Man's Best Friend

Pet Gear

Canine duty gear   by Gautam Punjabi

Dogs are unbelievably loyal and give unconditional love and companionship to their human masters. Though their main duty gear is only a leash, dogs used by military and police for clearing mines or tracing criminals have varied duty gear in the form of heavy-duty leashes, bulletproof vests, tactical boots etc.

Dog has been man’s best friend ever since we could remember. Besides pet dogs, there are service dogs that assist children, and also adults with physical disabilities. They pick up fallen things, help people in a wheelchair to get around, warn deaf people, and direct blind people. But with all the work that they do, they by and large have limited duty gear. All dogs though have a duty gear in the form of a leash when it goes for a walk with its master, but other than that its duty gear is limited.

The situation is gradually changing in that dog duty gear is also increasing in scope. There are dog leashes nowadays that have tactical lights attached to them. The light is attached to the leash in such a way that it is easy for the master to hold on to the leash and operate the light at the same time with the help of a finger. And the light is adjustable so that it can be moved up or down to remain at the finger tip of the master whether he chooses to keep the leash tight or loose. This light cum leash duty gear helps the dog and its master to extend their forays into dimly lit places.

However, in the case of dogs that help policemen, the duty gear is more diverse. Because of their extreme sensitivity to smell, dogs are used for tracing a criminal from the smell of the clothes that he has used, or in tracing narcotic drugs by sensing its smell. Extra long heavy duty leashes with fast sliding panic snaps are available as duty gear for dogs used for such tough work. Army and police use dogs for clearing places with the possibility of mines, and clearing buildings that could contain explosive devices. Bulletproof vests are the duty gear of dogs used in this. Such body armor may be used even on dogs taken to trace criminals, so far as they have to be taken to unsafe places.

Padded harnesses, car safety harnesses, retractable leashes, and reflective collars may also be canine duty gear under various circumstances. For dogs that assist in hunting, there are hunting collars and camouflage collars. Swim aids known as PDF, short for personal floatation device, with ballistic exterior and fabric lining is also available for dogs. These will have a D-ring for attaching to the leash, and also a separate grab loop. This too becomes a dog duty gear when the dog has to be taken through water as a detective aid or service dog.

Doggie boots are also available to fit canine paws and these have some tactical boots features like expansion gussets to aid easy putting on and taking off of the shoes. Canine tactical boots are the dogs’ duty gear when they have to follow their masters through slush or swamp or snow or rough gravel. Dog boots have become duty gear officially as well since these are now issued as safety boots by a police department to the trained dogs they use in their search operations. The provision makes it easy for policemen to take the dogs along when they have to search places that are strewn with shards of broken glass or other projectiles.

Identification tags and badges are also the duty gear of the dogs that serve army and police.

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