K-9 Officer was hit of meeting

It was nothing but puppy love at the last meeting of the 111th Precinct Community Council when one of New York’s Finest brought his K-9 partner.
Officer Robert Dolan and “Cage,” his five-year-old German shepherd, spoke to local residents and Council members about the job and the police department’s furriest officers.
Each day, Dolan and Cage generally are assigned to one or more boroughs and are stationed at a major transportation hub until they get the call that their special skills are needed.
“Some days you cover three boroughs,” Dolan said.
Currently, there are 50 officers in Dolan’s division - the Emergency Service Unit K-9 Team, based in Fort Totten. But there are several other K-9 units in the City with dogs trained to handle transit, narcotics, and bomb squad activity.
Dolan explained that most of the dogs are German Shepherds and male because female pups are believed to more nurturing and in turn have difficulty leaving their human handlers to chase a perp. However, a female canine - a bloodhound - has recently been brought on at Dolan’s squad.
Generally, the dogs work for eight to nine years before they retire. Then their handlers get the chance to adopt them, as Dolan has already done with another dog.
“I have a retired dog now,” Dolan said, describing how the older K-9 clamors to go to work with Dolan and Cage everyday.
So far, Cage has seen mostly routine patrol, but Dolan has seen dogs in action, picking up a scent instantaneously and tracking down a suspect. The dogs are trained to chomp down on a suspect and hold on so that the criminal cannot get away.
However, Cage behaved less like a lion and more like a lamb with Bayside and Little Neck residents, sniffing out hands for pats on the head and a few scratches behind his ears.
“You work with them everyday. You are with them more than anyone, even your family,” Dolan said of his canine counterpart.
Should Cage or any other K-9 become injured or sick, their handler is put on desk duty until the dog recovers. And if necessary, the dog is retired, and the human officer gets their pick of the litter.