The police in GTA 6 are smarter and more capable than they were in GTA 5, and that includes the newly confirmed detail that cops can dispatch dogs to hunt you down.
Edge Magazine recently posted a preview of the game with Rockstar’s Rob Nelson playing. In one sequence, Jason and Lucia are attempting to evade police when they crash their motorcycle and try to escape on foot. However, nearby cops send out a K9 unit to assist. One of the dogs, a German Shepherd, quickly grabs Jason and pins him to the ground. According to Edge, developers standing by during the preview urged Nelson not to shoot the dog.
This implies that it’s possible to shoot police dogs, and that wouldn’t be surprising, as GTA 5 lets you shoot and kill dogs as well. We previously learned that players can pet the dog in GTA 6, or they can scold it.
In real life, police in Miami–which is parodied as Vice City in GTA 6–and other places around the country do indeed use specially trained dogs for crimefighting. Miami, in fact, just welcomed a new dog, Samson, who is also a German shepherd like the one in GTA 6.
GTA 6 features a six-star Wanted system and an expanded criminal profile system that allows cops to track you down with a wider net. Additionally, the game now notifies you if you’ve been seen by a CCTV camera, for example, and if so, you can destroy the evidence to evade the fuzz. Cops also remember the specific clothing that Jason and Lucia are wearing, so players may need to change clothes to escape.
In other dog-related GTA 6 news, the newest episode of South Park contained brand-new GTA 6 gameplay footage showing Jason hurling dog poop at another person, and then picking up the poop again to smack them with it.
GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. After that, Rockstar could release GTA 6 Online and a PC edition in early 2027.