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If there is a consistent theme to such encounters, it is the preparation of both officer and dog for whatever the streets have to offer. The preparations start at the command at the Brooklyn Army Terminal on Second Avenue and at a companion unit at Fort Totten in Queens, where kennel sounds and odors never quite remain outside the trailer offices and training rooms. The command hosts around 35 dogs (all German Shepherd males except for three male bloodhounds), their human partners and four instructors. Whereas other NYPD quarters are covered with wanted posters, operations orders, the dominant decor around canine rests on 50-pound bags of Eukanuba formula dog food. The most frequently seen piece of paper in the Brooklyn quarters seems addressed more to a maintenance crew than to police officers. Entitled "Training Trailer Detail," urges its readers to make sure that every day they:

• "Sweep classroom, bathroom and trainers office.
• "Empty trash in entire trailer.
• "Properly mark spare trash bags.
• "Wash and sterilize trash cans on Friday."

For Saunier, P.O. Joe Caputo, and others in the unit, however, cleaning up goes naturally with an assignment that cops literally take home with them. When Saunier returns to his family in Islip after every tour, Mac is right in the car with him because the Sauniers (wife, three children, and another dog) have become his family, as well. It is a commitment written into a job that might seem prohibitive to some but that is in fact part of the allure to the cops. "Everybody in this command has not only requested the duty," as Saunier points out, "but has been excited to request it. If you're not a dog person, you just don't belong here."

The dogs don't just trot into it, either. Supplied by civilian vendors who specialize in Polish and Czech breeders, the animals are usually between 10 and 14 months old when they face their first cut. This consists of a series of preliminary tests aimed at ascertaining their potential for biting, sniffing, and general street smarts. The fact that the dogs have 230 million scent receptors as opposed to a human being's 10 million is taken for granted.

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