The 2014 January initial Police Dog course finally comes to an end

As previously reported  PC Phil Wilson and  Police dog Jack and PC Simon Willan and Police dog Charlie have already successfully passed their operational assessments and are now serving as operational Police dog teams in Exeter and North Devon respectively.

So the last few weeks  have been devoted to preparing the 2 remaining dogs teams PC Mark Stevens and Police dog Axel and PC Carla Lamble and Police dog Arry for their operational assessments.
Here are a few pictures of Axel and Arry undergoing training for their licensing assessments.

Axel, and Arry experiencing their first ever team track where all dogs participate together to track down an offender

Axel staying in the down position after being left by his handler Mark

Axel staying in the down position after being left by his handler Mark. This is a very important exercise for a Police dog who must stay put until his handler releases him from that position. It allows the handler to carry our other functions like searching a suspect or going over to talk to a witness. The dog should only move if the handler releases him or his handler gets attacked.

Mark returning to Axel after 5 minutes and is about to reward him.

Arry in the down position

Arry’s handler Carla returning after 5 minutes and will now reward him

The above shows the same exercise being performed by Police dog Arry.

'found you, can't hide from me!'

The above shows Police dog Axel barking at 2 likely suspects he has found hiding amongst a wood pile to alert his handler he has found them.

The above shows Arry relaxing with one of volunteer helpers Clare who was acting as a missing person for the day.

The above shows Axel and Arry continuing with socialisation in Exeter city centre so important for a Police dog to be reliable and sociable around members of the public.

Thursday 17th July assessment day arrives but unfortunately Axel has bruised his leg and cannot be assessed for several weeks as he needs to be rested. Arry successfully passes his assessment despite a very hot day and is now a fully licensed Police dog.

July 22 Passing out ceremony for Arry, Axel, Charlie and Jack

Although Axel still has to pass his licensing assessment we are confident he will do so in the next couple of weeks and so rather than postpone the passing out ceremony we go ahead.

The passing out display takes place at the end of all of our initial Police dog courses because it gives the handlers an opportunity to share their graduation with their families and their puppy walkers who have made a big sacrifice looking after the dog for nearly 12 months before handing him/her over to the handler.

The passing out display took place at Police Headquarters in extremely hot conditions. We started with photo’s where the handlers were able to have official photo’s taken with their families and puppy walkers.

After the photo’s the dog teams put on a display of agility, obedience and criminal work. After the display Chief Inspector Evans the officer in charge of dogs presented certificates to the handlers and a framed photograph of each dog was presented to the puppy walkers. A buffet followed and everyone went home having had a great day.

Here is a selection of photo’s of the day.

The above shows the dog teams before going on to perform their display. From left to right are PC Mark Stevens and Police dog Axel, PC Carla Lamble and Police dog Arry, Me, PC Simon Willan and Police dog Charlie, PC Phil Wilson and Police dog Jack

The above shows Jack with his first puppy walkers Lyn and John.

The above shows Jack with his second puppy walkers Angie and Graham.

The above shows Jack with his family.

The above shows Charlie with his puppy walkers Mike, Steve and Diane.

The above shows Charlie with his family.

The above shows Arry with his puppy walkers Paul, Ella, Tracey and Josh.

The above shows Arry with Carla and partner Ian.

The above shows Axel with puppy walkers Steve and Maria

The above shows Axel with his family

The above shows Me and my wife Diane and all the dogs with their puppy walkers and families.

The above two image shows the dog teams doing their group obedience.

'I can do this -  easy peasy lemon squeezy'

The above shows Jack doing the agility section.

The above shows Andrea Ormsby  the BBC Spotlight reporter relaxing with Axel and Arry the first Operational Police dog bred by the force.

Well there you have it a lovely day to round off the end of our January 2014 course and now its time to select which dogs are going to be on our September 2014 course.

See you next time when I will let you know which dogs will be on our next initial Police dog course and one dog will be going to Dorset Police dog section for their initial Police dog course.

PAUL