As dogs became endangered species, synthetics picked up the slack with animoid replacements for the equally endangered K-9 police units. There is now a small unit that deals solely with animoid services & control, who can assist detectives using a small pack of LAPD-owned and trained animoids purpose-built to aid investigation. Mostly dogs, due to their size, strength, and speed.
Though synthetic, animoids aren’t Reps. So no, there aren’t talking dogs around the office. Matching wits with a Nexus-1 or basic automaton, animoids are only able to follow simple vocal or gesture commands, though some handlers elect to undergo synthetic augmentations to thought-sync for deeper connections and animoid control, even with harder to manage breeds like cats, rats, and birds used for recon on rare occasions. Cats are especially rough to wrangle, though. Hard to say if the bioengineers missed the mark or hit the bullseye, but there’s a distinct independence among those furballs that only handlers with true talent and patience can tame.
As few animals (organic or animoid) are seen in the city, animoids call attention to themselves. So much like the old K-9 squads, they’re mostly used for crowd control or search & seizure runs using their heightened speed and senses.