In September 1960, the Topeka Police Department began using dogs for police service on the streets of the city.

The use of dogs by this department was undertaken after questionnaires were mailed to other police departments in the United States that were using police dog units. St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department had been using police dogs units since 1958 and were having good results with the use of the police dog units in the high crime areas.

In June 1960, two German Shepards were donated to the Topeka Police Department by the Eagles Club and the Moose Lodge. These dogs were taken to Brighten, Missouri to be pre-trained at Harry's Work Dog Company. Training was conducted by Heinz M. Nawroth and his son, Matt.

In August 1960, two officers, Charles Bowman and Richard Rychiski, were sent to Brighton, Missouri for two weeks of training with the two dogs that had been pre-trained. On their return from training, the first two police dog units, Officer Charles Bowmen and K9 REBEL, Officer Richard Rychiski and K9 FELIX, were assigned to patrol the core areas of our city, North Kansas and South Kansas Avenue business districts. Two 1960 Ford vehicles were remodeled to accommodate these two dog units.

The use of police dogs in police work showed good potentials, so the Chief decided to have the two other dogs that the department had acquired to be trained. One additional officer paid for his own training, and by March 1961 the City of Topeka Police Department had five K-9 units patrolling the streets. Since we were limited to two vehicles at the time, the use of some police dog units were utilized for foot-patrol in the business district of Topeka. This would allow for the two mobile units to respond to calls in other areas of the city

Breed of Dog
At the time the unit was started German Shepards were the breed used by this department. The German Shepard is most suited for practical all around police work. He looks the part of a police dog, which produces a good psychological effect. He can be trained to work with eagerness upon human scent, whether it is in tracking or searching. He can be trained to control himself and deal with varying circumstances as they arise. He will bite (without fear) and yet on the other hand he is prepared to hold the criminal by barking, if this is all that is required. Furthermore, he enjoys police work. It has been found; however, that some specimens of this breed are untrainable and fail to come up to the standard required.

The age of a dog for police dog training must be one year and not have reached three years. There is however, some exception to this rule as some German Shepards are slower in maturing.

Costs
Early in 1960, the Topeka Police Department contacted the Topeka Insurers and other groups and firms to advice the urgent need of securing funds required for the training of the four police dogs previously acquired. At this time, the Topeka Insurers offered to underwrite the entire cost of the program in the event other contributions were not received. However, several contributions were forthcoming and consequently the Topeka Insurers, in conjunction with a number of other civic minded organizations and firms, made possible the inauguration of the police dog training program. The Topeka Insurers also volunteered to contribute funds, as they might be needed for the continuation of this important program so vital in the work of the Topeka Police Department.

In 1960, the cost of establishing a K-9 Corps or Section for the City of Topeka Police Department was $600.00 per man. The cost figure was for a dog and the working equipment (one dog harness, one 6 ft leash, one 21" collar, one 25 ft tracking leash) and two weeks of training at Harry's Work Dog School in Brighten, Missouri. The cost did not however, include the police officer's wages. Since our police dogs are donated, the $600.00 cost was reduced by $150.00, which meant that the total cost of the training of the original five K-9 Units was $350.00 per unit plus the officer's two week wages, since the officers were lost to the department for two weeks.

The concept of police dog units in a police agency has always been a rewarding investment for most of the police departments that decided to utilize police dogs in police work.

Operational Costs
When K-9 units originally became a part of the Police Department, the next costs considered were the actual operating expenses of a police dog unit for one year, were food, veterinary services, kennels and working equipment such as leashes, chains, feed and water pans and tracking harnesses. Cost of these were an estimated $200.00 per year per dog. In 1960, added to this was the cost of equipping special cars for mobile duty. The department covering the possibility that dogs may bite innocent people also must carry special insurance.

The cost of the 6' X 6' X 10' long kennels were built at cost of materials only, as the building of nine kennels was done by the K-9 handlers. The doghouses were built or purchased by the dog handlers at no cost to the city. In 1984 six of the original dog kennels were still in use. A dog handler that owned or was buying a house was also given cement slab and installed in his back yard to go with the kennel. Some dog handlers however did not require this as their dogs were housed inside their homes. Since these K-9's were trained to be like family pets when not on duty and were safe around family members.

The cost of food for the police dogs was also an expense that the Topeka Police Department had anticipated. The dog food was purchased at local grocery stores. This expense lasted for a few months only. Since police dogs in Topeka was a new concept in police work and the news media had given this new concept a lot of coverage, Hills Pet Food Company knew that we were buying our dog food from several stores, they decided to assist is in the food supply. The Hills Pet Food Company administrator and their company veterinarian met with some of the dog handlers and it was then decided that the dog food would be donated to the Police Department for its dogs and would continue to do so as long as we had police dog units. In return for this, their veterinarian put our dogs on a feeding plan and the dog handlers would turn in a weekly health report that was utilized by Hills Pet Food Company in helping them in the development of a dog food for dogs in high stress work. Hills Pet Food had been supplying the dog food for the Armed Forces in Vietnam and found that a new dog food had to be developed that would maintain these dogs in stressful situations. This is where our police dogs entered the picture (as guinea pigs so to speak) to test their food. After many months of testing, the dog food called "Canine Maintenance" and "Canine Stress Diet" was developed. This food solved the health problems of the patrol dogs in Vietnam and is the same food we are still using for our police dogs. This is provided by Hills Pet Food Company at no cost to the city.

To summarize the cost of our K-9's, in 1983 the cost to the department for maintaining nine (9) active units, two (2) lot dogs, and two (2) dogs in training was $ 2,170.00. This total breaks down to $ 166.92 per dog per year or $13.91 per month. This was for veterinarian bills. Any other costs were paid from our K-9 fund, a fund that is maintained solely through public donations.

Training
After the initial cost for the training of the original five (5) dogs and the decision had been made to continue the establishment of the police department's K-9 unit (or Corp as it was originally called), the department decided to increase the size of the unit to eight (8) police dog units. The original K-9 handlers had been trained to train their own dogs, so it was decided to increase the K-9 section. The training of new dogs and handlers would be done by the dog handlers, as well as work with each other in supplementary training.

The police department had no set facilities for the supplementary training of our on-duty units or for the training of new dogs. Handler's obedience training was done in the dog handlers home and the rest of training was completed in our city parks and on-duty territory when time allowed. Training the dogs in attack work had to be done in the parks after hours, since aggressive training of a dog in view of the public is against K-9 training rules.

Problems were encountered, since the K-9 unit had no ranking officer in charge. In 1962, Sgt. John Leonard was transferred to the K-9 Unit and sent to Brighton, Missouri for a two week course for dog trainers. Sgt. Leonard returned from school with his dog Donner. Donner was a trained police dog, but was used only for demonstration to the public. Sgt. Leonard established a training schedule to enable teach unit to log no less than eight (8) hours of off-duty training per month. There was no compensation for the officers working their dog's off-duty, however once the units were certified for duty, the department increased the handler's salary by $ 20.00 per month. This would compensate for the extra cleaning service for uniforms.

K-9 units were also working a seven (7) hour shift; the eighth hour of each day was used for grooming and training with the handler. The trainer administrated the supplementary training for both members of the team, with training being conducted in the officer's territory. At that time the K-9 units worked a territory, whereas today they work a zone. While off-duty was conducted at some prearranged location at all hours, depending on the kind of training needed. This method of training worked for two (2) years. In 1964, patrolman Gabe Ochoa was given the rank of acting sergeant in charge of the K-9 unit and K-9 training. Sgt. Leonard was assigned to desk Sergeant duty. The Park Department had acquired a dog that had been assigned to Park Patrolman Frank Tucker. The Park Department had constructed three (3) kennels at Gage Park. Patrolman Tucker obtained permission for the police department to utilize their facilities, to house two (2) dogs that Sgt. Ochoa acquired (through donations) for future training. It was felt that we could expedite placing new dogs on duty by first training the dogs so that when new units were needed a two week training period of the new handler with a already trained dog was sufficient to certify a new unit or street duty. This was the concept used in Brighton, Missouri K-9 Training School.

Before a training facility could be established at Gage Park near the kennels, additional space was needed. Dennis Showalter, Park Superintendent, gave Sgt. Ochoa permission to fence off the area necessary for a training facility. Sgt. Ochoa donated fencing materials and with the help of some of the handlers, proceeded to establish our first training facilities. These training facilities were maintained at Gage Park until the middle of 1968. New kennels were constructed at Crane and Harrison in the Police Department's Impound Lot and were consequently our training facilities were moved there.

In 1971Forbes Air Base had some dog houses and some confidence course equipment that was no longer being used because Strategic Air Command had moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Contact was made with Colonel Wilson base commander and he arranged to have the equipment donated. With a few repairs on the confidence course equipment we ended up with a good course and each dog unit ended up with a good doghouse. There were also enough doghouses to have some at the training facility.

In 1977, arrangements were made to lease the old S.A.C. patrol dog facility at Forbes Field. Our facility at the Impound Lot had become too small and the department was getting rid of the double trailer with its bathroom and water facilities. This trailer also housed the K-9 unit's officer in charge office. Forbes Field proved to be the ideal place, since there were twenty-four (24) permanent kennels, a building with an office and, other necessary facilities. The entire training facilities were moved there, leaving the existing kennel at the Impound Lot to house the Impound Lot guard dogs.

The department no longer uses the facilities at Forbes Field but has moved the confidence equipment to another location. The department continues to conduct our owning training under Officer Steve Purney. The department continues to modernize its training and now works with several breeds of dogs to compliment its work force. The breeding of dogs used in police work has greatly improved and the current dog of choice by most law enforcement agencies is a breed called a Belgian Malonis. This breed is similar to a German Shepard but a little smaller and they don't have the some of the problems we were experiencing with the German Shepard. The Topeka Police Department currently has on the streets seven (7) Belgian Malonis, two (2) Czech Shepards, and one (1) Chocolate Labrador.