K-9 security pioneer still training dogs
Part-time job becomes life-long passion
PETALING JAYA: Edmund de Run has been a local pioneer in K-9 security since the 1970s. His guard dogs have even been used against communists.
It started with the import of 22 fully-trained guard dogs from England.
The animals, including German Shepherds and Rottweilers, were specially selected and flown in for de Run’s Gwen Kennels, the first company to provide guard dogs to private and commercial sectors in Malaysia.
Among the first to seek de Run’s services were the tin mines in Perak, which were losing ore to theft.
He said the culprits used the ore to barter for rice at sundry shops which they would then give to the communists.
His dogs were also used by the police, he said, to sniff out commu- nist booby traps.
The communists hit back and there was an incident where the tyres of all his vehicles parked at the mine went missing, he said.
“We had a few dogs, so we immediately let them out and we saw men, who were waiting to ambush us, running away,” he said.
As a young man in the 1960s, de Run studied veterinary science in England, but financial constraints forced him to look for a job.
He eventually met Harry Darbyshire of Mountbrown Police Dog Kennels in Surrey, England, and Bowesmor Kennels for working dogs, where he learned to train dogs.
“So it became a life vocation for me,” said de Run who pointed out that his love for dogs ran in the fam- ily as his late father Lloyd started the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in the 1950s.
Over the years de Run has provided dogs for security during visits by dignitaries and bomb-sniffing dogs for the Commonwealth Heads of Government’s meeting held here several years ago.
Till today, de Run trains and breeds dogs to maintain their progeny.
“If the progeny is for guard dogs, then it is kept for that purpose,” he added.
He also goes the extra mile to educate his clients on how to handle and treat the dogs they get from him.
Training dogs, he added, was no walk in the park as it required discipline and time.
“When you want a dog, be prepared to sweat and get dirty,” said de Run.
Dogs need to bond with their owners and this, he said, came with grooming and bathing, among others.
“But they bring so much joy,” said de Run.
He added that his grandson, who now lives in Taiwan, had picked up some training skills from him.
“He is now seven years old but he started observing me when he was four. He even trained his German Shepard named Skyler,” said the proud grandfather.