The Dog You Deserve

Ambivalence in the K-9 Officer/Patrol Dog Relationship

Bibliographic Data

ID2365198
AuthorsClinton R Sanders (University of Connecticut, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume35
Issue2
Pages148-172
Publication date2006-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Ethnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0891-2416 • E-ISSN: 1552-5414
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0891241605283456
OpenAlexW1969994998
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited23

Primarily based on ethnographic fieldwork in a police K-9 training program, this article first presents the optimal attributes of patrol dogs and their handlers. It then moves to a discussion of the training process and emphasizes the apparent disjunction between defining the dog as a law enforcement tool, on one hand, and a unique and sentient individual, on the other. Following a description of key elements of the day-to-day work of the K-9 unit, the article discusses the uneasiness that handlers (and police administrators) feel due to the potential conflict between treating the patrol dog as an effective weapon/deterrent and treating it as a reliable companion/partner and docile family member. The article concludes with a brief examination of ambivalence as a general feature of social life and a unique characteristic of the occupation life of the K-9 police officer

Ambivalence · Criminology · Ethnography · Law enforcement · Officer · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Unit (ring theory · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Law · Psychology · Psychology of Social Influence · Social Psychology