Brothers Garry and Gunnar enjoy their first training session together

After being imported from Germany brothers Garry and Gunnar have settled in well with their puppy walking families and attended their first training session on Sunday 13th of August at HQ.

As always we introduced them to our tunnel and agility ramps which are ideal as we start the process of gradually building their resilience to new experiences and situations.

Here is Isabel guiding Gunnar up and down the ramps.

Here is Jill doing the same with Garry.

Garry was a bit slow on getting the hang of the tunnel but once he got the idea we couldn’t stop him.

Gunnar had no such hang ups flying straight into it

Here is Garry patiently watching Gunnar and Hannah practising their sit’s and down’s.

Next it was Gunnar’s turn to watch and learn with Jill and Garry practising their finding the leg exercise and heelwork.

For such young pups their concentration was excellent.

We then finished the control exercises with some recall work. Recall work is very important because one day it could save the dog’s life.

Next we introduced the pups to the one exercise that all Police dogs need to be very good at ie tracking.

Tracking is where we condition the dog to follow the trail of a person. This is probably the number one exercise for a Police dog because it helps us to locate criminals who have fled the scene of a crime or to locate vulnerable missing persons.

Here is Garry waiting patiently for his turn watching Gunnar.

Gunnar is a natural tracker pictured here with a nice low nose following the trail I have just laid.

Garry might look laid back but his drive to track is there for all to see.


Isabel and Gunnar already looking a great team. Who knows a future dog handler in the making.

Unfortunately Eric and Elsa couldn’t make the training but we were joined by Eva who is now 6 months old.

Lisa and her son Billy are first time puppy walkers and only recently took Eva on from temporary walkers Colin and Mitzi. Other than the farm visit this was only Lisa’s second training session with Eva but it didn’t show.

Eva loved the agility equipment and Lisa also gave a super demonstration of a down stay and return with Eva.

Their recall was pretty good too and Eva’s tracking was very impressive.

Although Eric couldn’t make the session his walker Terri sent this picture of Eric looking a bit sorry for himself after rolling in a bog and then needing a bath.

TAMMY, TAG, OZZIE, OSCAR AND OLLIE ARE INTRODUCED TO PERSON SEARCHING

On Monday this week I assessed all 5 dogs on their article searching and introduced them to the first stages of criminal work. After that we all moved to the old Exmouth college to introduce them to person searching.

Here are the teams.

TAMMY WITH PUPPY WALKER MARGARET

TAG WITH NIGEL AND SUE WHO ARE LOOKING AFTER TAG WHILE HIS PUPPY WALKERS ARE ON HOLIDAY IN AMERICA.

OZZIE WITH PUPPY WALKER IAN

OSCAR WITH PUPPY WALKERS REBECCA AND PETER

OLLIE WITH PUPPY WALKERS PAUL AND DEBBIE

Oscar was a bit lethargic on the criminal work and article searching. Ozzie has also been very poor on his tracking on our previous session and so I concentrated on his tracking today. He was very unfocused and lacking any determination again.

I have decided to have both dogs in for a week’s remedial work to improve their performance in these areas over the next few weeks.

Here is little Tammy on her first go at tugging work which was good for her first attempt.


These are the very early stages of getting the pup to enjoy fighting the helper for the tug toy and this will eventually develop into chasing the criminal wearing a protective sleeve.

We then went on to Exmouth for our introduction to person searching. All of the dogs loved this and did very well.
Here is Tag on his introduction to person searching and considering last time we could not get any sort of a bark for his toy this time was excellent.


We also took the opportunity to make sure that all of the dogs were confident on shiny slippery floor surfaces and I am happy to report that they were. Here is Tag very comfortable on the shiny gym floor and at the same time tugging on the ropes which make a loud metallic noise on the overhead runners.

These runners do upset quite a few dogs but as you can see Tag is pretty bomb proof.


Tag went back to his puppy walkers on Tuesday and was reunited with his best mate Marina. 

He did enjoy his temporary stay with Nigel and Sue and we are grateful to them for looking after him.

I would also like to thank Mary who has helped with looking after Tara, Elsa and Tammy while walkers have taken short breaks.

MY VISIT TO BELGIUM AND HOLLAND

Last week I travelled to Belgium and Holland to select 4 pups for our puppy program. In my last blog I showed pictures of the pups in Holland. The pups in Belgium were bred by my friend Walther Verbruggan.

Here are the 2 pups I have selected Quest and Queni for our program from his litter.

I was very impressed with Walther’s litter they were in excellent condition and bred at his home from his only dog Faye.

I am extremely excited about the pups from Holland and Belgium because hopefully they will be the final piece in the jigsaw in building our own breeding program so we don’t have to rely on other breeders providing the dogs that we need.

To have the pick of such a superb litter is very exciting.


I am often asked why do you need to go abroad for pups?  The reason is there are so few breeders  in the UK who breed pups of the calibre we need.  The ones that do breed pups of the calibre we need have many Police forces competing for their pups. 

I am very pleased with Eric and Elsa who we acquired from Kazzardsway German Shepherds in Manchester and hopefully Bernard will provide other pups for us. But breeders like Bernard cannot provide all of the pups we need hence the reason for building our own program.

Next time I will update you on how Ozzie and Oscar get on with their remedial work and will update you on which Police dog teams will be starting their Initial Police dog course in September.

See you next time.

Paul