The author's family had no dogs during his childhood; his first experience with a dog was at age 16 and involved watching a police dog handler putting his dog through its exercises. He joined the Nottinghamshire Constabulary as a police cadet in September 1965 at age 17 and initially had almost no contact with police dogs. In 1968 he acquired a stray dog as a pet. He purchased a German Shepherd puppy in 1973 and subsequently applied and was accepted as a police dog handler. His dogs have helped him capture burglars and other offenders. Police dogs were first used in England in 1910 and are now used for drug detection, tracking, and assistance to police in their other duties. Persons wishing to own a dog as a pet should be aware of the laws, care, common health problems, and training techniques. Care and training guidelines, photographs, and appended lists of dogs used in the Nottinghamshire Constabulary