All the dogs in the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal canine unit come from a few highly reputable breeders in Québec or, occasionally, from other police forces. To be chosen for the squad, they must meet very specific criteria in terms of both physical attributes and behavioural qualities.

Required qualities

To join the squad, the dogs must demonstrate very good physical and behavioural skills, such as:

• Perfect health
• Agility
• Attraction to humans and sociability
• Courage, strength and determination
• Instinct for predation, play and hunting

Breeds

General purpose dogs must be able to perform in a number of completely different disciplines, summer and winter alike. German shepherds and Belgian Malinois shepherds are breeds that have this diversity.

Size and gender

The chosen dogs may be male or female and are generally between 25 and 35 kg.

Age

Whenever possible the dogs are brought into the service between the ages of 8 and 12 weeks, but the unit often gets dogs that are older or even full grown.

The dogs become operational at an average age of 2 or 3 years and generally work for 5 to 7 years.

They take a well-earned retirement around the age of 7 to 9.

Alternate information

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