From security tag alarms to AI cameras, retail store managers keep looking for more advanced tech to help deter shoplifting.
But in the 1950s, corporate execs at Macy’s turned to an ancient theft-fighting tactic: having Doberman pinschers handled by nighttime security guards patrol store aisles to sniff out crime.
The canine crime corps got their start at Macy’s 34th Street flagship department store in 1952, according to a New York Daily News article.
But Macy’s apparently employed an earlier incarnation of guard dogs in the first decades of the 20th century that “supplemented the night watchmen at the store,” per the 2011 book Retail Crime, Security, and Loss Prevention.
What put the 1952 pup police on the map was a national story in Look magazine by photojournalist Bob Lerner that hit newsstands two years later.
The story, “Nightwatch at Macy’s,” showcased the dogs walking around the empty store and peering down escalators with their guards, guards grooming and taking care of the dogs, and dogs undergoing training on Macy’s roof overlooking Herald Square. (Below, Macy’s in 1964)
How effective were these dobies at nabbing thieves who tried to break in to Macy’s after hours? I didn’t come across any numbers or anecdotes of their crime-fighting prowess. But they must have performed well, because as late as the 1990s, guard dobermans were still employed by Macy’s.
The New York Daily News article, from 1998, covered the story of four dobies who “spend their days sleeping in the penthouse atop Macy’s flagship store on 34th Street,” wrote reporter Russ Buettner. “By night, they prowl shipping bays and the aisles between Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren.”
These dogs were well taken care of, according to the article, with regular baths, vet checkups, fenced-in dog runs, and large shelters with heat and air conditioning. A staff of nine humans tended to their needs.
I have no idea if guard dogs still patrol Macy’s 11 floors almost three decades after the Daily News article. But as the store’s VP of security said in the article, “Their sense of smell is terrific. You can’t buy an alarm that does what they do.”
[All images from Look magazine via Museum of the City of New York Collections Portal. Top image: MCNY x2011.4.3231-54; second image: MCNY X2011.4.3231-54.129.ref; third image: MCNY F2011.33.428; fourth image: MCNY X2011.4.3231-54.76.ref]
Tags: Department Store Guard Dogs, How Macy Preventing Shoplifting, Macy’s Dobermans 1950s, Macy’s Guard Dogs 1950s, Macy’s Guard Dogs Look Magazine, Macy’s Herald Square NYC
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