The top police dog-handling academy in Germany was mired in scandal yesterday after claims that female cadets had been forced to wear electric collars, crawl on all fours and bark on command.
The dog-handling academy, based at Herzogau in Bavaria, trains teams to sniff out drugs, explosives and corpses. It has an international reputation for excellence.
Some cadets were forced to drink beer mugs full of steaming urine. “Trainees also had to drink a cocktail made up of rubbish fished out of bins and rotting food,” said the anonymous eight-page letter sent to the Nürnberger Nachrichten newspaper.
“First indications are that these allegations do come from a member of the police,” said Günther Ruckdäschel, of the Regensburg prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the academy. The point of the bullying seems to have been to reduce cadets, and in particular the young women, to the level of the dogs that they were training.
Collars used in dog training, intended to give short sharp electric shocks in case of bad behaviour, were strapped to the necks of the women. Throughout this humiliation, the women cadets were shouted at and insulted.
The dog-handling academy, based at Herzogau in Bavaria, trains teams to sniff out drugs, explosives and corpses. It has an international reputation for excellence.
Some cadets were forced to drink beer mugs full of steaming urine. “Trainees also had to drink a cocktail made up of rubbish fished out of bins and rotting food,” said the anonymous eight-page letter sent to the Nürnberger Nachrichten newspaper.
“First indications are that these allegations do come from a member of the police,” said Günther Ruckdäschel, of the Regensburg prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the academy. The point of the bullying seems to have been to reduce cadets, and in particular the young women, to the level of the dogs that they were training.
Collars used in dog training, intended to give short sharp electric shocks in case of bad behaviour, were strapped to the necks of the women. Throughout this humiliation, the women cadets were shouted at and insulted.



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