My husband is friends with the breeder/trainer that supplies, works with many of the police dogs surrounding our area. He has allowed us to bring home a few different types of dogs to our home to help my husband figure out exactly what he wants. My husband asked me to ask here, from those with 1st hand experience, what is the actual weight of the police K-9 you have experience with.

Our last three have always been between 85-100.
All shepherds.
Current one is at 89 lbs.

 
My wife's partner was a Czech GSD right at 90 lbs.
 

 
She commands them all to "sit" or "down" when she opens the tailgate. K9 Stryker is in the midst of downing. The greyhound won't jump out, but she is a non-believer in obedience commands.

Thank you. The 1st dog (they've all been shepherds although he works with all breeds) was an awesome 95 pound male, but my husband didn't grow up with dogs & it just wasn't a great fit. I loved the dog but knew he needed a "real" job to do.
Then we had a few of the puppies over at different times so my husband could get a feel for what all puppies entailed.
We ended up with a female puppy that we knew wouldn't be huge. She's a year and a half now & weighs 58 lbs. My male Husky weights the same but looks so much bigger cos of all the hair. She is very athletic. My husband has started Search & Rescue training with her. Has had 3 lessons with a very good trainer & he's been going to a SAR group in our area.
Eventually he wants to be in the K-9 unit. Obviously not with our current dog, but something he's aiming for in the future.

You mean a K-9 dog, right? The kind of dog that gets to bite?

My son was talking to a K-9 officer as part of a Boy Scout tour of the local police station and asked that question. The handler said his dog was 85 and he felt as though most fell into that range. He did tell my son that he has seen a few dogs that fell into the "land shark" category of 100+ pounds.

He also explained there were other types of dogs who assist LEOs as well. (Which is why I asked my first questions.)

Average for a police working dog? 75 pounds. Some of the GSD can top the 100 pound range, but the average with Mals, bloodhounds, and labs will push the average to around 75.

Not k-9 but we share an office. They have dogs from 65-95 lbs... with the most being toward the lighter side. Easier to pick up and toss over fences/windows. With about a 50/50 split of GSD and Mals.

I kept my GSD at 70-75 lbs (looked almost like a coyote) when he was working to save his back and hindquarters from the constant jumping. Now that he is retired and lives on my couch he's closer to 85.

I agree that the average is around 75 lbs. There are a lot of 50-55 lbs Male and Dutchies running around with some 100 lbs GSD's on the other end.

Nothing to add in the weight department, but I've had 2 GSD's and 1 Belgian Malinois throughout growing up. The females make much much better pets. The males are far too stubborn and tend to need a lot more time spent on working with them everyday and enforcing that they are not the Alpha male of the household. They can also be too overly protective of the women in the household. The males from my experience are very obedient almost all of the time, but if they get it in their head that they want to do something they're not supposed to, all training goes out the window and they do it anyways. Granted my experience is limited to pets.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Average for a police working dog? 75 pounds. Some of the GSD can top the 100 pound range, but the average with Mals, bloodhounds, and labs will push the average to around 75.

I take care of several different agency's police dogs, and this is an accurate average. We have several that are smaller, some that are larger. My experience is that their service record is more a reflection of the dog's attitude and drive than their physical size, btw. Some of the smaller (55-65lb) dogs are like TNT!

If your after a extra large GSD find a "King" Shepard. I had a female that was 120 lbs, sadly she passed this summer.

Mals will be 5-15 lb lighter almost always.

I’ve trained many, own a Mal now and have owned GSD’s prior. I’d recommend a GSD female. Mals don’t make good pets and shouldn’t be sold as such. Dutchies are fine if they are on the pet side of the litter.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Prefontaine,

It seems like working Malinois weights have edged up in the last decade. Used to be a lot of 60-75 pound dogs but now 90 is not unheard of. Admittedly my sample size is small and I have not been involved in selecting the dogs.

I happened to be nearby one night when the K-9 unit was weighing their dogs. They were all Shepherds, and averaged 78#.

quote:

Originally posted by rsbolo:
You mean a K-9 dog, right? The kind of dog that gets to bite?

That handler was correct. Not all police K-9 dogs are criminal apprehension (bite) dogs. There are plenty of detector dogs, for explosives, narcotics, and cadaver, to name a few areas.

Our department GSD K9, goes about 75 lbs, soaking wet. She looks quite small next to my (non K9) GSD that goes about 120 lbs.

One of the best dogs I ever had was a purebred German Shepherd that weighed 135 pounds. He was a big guy.

We already have our dog. She is a German Shepherd, female, on the smaller side (58 lbs). In the department my husband works in, most of the K-9s do bite work & usually narcotic detection. I think most of the dogs they have are in the 80 pound range. Other approved working dogs such as Search & Rescue are used from a volunteer list. He is in the beginning stages of training her for Search & Rescue.
The breeder mentioned he personally kinda likes the smaller ones better as they tend to be more athletic. I never thought about the value of being able to pick them up & hike them over fences & such. 1 of my co-worker's Grand daughter is the 1st female K-9 Handler in her town. She's a slender woman & her dog is prob 100 lbs. I imagine she's not gonna be tossing him over any fences very easily.
Before my husband was ever around them, I think he imagined they were all huge beasts, but he's finding that the smaller ones are just as useful. I know there are always exceptions to the rule & attitude, training, smarts, etc all factor in, but I was just asking because he knows I frequent the forum here & he figured there were some people who knew 1st hand.

I am not referring to just "pets" but actual police dogs.

There is no K9 handbook for departments. Like you have already found out, a department will find a breeder they like and buy from them. That’s about it. GSD’s are not supposed to be 100+ lbs. American breeders have jacked up the lines and your ideal GSD is lighter and more agile. Same goes for Mal’s. Many many departments import their dogs from Europe. Breeding standards are higher than in the states,much more rigid, and it’s breed dependent but for the most part they like to stick to the breed hardcore in Europe unlike here. My GSD was imported for this reason. Female, 72-75 lbs depdending on the season. The litter I got her from, she has siblings in the Feds, DEA, and some Sheriffs. The solid breedings or litters, you’ll get Schuthund trainers, Police Departments, Federal departments, all pulling front the same litter.

There is no set weight, period, it doesn’t exist. Some departments will seek out larger or heavier GSD’s while another will want lighter and more agile. I think you’ll find temperament is more important than weight. The working dogs that become K9’s are commonly chosen by the breeder in the litter where drive can first be determined. Sometimes the highest drive dogs will be the runts, other times the larger and heavier ones. Mals are generally smaller than GSD’s but much more explosive, more athletic and higher drive. That makes them better workers but more pain in the ass for officers. I am friendly with a handler from a local department who does bomb detection. He uses a Mal and his dog wears him out. GSD’s tend to me a little more mild. So it really depends on the job the k9 will do. A lot of bomb dogs aren’t used for anything else. Just detection. I’ve seen labs, pointers, vizslas, even beagles used for narcotics and bombs. The weight is always variable. I’ve seen some small Mals explode on the Schutzhund field that had more power, more drive, than another Mal that weighed 15 lbs more. I like the smaller ones myself. In my experience given equal drive, they are faster and more athletic. Weight, breed, from which breeder, it ebbs and flows. A lot of departments switching to Mals the past few years.