New police dogs ready to join ranks
MYKE AND ROBBY NEWEST K9 RECRUITS
Two new police dogs are set to join the ranks of the Lethbridge Police Service K9 Unit.
Police Service Dogs Myke and Robby, as well as the two dogs they will be replacing, were part of a K9 Unit demo on Friday to show the versatility of the animals and how vital they are to police work.
Police dogs add an element to police work that would be unavailable any other way. Because they have tracking and smelling abilities far beyond that of their human handlers, many times dogs help solve crimes that would otherwise be unsolvable.
“There are a lot of times when somebody commits a crime and it might never be solved because nobody knows who did it,” said Rick Semenuik, a dog trainer with the unit. “The suspect may be a stranger to the victim. Without the dog being there, you’d never be able to solve it and find that suspect.”
There are also times when the dogs keep officers safe, particularly in high-risk situations.
“Obviously, you never want the dog to be injured,” Semenuik said. “But if you send the dog in, and he makes the ultimate sacrifice that saves another officer’s life, that is one of the huge advantages to having a dog. It keeps our human members safe.”
The dogs are trained in eight profiles, including criminal apprehension, tracking, building searches, evidence searches, agility, obedience and drug odours. Each of those profiles have multiple levels. The dogs begin in basic levels and then advance as they progress through their training.
“It’s a long four months,” said Semenuik. “We do it Monday to Friday, nine-hour days. And there are a lot of physical actions to it. You’re putting on (nine) kilometres a day, and you’re running through buildings, and doing criminal apprehension work. It’s very hard on the body.”
The Lethbridge dogs are considered dual-purpose animals with training in detection for drug searches and general police work.
The animals are supplied by a dog broker in Rhode Island.
There are two basic breeds popular in police work — the German shepherd and the Belgian malinois.
With the recent retiring of their last German shepherd, all of the LPS K9 dogs are Belgian malinois.
“We don’t specifically pick one breed over the other,” Semenuik. “When we need new dogs, we talk to our supplier and tell them we need the best two dogs they have.”
The dogs are able to serve up to eight years. Semenuik said one advantage to the malinois is that it is a smaller dog and therefore able to hold up to the rigours of police work better.
Const. Braylon Hyggen and PSD Myke are two new additions to the unit. For Hyggen, being able to work with a police dog has been a longtime goal.
“It’s been great working with the dog from the time we started, seeing the results,” he said. “It’s been a huge improvement.”
Hyggen said before he became a police officer, he would sometimes go on ride-alongs with a friend who was in the K9 unit. It was because of those ride-alongs that he made it a goal to be in the unit himself.
“So here I am, nine years later,” he said. “It’s been great.”
Hyggen said the process of bonding with his dog takes weeks and happens before training can begin.
“We’re the only ones that reward them or give them any affection, to build that bond,” he said. “And, of course, as you go along in the training, that bond gets stronger and stronger. In the end, I spend more time with the dog than I will with my family now. He’s with me at home and at work.”
Myke is a two-year-old Belgian malinois.
“He’s a little taller and skinnier than some of the other dogs,” said Hyggen. “From the beginning at the agility range, he couldn’t walk across a plank without falling off.
“Since then, it’s been leaps and bounds since we started training.”
The LPS K9 Unit consists of four dogs and their handlers: Const. Semenuik and PSD Ymos; Const. James DeMone and PSD Arco; Const. Ryan Kiddine and PSD Figo; and Const. Mike Darby/PSD Ivo. PSDs Figo and Ivo are retiring and will be replaced by Hyggen and Const. Andrew Firby/PSD Robby.