🐕 Ask most people what a police dog does, and they'll describe a nose at work: a dog walking along a row of cloths and picking out the one that smells like the culprit. Tochigi Prefectural Police, north of Tokyo, are dropping that task, known in Japan as shūki senbetsu, or scent discrimination, from the exam that certifies their police dogs. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, it is the first change since the test items were set in 1967.

Matching a smell on a table of cloths

Scent discrimination is about matching, not following. According to the Japan Police Dog Association, the dog memorizes a scent, then goes to a table about 10 meters away and brings back the matching item from five spots. In some rounds there is no match at all, and the dog has to come back with nothing in its mouth.

In real cases, police preserve the smell of something left at a crime scene and compare it with a suspect's scent once one turns up. Japan's Supreme Court ruled on March 3, 1987, that the result can support a conviction if an experienced handler used a proven dog and the scent was collected, stored and tested properly. Since April 1, 2024, the National Police Agency has required a third-party witness, three practice rounds and three real ones, and a no-match round.

Courts elsewhere have been more skeptical. On September 22, 2010, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that scent lineups cannot support a conviction when used alone or as the main evidence. A dog's nose may be excellent, but the result can swing with the procedure.

Not called once in 2025

Tochigi police had zero scent-discrimination call-outs in 2025, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. Police say few investigations actually call for the method. As of October 2026, the change is set to apply from the November 16 exam, and the call for applicants the force published in September lists just two divisions: tracking and guard work.

Owners get a break, too. Tochigi's police dogs are privately owned dogs contracted by the force, and owners often spend more than a year training for whatever the exam covers. Fewer items mean less work for dogs and people, and the long exam day is expected to get shorter.

This isn't happening everywhere in Japan. Yamaguchi police, in a notice published in September, still list scent discrimination for their November 19, 2026 exam. Kumamoto police's notice for their 2026 exam, on the other hand, listed tracking, explosives search and search-and-rescue, with no scent discrimination.

The nose still matters

None of this means police dogs no longer need a sense of smell. Tracking stays in the exam. A tracking dog follows the scent a person leaves along the ground until it finds them. Same nose, different use: following instead of matching.

Guard work, which means finding someone hiding out of sight, stays too. Tochigi is home to Nikko and the Nasu Imperial Villa, and members of the imperial family visit often. An official in the force's forensics division told the Yomiuri that testing in line with what the dogs are actually called out for will help secure dogs that can do more good.

Looking for the lost, not the fleeing

Figures from the forensics division, reported by the Yomiuri, show searches for missing people and others roughly doubled, from 61 in 2021 to 120 in 2025. Local broadcaster Tochigi TV reported that about 60% of 2025 call-outs were searches for missing older people.

On the night of February 23, 2026, an 84-year-old man went missing in the city of Tochigi. Kanon, an 8-year-old contracted police dog, went out with his trainer. After about three hours with no luck, the search was called off. Then, on the drive home with the window down, Kanon suddenly started huffing and reacting with his whole body. The man was walking about 200 meters ahead, and he was taken into care safe and sound. The reward: a salmon rice ball from a convenience store, split between dog and trainer.

Nationwide, National Police Agency figures show 17,345 people reported missing because of dementia in 2025. That is down two years in a row from the record 19,039 in 2023, but still above the 15,432 of 2016. Of those found, 94.8% were located within three days of the report. Slowly, the dogs' noses are turning from people who run to people who are lost.

In Japan, family dogs can join the force

Japan has two kinds of police dogs: dogs owned by the police, and contracted dogs, raised by private owners or trainers and chosen through an exam. Tokyo's police started the contracted system in 1952. National Police Agency figures reported by the Kobe Shimbun put contracted dogs at 1,214 at the end of 2017, about 90% of all police dogs. In the UK, by contrast, serving police dogs belong to the force, not to the individual handler, according to a British charity for retired police dogs.

Because these dogs live at home or at training schools until a call comes in, Japan sometimes ends up with police dogs of surprising breeds, like Tsubu the Shiba Inu and Haku the Pomeranian.

So who are the police dogs where you live out looking for these days?

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