Police, gendarmerie, and customs dogs have been part of the French security forces landscape for decades. Their presence is visible; their daily reality is much less so.

Behind the image of the intervention dog or detection dog, there is rigorous selection, technical training, very distinct specializations, a relatively short career, and often, in retirement, significant orthopedic issues.

French data and veterinary literature all show the same thing: these are highly exposed working dogs whose health deserves closer attention.

The French System

In France, canine units are present in several forces: National Police, National Gendarmerie, Customs, and also in some municipal police forces.

The frameworks, training centers, and missions are not exactly the same across institutions. 

For the Gendarmerie, the reference center is the National Canine Instruction Center of the Gendarmerie (CNICG), located in Gramat, Lot.

The Gendarmerie presents it as its sole center for canine training.

It hosts 300 to 350 trainees annually, with three initial 14-week courses, and the Gendarmerie indicates that it permanently has approximately 480 handlers for 600 dogs. 

For the National Police, the training center is the National Training Center for Canine Units (CNFUC) in Cannes-Écluse, Seine-et-Marne.

In 2023, the National Police reported having 171 canine brigades and 472 dogs, with a strong dominance of the Belgian Malinois among the ranks. 

For Customs, the training of dog handler teams is provided at the National Customs School in La Rochelle.

Official customs documents and communications indicate a training duration of approximately 11 to 14 weeks depending on the specialty, and Customs reported nearly 240 canine teams specialized in the search for narcotics, tobacco, and weapons, ammunition, and explosives.

Selection and Training

Selection is not primarily based on breed, but on the dog's work profile: play drive, emotional stability, endurance, concentration ability, absence of uncontrolled aggression, recovery quality, and physical robustness. In the Gendarmerie, institutional sources emphasize aptitude tests and behavioral selection even before training begins.

However, certain breeds or types are associated with specific uses.

The Gendarmerie recalls having used over 18 breeds throughout its history, including the Belgian Shepherd, St. Hubert, English Springer, Labrador, Dutch Shepherd, and Jack Russell Terrier.

• The St. Hubert remains particularly associated with cold trailing. 
• Small terriers have been used for searches in confined spaces. 
• Springers have been employed for certain material search missions, particularly explosives. 

Before integration, the dog undergoes a complete veterinary check-up.

Gendarmerie documents mention extensive medical examinations, and in the practice of working dogs, early orthopedic screening (especially of hips and elbows) is a central point of selection. 

In the Gendarmerie, training begins with a two to three-month basic training phase, followed by the "pairing" of the dog and handler, before the initial common 14-week training. This sequence is consistently described by official Gendarmerie sources.

Missions

The missions of police, gendarmerie, and customs dogs are not limited to biting or drug detection.

They actually cover several very different fields. 

First, there are defense and intervention missions:

• protection of teammates,
• support for arrests,
• securing operations,
• searches in tense contexts.

These are the most physically and mentally demanding missions. 

Then there is olfactory detection, with separate specialties:

• narcotics,
• explosives,
• weapons,
• ammunition,
• tobacco,
• sometimes cash, depending on the services and programs.

Customs itself emphasizes that its teams are organized by specialty, and the Gendarmerie reiterates that a dog is trained for a given technical skill to optimize its performance. 

Finally, there are tracking and search and rescue missions, which require different qualities:

• track exploitation,
• searching for fugitives, missing persons, or victims.

Health

Scientifically, the most useful data converge on the same observation: the main causes of early retirement are musculoskeletal.

The study by Worth et al. on 182 German Shepherd police dogs in New Zealand showed an average age of loss or retirement from service of 6.6 years, and only 40% of dogs reached the theoretical retirement age of 8 years.

The main cause of retirement was the inability to meet the physical demands of the job; among these retirements, a majority were due to degenerative musculoskeletal conditions.

Spinal and lumbosacral lesions already stood out as major causes of career termination. 

The work of Alves et al. on Portuguese police working dogs confirms that hip osteoarthritis can be diagnosed relatively early in these animals, with clinically significant presentations already around 6.5 years on average in some cohorts.

These studies also describe a frequent picture of pain, reduced range of motion, changes in stance, muscle atrophy, and signs consistent with chronic locomotor wear and tear. 

In other words, the main problem is not just spectacular acute injuries. It is mainly cumulative wear and tear:

• jumps,
• accelerations,
• braking,
• footing,
• hard surfaces,
• repeated training,
• stressful postures,
• explosive interventions,
• long searches.

 In some lineages and profiles, this load eventually leads to osteoarthritis, back pain, and lumbosacral lesions that render the dog unfit before the expected retirement age.

Stress and Well-being

The published literature on the stress and well-being of police dogs is less abundant than that on orthopedics.

The One Health review published in 2024 on police dogs in the United States specifically highlights this lack of data and calls for more structured veterinary follow-up throughout their careers and into retirement.

This point is important: we have many heroic images, but still too little consolidated data on the long-term physical and behavioral consequences.

Retirement

In both the Gendarmerie and Customs, the dog handler practically has the right or priority to keep their dog in retirement, which the institutions themselves emphasize.

This continuity makes sense: the pair lives together, works together, and separation can be difficult for both. 

But retirement does not eliminate the medical history...

A former police or customs dog may present with hip or elbow osteoarthritis, lumbosacral lesions, sequelae of trauma, and sometimes difficulties adapting to a much less stimulating life.

The veterinary follow-up of these dogs should therefore be considered in two parts: orthopedic and behavioral.

This is exactly the type of continuity of care recommended, fundamentally, by the most serious publications on working dogs.

In Conclusion

Police and customs dogs are not just spectacular auxiliaries of the security forces.

They are intensive, specialized working dogs, exposed to significant physical wear and tear, with a career often shorter than imagined.

Available data clearly show that the main causes of early retirement are orthopedic, particularly osteoarthritis and lumbosacral lesions.

The consistency of a welfare policy for these animals therefore relies on three things: rigorous selection, veterinary follow-up adapted to their profession, and a seriously prepared retirement. 

Sources:

1. Gendarmerie nationale, National Canine Instruction Center of the Gendarmerie (CNICG)
2. Gendarmerie nationale, A hairy training!
3. Gendarmerie nationale, The “pairing,” beginning of the adventure for gendarmerie canine teams
4. Gendarmerie nationale, Dogs in the gendarmerie, an unknown history
5. Gendarmerie nationale, Pandore's Bestiary, or the use of animals in the gendarmerie through the centuries
6. National Police, National Police Dogs
7. National Police, The National Police wins two awards at the 2023 Hero Dog Trophies
8. French Customs, Dog Handler
9. French Customs, Elisa and LAB, customs officers, win the Hero Dog Trophy
10. Worth A.J. et al., Causes of loss or retirement from active duty for New Zealand police German shepherd dogs, Animal Welfare, 2013
11. Baltzer W.I. et al., Survey of Handlers of 158 Police Dogs in New Zealand, 2019
12. Alves J.C. et al., Clinical and diagnostic imaging findings in police working dogs referred for hip osteoarthritis, BMC Veterinary Research, 2020
13. Alves J.C. et al., Thermographic imaging of police working dogs with bilateral naturally occurring hip osteoarthritis, Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica, 2020
14. Gatlin M. et al., A One Health Approach to Public Safety: A Review of Police Canines in the United States, 2024
15.