By SSGT Cherie A. Thurlby, USAF Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

3. GERMANY GAVE THE WORLD ITS FIRST OFFICIAL K9

Following the unsuccessful attempt of the British police to catch Jack the Ripper, other European countries believed that they would have better results in training dogs for police duty – and they were completely right.
Police in France started using dogs in order to get rid of gangs that operated during the night, but the first real success came when the police in Ghent, Belgium launched their organized police dog service program in 1899, the first of its kind ever. Other countries followed in Belgium’s footsteps, including Austria-Hungary and Germany, the latter being the one that introduced the first K9 to the world.
When Germany became aware of the importance of Ghent’s program, scientists started working on the perfect police breed and finally developed a breed that has since become the most popular dog breed of all time, the famed German shepherd. The country opened the first dog training school in 1920 and the rest is now history.