New York Times

German Police Dogs to Wear Shoes

BERLIN
(AP) — Police dogs in the western city of Duesseldorf will no longer
get their feet dirty when on patrol — the entire dog unit will soon be
equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes, a police spokesman said Monday.

”All
20 of our police dogs — German and Belgian shepherds — are currently
being trained to walk in these shoes,” Andre Hartwich said. ”I’m not
sure they like it, but they’ll have to get used to it.”

The
unusual footwear is not a fashion statement, Hartwich said, but rather
a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. Especially in
the city’s historical old town — famous for both its pubs and drunken
revelers — the dogs often step into broken beer bottles.

”Even
the street-cleaning doesn’t manage to remove all the glass pieces from
between the streets’ cobble stones,” Hartwich said, adding that the
dogs frequently get injured by little pieces sticking deep in their
paws.

The dogs will start wearing the shoes this spring but only
during operations that demand special foot protection. The shoes comes
in sizes small, medium and large and were ordered in blue to match the
officers uniforms, Hartwich said.

”Now we just have to teach the dogs how to tie their shoes,” he joked.