r/explainlikeimfive • u/LetsdothisEpic • Feb 29 '20
Other ELI5: Why do police speak German to their K9s?
17
u/No_SleepForTheWicked Feb 29 '20
From what i’ve heard it’s German, Russian, and a few other languages mixed in. I’m pretty sure it’s so that the K9 doesn’t get confused or take orders from somebody other than the handler.
7
u/ChiefKrunchy Feb 29 '20
One thing to remember is using a language is not a requirement. It's just easier for humans to remember the commands. Technically you could train a dog with random sounds if you can train yourself to remember the right sounds at the right times. I speak 3 languages, my dog responds to similar commands in different languages. Dogs can learn about 100 words. Rather they can associate 100 sounds with actions, they can also figure out that different sounds (same command in different words or languages) can mean the same thing.
4
u/kouhoutek Feb 29 '20
This is pretty common with all training programs, using worlds the dog is unlikely to hear in regular conversation avoids confusion.
It has the added bonus of making it harder for the wrong people to issue commands or understand which commands have been issued.
7
Feb 29 '20
So the average person doesn’t understand what they’re saying or tell the dog something else (not that it would listen, likely).
3
2
Feb 29 '20
An acquaintance has had a multitude of German Shepherds from Germany that were trained as personal protection canines.
They were born, named, trained, familiarized with their owners, and then released to them.
They are so personal, that there have been a couple of them that have to be locked up when I visit.
Hans, Luke, Nikki, Hotch, and Kora were their names
1
1
u/justinmarsan Feb 29 '20
There are many reasons, some of which I haven't seen mentioned yet.
First and most basic one is that it's just a standard. A police dog will often be bread and receive basic obedience training for its first 3-6 months, then the selected dog will be given to a trainer to get specific training, then at 2 or 3 years old the dog will be given to a handler, and retire at around 7 years old. Having the same words for the same commands is very important, the trainers and handlers can't just switch command for every dog every time.
Now as to why it's often German (and some other languages as well) is probably historical : a lot of dog training heritage comes from europe, especially germany, so it's very likely that the initial dogs and trainers were either german or trained in germany or by german trainers. It could be that simple.
It's also possible that those commands in foreign languages are to prevent the general public from giving orders to the dog. I doubt this really is an issue, if that was the case I think most criminals would simply learn the commands in those languages and not have to deal with the dogs, but those dogs are bred and selected for their very strong drive...
Another possibility is that the foreign commands prevent the words from coming up in normal conversation. If the dog was trained to lunge when told "attack" it could go very wrong when the handler would say "I have a tactic vest" and the dog would just jump whoever is nearby... Meanwhile "Plotz" or "Foos" are way less likely to come up or be misheard in a conversation.
Finally another possible explanation is that by borrowing the words for various languages it makes the commands sound different from each other. Dogs don't really understand the sounds like we do so having very distinct sounds is better and the more languages you borrow from the more diverse your sound pool is... Also some concept sometimes are very long in one language and short in another.
Overall I think it's a standard or a tradition that's stuck because it has various benefits but I don't think that anyone would be willing to move to say a Thai and mexican mix if it was proven to be as diverse/effective/hard for criminals because the current system is good enough and everybody is okay with keeping it that way.
-2
37
u/PM_YOUR_MANATEES Feb 29 '20
Many of the working dogs used by police come from special breeding kennels in Germany and the Czech Republic, so the dogs may have prior training in a foreign language.
Secondly, it's not useful for a criminal to be able to command a police dog "Sit! Stay!" in the middle of a chase. The dog will only accept instructions in the right language, which should be coming from the handler.