Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 234, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1913 — FAVOR POLICE DOGS [ARTICLE]

FAVOR POLICE DOGS

Results m Kaiser’s Army Attracts Many Nations. Bloodhound* Are Too Noisy—German Bheperd Canine Do Not Bay, Thereby Possessing an Additional Virtue for the Work. New York.—There appears to be a general awakening to the value of police dogs all over the world. Without a doubt the attention now being given to dogs as factors in the German army and the police departments of that country has made the other nations of Europe “sit up and take notice." The present enthusiasm among the members of the German Shepherd Dog club of America is simply a sign of what is about to happen in connection, with police dogs in New York and other cities, where, unfortunately, crime is rampant and murder of every day occurrence. It is true that several dogs have been kept in Brooklyn by ths police, but they have been used only in a half hearted way. The dogs have had too' many masters; they have been treated very much like the firemen's dogs; they have been looked upon more as pets than four legged policemen, ever alert and standing for no nonsense from any one.

In no country in the world has the bloodhound been used more for tracking criminals than in America. The old sleuth bound of remote days has been kept right up to his work, and as a consequence the American bloodhound is very much keener in his pursuit than the hounds of his own blood and breeding in Europe. The bloodhound here is often made savage, so'that he shall become a keener hunter of men. It is a practice in some of the penitentiaries in the south to get inmates of the prison to kick palings of the kennels in which the bloodhounds are kept. The disturbed dogs thus are made savage, and when a man is reported mißsing or is seen getting away the bloodhounds hunt his trail with all the grimness of a terrier after a rat - In Europe a bloodhound is not supposed to mouth or worry his human quarry. There is not so much sentiment in this part of the world, but as the bloodhounds generally are hunted on a leash they can be restrained from harming the runaway, who willingly surrenders when the animals are dlose upon b.im. Bloodhounds make a great deal of noise when they are running on a trail. They are more suitable for work in the open country than in a town or near to where there are living many persons, who will naturally rush out when they hear the baying and thus spoil the progress of the man hunt. German shepherd dogs are silent on the line, and for that simple reason they are preferred for work In a city or its suburbs. The wolflike dog is also the more active and he can clear palings and other obstacles with a great deal more ease than can the bloodhound. , It perhaps is not known generally that some of the railroad companies keep up a regular "Btafl" of hounds; they have been found of the utmost assistance in bringing desperadoes to justice. Manning Cleveland, a wealthy Poughkeepsie man, long has been renowned for the excellent work accomplished by his hounds. He is a deputy sheriff and is ever ready to assist the authorities anywhere. His hound, Moses has asserted in some wonderful runs and more than one miscreant has been sent to the electric chair through the scenting out powers of other Cleveland animals. The terror that a man is possessed of after he has been hunted by bloodhounds is well known. Not so long ago the handler of the Cleveland dogs visited the prison where lay A condemned man—the murderer ran down by the aforesaid Moses and a black and tan American bloodhound, the latter half pure bloodhound and half American foxhound. “Do you know who this is?” asked the warden of the prisoner, as he pointed to the Poughkeepsie man. “No,” came the reply. "He is the man with the dogs,” continued the warden, and forthwith the unhappy wretch rushed to the off corner of his cell and actually tried to dig hlmßelf out with his hands. The terror that a red handed criminal has for the powers of a dog is well known;