You may be wondering how a tiny chihuahua can be used in police work, because when we think of police dogs, our minds picture German Shepherds and other large and powerful dog breeds that can easily take down a criminal. These dogs are loyal officers and are not afraid to offer their lives in the line of duty. Or we can think of bloodhounds or other types of dogs that police officers use for their powerful sniffing abilities. These dogs are trained to search for drugs or find important clues at crime scenes. Now it seems that the profile of police dogs is changing and a chihuahua with a rat terrier mix is now used regularly.
For the past seven years, Brutus, a canine herder, has been working for the state of Ohio, in the Geauga County Sheriff’s Department. The county has always liked to use German Shepherds and Labradors in the line of duty. He is now using a new dog, Midge, a Chihuahua/Rat Terrier mix. Midge is nine months old and only seven pounds, yet he has the heart of a police dog. He currently walks around the jail in a little uniform and keeps order.
Midge is a cute and friendly little dog, and she is super vigilant and on top of everything that happens in and around the jail.
A Geauga County department dog trainer thinks she has a great future ahead of her as a drug dog. Midge started working in the police force when she was just three months old and began drug training about six months later. Currently, she is being trained to sniff marijuana, although she has not yet been certified. However, the department trainer asserts that she is on the right track when she observes her older counterparts smelling marijuana in cabinets, crawl spaces, vents, and other hiding places.
When she’s not being trained, Midge loves to play with Brutus, her Shepherd counterpart.
Sheriff Dan McClelland has been thinking about the possibility of using a smaller drug detection dog for about two years. The thought occurred to him when he saw how difficult it was for larger German Shepherds when trying to maneuver in tight spaces. He saw how difficult it was for a 120-pound dog when they were in a car and had to turn around. This also resulted in the larger dogs damaging the suspects’ cars and houses and then the suspects turning around and suing the police department to recover the damages.
Sheriff McClelland’s idea of using a smaller dog was reinforced when he saw US customs agents using beagles to check luggage for drugs.
McClelland says there’s no reason why a small dog can’t be used as effectively as a large dog. Midge can search larger rooms in the same way as a larger dog and has the added bonus of being able to get into smaller places to sniff.
McClelland is in no doubt that using Midge in police work is not something that will fall out of favor and that smaller dogs have proven to be a valuable asset to law enforcement.
