Police forced to talk German to dogs

British police dog handlers are being forced to learn to bark orders in German because it's the only language the animals understand.

Due to a shortage of suitable British dogs Derbyshire Police have drafted in a team of Alsatians from Berlin - but they have been trained to follow German orders.

A quarter of all of the dogs used by the East Midlands force are now German and handlers have to back commands including sitz - sit, platz - down, aus - let go, holen - fetch, and, of course, bissen - for bite.



The dogs cost about £2,000 each but senior officers insist they are good value as have already been trained in obedience and to bite criminals.

Dog trainer PC David Heaps, of Derbyshire Constabulary, said he had learned some basic German words to control his dogs - and said the German dogs are often a better bet than English ones.

Other forces who have requested or have already received dogs from Germany including Cheshire, the City of London, Gloucestershire, Nottinghamshire, Essex and Cornwall.