BURBANK : New Police Dog Gets Off to a Fast Start

The dog has a beautiful, loping gait, easy self-confidence, a talent for public relations and calm professionalism.

That makes Arx, a thoroughbred German shepherd, perfect for police work, according to Lt. Duane Dow of the Burbank Police Department

“Arx will make a name for himself,” Dow predicts. “Arx will be well-known.”

German-trained Arx began policing the streets last month, replacing Dickie, another German shepherd killed in a fall while searching for a robbery suspect.

“He was my partner and my friend 24 hours a day,” said Patrolman Craig Bragdon, Dickie’s handler for six years who now has Arx as a partner.

Arx was purchased after a $6,000 fund-raising drive.

The dog was trained in Germany in a sport called Schutzhund , in which the dog’s skills are tested in an obstacle course, obedience, endurance and agility. Arx was in the top class, Dow said.

Stairs, tiled floors and riding in a car were all strange to Arx when he arrived in Burbank, and it took six weeks to acclimate him.

“He’s seems to be picking up on it much quicker than I anticipated,” said Bragdon. Already Arx is responsible for 15 arrests, Bragdon said. In two collars last week, he flushed a robbery suspect out of a Glendale alley and tracked down another suspected of stealing a car who fled up a Burbank hillside.

“He’s very aggressive,” Bragdon said of Arx. “He gets very excited to go out and work.”