The Good Life – July-August 2018

LOCAL HERO // SERGEANT NIELSEN AND K-9 DISCO
it in training, you’re going to build muscle memory and
remember so you react appropriately on the street. That’s
why the continuous trainings happen.”
Nielsen, a training supervisor, puts in additional time with
Disco twice a month to keep their senses and stamina
sharp.
"He’s done a lot for
the department. I tell him
he’s on his farewell tour."
– Nielsen
“Disco came to the U.S. when he was a year and a half old.
He came partially trained from overseas. Then he came to
an organization called North Iowa Canine where Disco was
trained to be a police dog,” Nielsen said. “I went to Iowa and
learned how to be a handler, and now I train him. He knows
how to do so many things. You have to keep that at a high
level or that skillset will fade.”
The duties of police dogs vary. Single-purpose dogs are
trained to find narcotics. Nielsen said any canine with a
high-drive, like a Labrador retriever, could fit that role. Dualpurpose
dogs have a lot more responsibility in their dishes.
From sniffing out narcotics to protecting their handlers,
criminal apprehension to building searches, article
recovery to tracking, dogs like Disco are vital members of
any department.
As a German shepherd, Disco is one of three dog breeds
specifically used for this more intelligent and aggressive
line of work. Breeds chosen for dual-purpose positions are
the German shepherd, the Dutch shepherd and the Belgian
Malinois. Those are the breeds that won’t bat an eye at
apprehending criminals.
“The lab isn’t bred to chase down a person. They are trained
to go get ducks, pheasants or geese, not a human. The dogs
we get are working bred dogs, the ones that aren’t bothered
by chasing a person down. It would be very hard to train a
golden retriever to chase a person down. They’re not wired
for that, whereas a German shepherd will do that.”
32 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com