Best police dog partnership in the country
A word of warning to would-be Waikato criminals: the region has the best police dog and handler partnership in the country.
Constable Scott Gosnell and Apex had a near clean sweep at the Police and Detector Dog National Championships in Wellington and have completed tricky tasks in the field.
Apex, an almost-four-year-old black and tan German shepherd, is ``cool to have around’’, Gosnell said.
``He’s a neat little dog ... His work ethic is his best thing, he absolutely loves it. He catches plenty of people on the street and that is usually the indicator.’’
They became the second Waikato pair to take out the championship title, returning with a haul of trophies: the Frank Riley Cup for highest overall marks, the William Rose Bowl for criminal work disciplines, the Commissioner’s Challenge Cup for highest marks in obedience and the Monaghan Trophy for highest marks in heelwork.
They just missed out on the tracking component, which Gosnell admits was handler fault.
Their partnership began when Apex was 10 weeks old and trained through the ranks to be an operational patrol dog handler combination.
The Wellington win represented the first foray into championships for Gosnell, 29, who qualified in 2019 before Covid-19 put the competition on hold.
There are eight dog handlers and a sergeant in Waikato and they are well employed, especially with the current spate of ramraids.
``[Apex has] tracked a fair amount of people. His first track was really good – through a contaminated area with a lot going on like other dogs and heaps of distractors. He ended up tracking the offender’s home after about
2km.’’ It is pretty hard to throw Apex off the scent.
``There was a burglary in Dinsdale, and we tracked the offender, and he was dropping all the property and Apex was down next to the stream. I dug my hand into the stream and pulled the speaker out, so it’s funny what odour does.’’
Gosnell said dog units are also called as backup to violent offenders, of which there are ``quite a few’’ these days.
``It’s quite a good deterrent for some of them. They will listen to a dog barking and instant compliance most of the time, rather than people.’’
Where there is reward by getting their offender, there is also always risk for the dog.
``Offenders try to hurt him, they grab their face and try to choke them.’’
Apex can’t be treated like a pet, which Gosnell said can be hard as his daughters want a pet dog.
``He’s still a little boisterous so when he mellows out they may come to like him. But I like him. I will be keeping him [when he retires], that is for sure.’’
Gosnell said their success feels pretty good as the hard work had paid off.
``As they say, it’s the team behind the team.
``Because we have some really good handlers here and, without them, my dog wouldn’t be as good as he is ... It’s rewarding for the whole team.’’
One further warning: Gosnell and Apex are aiming to make it a clean sweep at next year’s championships.