Training

PART of my canine training experience involves working with the Vancouver Police K9

sist the head trainer (3 police officer} in areas of behaviuur, obedience, tracking, and agitation training. And I love it.

Given the recent incident involving a West Vancouver Police dog I have been field- ing questions regarding police dogs and their training from students and friends. 1 have also heard a few rnisconcep- tions from the pubiic regard- ing, police dogs.

B am not ering this to justify the actions of any police dogs. Nor am { validating any accidents involving the public and police dogs. I am. merely giving some insight into police dogs and to clear up fallacies. -

First of all, the breed of dog used most often is the German shepherd. Sorae police departments also use the Belgian malinois, another

‘breed of herding dog.

The German shepherd that is used for police work bares litte resemblance physically or mentally to the shepherd chat

- lives in your neighbourhood. » And no, it is not crossed with a wolf. Some shepherds used are nuit the typical black and tan which most people are familiar with, but have colour- “ing and makings called black sable. These markings ray give them a wolf-lik

. tics such as great tenacity, : incredible courage, high prey drives os well as intense meatal,

would drive you insane! Police dogs are bred to be tough dogs who will enter, without hesitation, any ype of danger- ous situation and control ix.

Basic obedience training usually begins around four months of age. They are not tained using any type of abu- sive :nethods. ‘They do not use pinch, prong or clectric shock coliars to train their dogs, Most officers use a thick heavy leather collar or the dead ring’ (non slip portion) on the dogs’ chan collars to prevent injury while training.

Serious police work train- ing begins around the age of 15 months, when the dogs are mentally and physically mature enough to withstand the rigor- ous training schedule which is usually 10 hours a day, 4 days a week for fourteen weeks. During this time obedience is refined, they are taught how

. to track human scent, search

for articles and perform bite wonk alse calted agitation. Police dogs are net natura!- ly aggressive. Their aggression is taught and is only exhibited on the command of the police ofscer, like a light switch. When these dogs are at work they arc not a pet. They have been highly rained to be a deterrent to fleeing criminals and an aid in apprehension. A

police dog is on the scene. If

hey don’t, they are danin stu- pid because they could get bit- ten!

When a police dog does bite a criminal, it is crained to do a bite and hold. It does not slash away at ilesh with its tecth. Serious wounds are inflicted because the criminal is struggling to get away from the dog. If they stood still, they are unlikely to receive any niore than puncture wounds.

If there is an incident in which the dog bites the wrong,

rson, 99.9% of the time it is andler error, the dog is not to blame ... iz is only doing what it has been trained to do.

Police dogs that are not working are affectionate, play- ful and very social. Their socialization on people begins very early in life so the dogs are comturtable in any type of public setting regardless of dis- tractions.

These dogs live with their police handler in their home. Most police officers have fami- lies and are comfortable with their dog around their chil- dren. They let them interact together and pull on cars, tails and feet. ‘The dogs roll on their backs for belly rubs and play at the park like all dogs. The head trainer of the Vancouver Police KO squad Icts his dog jump on a trampo- line with his son.

If you see a police dog at work, on the scent of possibly the latest home invasion per- petrator, give them lots of room co do their job.

To me, it ts sweet justice knowing that the criminal our soft-hearted justice system allows out on bail after his if- teenth offence, has had a good chunk of his butt bitzen by a police dog.

Sunday, November 7, 1992 — North Shore News — 37

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That's the most common reaction when people first see Aquababies. This compact desktop/tabletop aquarium was designed by Dr. Karen Norman Woodroe, 2 marine biolo- gist with a doctorate in aquatic nutrition, in Sebastopol, California, this mini aquarium is a semi-selfsustaining balanced ecosystem.

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