Police dog

A police dog, often known as a "K-9" or "K9" (a homophone of "canine") in some English-speaking countries, is a dog that is specifically trained to assist police and other law-enforcement personnel in their work. Their duties include searching for drugs and explosives, searching for lost people, looking for crime scene evidence, and protecting their handlers. Police dogs must remember several hand and verbal commands. The most commonly used breed is the German Shepherd.

In many jurisdictions, the intentional injuring or killing of a police dog is a felony.

History

Early history

Dogs have been used for law enforcement since at least the Middle Ages. Money was then set aside in the villages for the upkeep of the parish constable's bloodhounds that were used for hunting down outlaws. During King Henry I of England's reign, the constable in charge of the Royal Palaces would 'maintain the stables, kennels and mews, and be responsible for protecting and policing the whole court'. In France, dogs were used in the 14th century in St. Malo. Bloodhounds used in Scotland were known as "Slough dogs" - the word "Sleuth", (meaning detective) was derived from this.

K9

K9 or K-9 may refer to:

Dogs

Fictional dogs

Computing

Entertainment

K-9 (Doctor Who)

K-9 is the name of several fictional robotic canines (dogs, the name being a pun on the pronunciation of "canine") in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, first appearing in 1977. K-9 has also been a central character in three of the series television spin-offs: the one-off K-9 and Company (1981), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011) and K-9 (2009–2010). Although not originally intended to be a recurring character in the series, K-9 was kept in the show following his first appearance because he was expected to be popular with younger audiences. There have been at least four separate K-9 units in the series, with the first two being companions of the Fourth Doctor. Voice actor John Leeson has provided the character's voice in most of his appearances, except during Season 17 of Doctor Who, in which David Brierley temporarily did so. The character was created by Bob Baker and Dave Martin, to whom rights to the character still belong; consequently, Baker's spin-off series K-9, which is not BBC-produced, cannot directly reference events or characters from Doctor Who, though it attempts to be a part of that continuity.

K-9 (TV series)

K-9 is a British-Australian comedy-adventure series focusing on the adventures of the robot dog K-9 from the television show Doctor Who, achieved by mixing computer animation and live action. It is aimed at an audience of 11- to 15-year-olds. A single series of the programme was made in Brisbane, Australia, with co-production funding from Australia and the United Kingdom. It aired in 2009 and 2010 on Network Ten in Australia, and on Disney XD in the UK, as well as being broadcast on other Disney XD channels in Europe.

Development

K-9's co-creator, Bob Baker, had long sought to produce a television series starring the character. Indeed, in 1997 Doctor Who Magazine announced that Baker and producer Paul Tams were producing a four-part pilot series provisionally called The Adventures of K9. The magazine stated that the pilot would be filmed that year "on a 'seven-figure' budget", and that the BBC had expressed interest in purchasing the broadcast rights. However, funding proved elusive, and despite persistent rumours, the series remained in "development hell" for many years.