BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Barking, biting and tugging while on a platform, Rigo is a police dog in training.

"He's not going to come off and bite anybody," said Detective Scott Mateyaschuk."This is all play for the dog."

It's playing with a purpose. This is the new class at the NYPD's elite emergency service canine unit located at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The dogs and their partners have been here a month. It's an 18-week training.

Detective Mateyaschuk is the lead trainer. As a dog jumped over a six-foot wall, he said the new dogs need to get up to speed with the veteran police dogs.

"So right over the wall with no problem," he said. "If we are conducting a track or some sort of evidence search and we need to get over a large area, the dog is going to make it over."

Many of the 44 dogs in the emergency service canine unit are German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois, which are similar breeds.

Being pulled forward by Rigo, Officer David Harris described the dog as being very strong and full of muscle.

One veteran dog practiced looking for evidence in a tight squeeze by running through a tube.

"No problem.  So, it's a confined space less than 24 inches wide," Mateyaschuk said. "This could a be a sewer in New York City. It could be anything."

All of this training is so the dogs can rescue people. They can also recovery bodies from debris if needed.  

Sniffing out explosives and weapons is not a problem, like another canine showed by finding a hidden handgun underneath a vehicle.

These dogs are not just partners to the officers. They are family and go home with the officers every day.

Many of the dogs are eventually renamed to honor fallen cops.

For Officer Harris and Rigo, their family relationship will be a lot different than the other partners.

"He is going to be named after Sergeant John Coughlin, who passed away on September 11, 2001," said Harris. "His daughter is on the NYPD as well, and I figured it would be a good chance to honor his legacy."

Sergeant Coughlin, who was killed in the terror attacks, is actually Harris' father-in-law who he never met.

"From what I heard from my wife and my mother-in-law, he was an exceptional father and husband and a great cop," Harris said.

Harris hopes he and Rigo can be great cops as well.

In order to officially become a part of the elite K9 unit, Harris and his dog need to graduate from this training program in January.