Monday 18 November 2013

Bidding goodbye to the class of January 2014

As always on the dog section a lot has happened since my last update 2 weeks ago.
I will start with the sad news that our force will not be running a General purpose Police dog initial course in January 2014 which means that our 4 dogs for that course Tyson, Charlie, Murphy and Buddy will not now be working in Devon and Cornwall.

We run 2 initial Police dog courses each of 13 weeks duration within our force each year .These courses are nearly always fully subscribed with 4 handlers on each. One course starts in January and one starts in December.

Very unusually there is only one handler in our force needing a dog in January and it is therefore not economical to run a 13 week course for one handler. This means that the next Devon and Cornwall course will not be until September 2014. As a result I have had to find alternative Police forces for our boys.

It is something I hate doing because having grown up with the pups and the puppy walkers ideally we want to see the dogs working in Devon and Cornwall. That said they are dogs that are born to work and are much happier dogs working with their handler as a Police dog in whatever area they find themselves. We insist that Police forces who take our dogs must keep in touch with us and more importantly keep in touch with the puppy walkers.

I remember staying overnight in Angelsey in January this year and seeing the 4 brothers with their other 5 litter mates at their breeders farm house and seeing them all running and feeding with ducks, chickens, and geese when they were 7 weeks old.

I brought the four of them back the next day and they are pictured here being united with their new puppy walkers at HQ Middlemoor. (Pictures 379 and 384.)  On photo 384 from left to right, Murphy,  Tyson, Charlie and Buddy.
Puppies being held by their new puppy walkers

Puppies standing on a wooden picnic table

Here are some more pictures of the boys on subsequent training days.
Exeter city centre
Puppies sat and waiting with puppy walkers in Exeter hight street

Outside the force helicopter.
Sitting in front of the Force helicopter with their walkers

On the farm.
Meeting sheep
Meeting a horse at the stables

Meeting chicken in a small farm yard
Last week Buddy and Tyson left me to go to Derbyshire Police force photo 006 and Charlie left to go to Bedfordshire photo 0205.
Paul with dog Charlie before hes off to Bedfordshire force
At Derbyshire police two dogs last photo op before they are handed over

Murphy who was born with a badly overshot jaw and has moderate hip dysplacia in one of his hips has been retired from Police duties and his puppy walkers Emma and Kevin Wiggins who live in Exmouth have taken up the option to keep him as their own dog. We wish Murphy and his family all the best for the future.

2 comments:

  1. I hope you don't mind me asking but was Murphys handler Darryl drew

    ReplyDelete
  2. No. The Murphy in the blog is one of our pups which has been released from the programme. We have a 6 year old serving dog called Murphy in Exeter whose handler is Darryl Drew.
    Paul

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