Police, military, and detection dogs perform demanding work that creates specific welfare obligations for their handlers and institutions throughout their working lives and into retirement.
Working dog welfare requires attention throughout the full career lifecycle including training, active work, and retirement. During working life, welfare challenges include physical demands, noise trauma, occupational stress, and the quality of the human-dog working relationship. Retirement presents different challenges: dogs that have worked closely with handlers since puppyhood face the welfare disruption of separation, change of routine, and potential deprivation of the purpose-driven activity they have been trained to perform. Handler adoption of retired police dogs has become the norm in many forces, improving retirement welfare significantly. Canine PTSD recognition has opened new welfare considerations for dogs exposed to traumatic operational environments.