HotmailGerman police dogs to wear shoes
High rate of paw injuries on duty is the impetus behind the canine footwear
 AP A German police dog sporting blue plastic fiber shoes. |
 | Slideshow |
 | Animal Tracks A dog in dreads, two finicky sea turtles, a chilled-out chimp and monkeys and meerkats with pumpkins – find all that and more photos of creatures great and small. more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | Unlikely friends A pig and a tiger, a monkey and a rabbit, a duck and a dog – these best buddy pairs make some very odd couples. more photos |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
 | Video: Pets & animals |
 Corwin fights to save endangered species Nov. 6: TODAY’s Meredith Vieira talks to famed naturalist Jeff Corwin about his new MSNBC special, “Future Earth: 100 Heartbeats.” |
. |
BERLIN - Police dogs in the western city of Duesseldorf will no longer get their feet dirty when on patrol — the entire dog unit will soon be equipped with blue plastic fiber shoes, a police spokesman said Monday.
"All 20 of our police dogs — German and Belgian shepherds — are currently being trained to walk in these shoes," Andre Hartwich said. "I'm not sure they like it, but they'll have to get used to it."
The unusual footwear is not a fashion statement, Hartwich said, but rather a necessity due to the high rate of paw injuries on duty. Especially in the city's historical old town — famous for both its pubs and drunken revelers — the dogs often step into broken beer bottles.
"Even the street-cleaning doesn't manage to remove all the glass pieces from between the streets' cobble stones," Hartwich said, adding that the dogs frequently get injured by little pieces sticking deep in their paws.
The dogs will start wearing the shoes this spring but only during operations that demand special foot protection. The shoes comes in sizes small, medium and large and were ordered in blue to match the officers uniforms, Hartwich said.
"Now we just have to teach the dogs how to tie their shoes," he joked.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM PETS |
 Pets Section Front |
| Add Pets headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide