German 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.
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updated 5:08 p.m. PT, Mon., Feb. 25, 2008
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.

My dog just goes barefooted. She wouldn't even let put a collar on her. She is a real red neck.

My dog hides her boots and her vest, I have to go digging through the hole house just to find them come hunting seson.

I didn't even know that there was a Belgian shepherd. I had Poodle and it got ran over. The German Schnauzer I haven't seen hide nor hair or her. But I still have the Spitz. My friend, Lisa who gave her to me told me that she would do good with catching a frisbee. Sissy, my Spitz can jump flat pawed four feet off the ground. Probably because she is barefooted. Although maybe if she had a pair of Nike's she might do better.