in future," he said.

"The biggest problem we have had recently is the lack of good quality dogs. The German shepherds these days are being bred for show. This is to get the looks, but the big problem for us is the temperament - they are either too aggressive or not aggressive enough - and the hips, they get really bad hips."

He said Mac, who is being trained with handler Jonathan Inglis in Glasgow, was one of the best dogs on the course.

"There are dogs from Strathclyde Police’s breeding programme and he’s miles ahead of them. There are various tests and he’s passed them with flying colours," Shanks said.

He said it was apparent from the moment Mac obediently jumped into the back of the van when he was picked up from the golf course that he was a friendly animal.

"I took him in the office and he was giving me a paw and lying on his back. I’ve never met a more placid dog in my life. Even when he is doing his ‘criminal work’ he’s just doing it because he knows he’s getting a ball at the end of it."

Mac’s duties as a police dog will include tracking criminals from the scene of the crime, searching for property and people, dealing with football crowds and chasing suspects who refuse to stop.

"It’s very rare you have to send a police dog after somebody once you shout: ‘Police, stand still or I’ll release the dog’," Shanks said. "And when you have to, the damage caused by the Rottweiler is actually less than an Alsatian."

Tests have found the Alsatian often has to readjust to get a proper hold with its jaws - causing further damage to the suspect - because of its long snout. The shorter jaw of the Rottweiler and its considerable strength means this is less likely to happen as it is able to establish a firm grip at once.

In one of the most horrific incidents involving Rottweilers, which helped establish its reputation as a ‘devil dog’, an 11-year-old girl from Dundee was killed by two of the dogs while on holiday in Dunoon in 1989. She had been walking the dogs at the time and the attack began suddenly after they started licking her face in an apparent show of affection. The owner had the two dogs put down along with two others he owned.

But dog trainer Janet Sykes, who has worked with both Rottweilers and German shepherds for the army and police forces south of the Border, insisted they were not inherently dangerous animals. "They are tremendously easy to train. I find the Rottie in the right hands is a fantastic dog," she said.

And she said the Rottweiler made the better police dog.

"In my personal experience, a German shepherd can be a coward," she said. "My friends have got a German shepherd and two Rottweilers. If somebody breaks in, the German shepherd is likely to make a lot of noise and then hightail it to the bedroom, while the Rottweilers will sit on him."

Betty Young, secretary of the German Shepherd Dog Club of Scotland, admitted Rottweilers would make good police dogs, but insisted: "It would be a shame if the police decided they didn’t want German shepherds. I would say a Rottweiler is every bit as good as a German shepherd, but I don’t think they would be any better."

BATTLE OF THE BREEDS

ROTTWEILERS have size on their side when compared with the German shepherd. The biggest of Scotland’s traditional police dogs weigh just under seven stone while a well-conditioned Rottweiler is about nine stone.

Both breeds were first used by humans to herd domestic animals.

In 7th century Germany, they used Alsation dogs not far removed from wild wolves to herd their sheep.

The Rottweiler has an older pedigree with the Romans using them to herd cattle.

German shepherds first started coming to Britain in significant numbers after the First World War.

They were used by the German army as messenger dogs and to find casualties on the battlefield.

British soldiers came to admire the dogs’ courage and intelligence and a large number brought them back to Britain, from where they spread across the world.

The Rottweiler came to prominence comparatively recently amid the uproar over dangerous dogs in the 1980s and early 1990s.

However, unlike the pit bull, it does not have be muzzled in public.