In 1954, an article appeared in LOOK magazine that included photographs showing Doberman Pinschers working with night security guards at Macy’s department store in New York City. Even before the LOOK article, they had already gotten widely publicized from a demonstration they and Macy’s security guards put on at the Madison Square Garden horse show the year before.
It wasn’t a “50’s” thing. As late as 1998, Doberman Pinschers were patrolling Macy’s 2 million square feet of retail space from the sub-sub-basement to the twentieth floor. At that time, there are 2,600 guard dogs in the city, and four of them were the Dobermans who spent their days sleeping in the penthouse atop Macy’s on 34th street. Once the customers left, the dogs would prowl the aisles at night, inspecting shipping bays, looking under counters, and critiquing the latest fashions. Each dog was taken out on a leash, but at certain points, they were released and told to “search.” They were on the look out for burglars and thieves, stragglers caught after hours, and indications of fire or water leakage. One time, two young girls were reported missing and traced to Macy’s enormous store. They were found by a Doberman guard dog who, to the surprise of his handler, licked the girls’ hands to put them at ease.
In an article penned by Macy,” “Pentagon,” “Max and” Nicky,” the Doberman squad seen after by a staff of nine. In the summer, they were bathed weekly, and then bi-monthly in the winter. They saw a veterinarian twice a year, and when not at work, hung out in four fenced-in dog runs, each with its own large heated and air conditioned doghouse.
Most of the Dobermans were 7 years old, and tended to work until they were 10 or 11 years old. After that, they were sold or given away for less-demanding work.
Macy’s canine security corps was established in 1952 with six dogs provided by John Behan, a dog trainer in the Army’s K-9 Corps in World War II, and author of, “The Dogs of War,” detailing his experiences. On his return to civilian life, he pioneered the use of trained dogs outside the military, and created canine programs for police departments across the country. He also established his first training school, Canine College on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
You can see more photos from the LOOK article here.
thank you. for the interesting article
Jeanette, it was our pleasure – we found it interesting too!
A friend of mine invited me to a photo shoot of the dogs, on site, for an article to appear in Federated’s corporate magazine, in the early 90s. Good dogs. I have the magazine somewhere. And a baseball hat.
How cool THAT had to have been, Kirstina!
Thank you for this informative post. You might come across a few others who have found this while surfing Google after seeing a film that was on ABC many years ago, ‘Trapped’, in which James Brolin is trying to escape from a department store paced by security dogs at night. This still can be seen at times on YouTube.
Of course, Brolin’s character wasn’t trying to steal anything, he was actually mugged and knocked unconscious in a restroom. When he comes to, the store has closed for the night and the dogs are loose. I wasn’t around then, so I didn’t know if this kind of thing was actually done or if it was from the writer’s imagination. I’m stunned to read that they were doing it so recently!
Thank you for reading the post, Paul-John! We were equally surprised to learn how recently the Dobermans are in use – but as they say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Macy’s at Herald Square was the 1st place l worked when l came to NYC in 1967. I traveled all over the store but l never went to the 20th floor were the dogs were kept. Macy’s was a great 1st job even though l did not make enough money to qualify for a macys charge card. Tunnels and A and S happily gave me credit cards.
It was an exciting time to be in New York City, Joyce. We were there last in February during Westminster and still marveled at all the goodies – and the wooden escalator!