We go behind the scenes to find out about some new Police Dog recruits
Police Dog Sergeant Richard Moffat introduces some new recruits in the Scottish PD Unit.
DOGS never cease to amaze us. Whether it’s detecting illness or assisting around the home, there are so many ways that they’ve been able to improve people’s quality of life.
Some of the bravest are the police dogs, crimefighting heroes whose superpowers are put to use every day around the country, sniffing out missing people and apprehending criminals.
The Police Dogs Scotland team have recently welcomed some adorable new recruits, so we had a chat with Police Dog Sergeant Richard Moffat about how they’re chosen for the job and what their future holds.
“The two new pups we’ve got came from a specialist breeder down in South Wales. They’re about eight or nine weeks old now.
“Before picking them, we do testing that’s based on the Volhard Test – puppy profiling that gives you an idea of what we hope the pup is going to turn out like as an adult.
“What we’re looking for is the confidence of the dog: what it’s like in different environments; how it responds to different sounds; what it’s like in terms of wanting to play.
“We want to make sure the dog is going to be a social dog.”
These new pups, named Karma and Otto by young patients at the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, will be “general purpose police dogs”.
They’ll be tracking suspects and missing persons and finding stolen property, amongst other duties.
Any new recruits go to live with their allocated handlers full-time from day one so the bonding can begin.
They need to be socialised, get used to people and animals and gain experience in different environments so they can be as rounded as possible.
“After that we’ll do the early stages of training – getting the dog to come back. Then we’ll start off tracking in the grass. We often use food for that.
“Whenever the dog does something successfully it gets a reward. We’ll do light training with them right up until they go on a course, and that’s usually when they’re about eighteen months old.
“Then it’s a thirteen-week intensive course along with the handler to get them up to what we’d look at for a basic level for them being operational police dogs.”
PDS Moffat has been with the Dog Unit for twenty-one years, and has seen great results from the dogs.
“Every week you’re just amazed at how many vulnerable missing persons we’ve found and criminals that maybe wouldn’t have been caught, but the dog’s managed to track them. Day in, day out, they produce cracking results!”
Richard remembers the incredible story of Kyle, the first dog to get an SSPCA Bravery Award.
When a criminal tried to attack Kyle’s handler, Kyle got in between and was stabbed in the chest. Thankfully, Kyle pulled through just fine.
The dogs’ bond with their handlers becomes strong, too, as they become professional PDS (Police Dogs) but Richard stresses that doesn’t mean they’re unapproachable.
“The outlook we give them is that they should be social. So they’re nice, friendly animals!”
Dog handlers will have two dogs each, one general purpose (as Karma and Otto will be), and a specialist dog who is specifically trained in something like drug detection or sniffing out explosives.
At the end of their incredible working lives, the dogs need to be able to retire, just like the officers. They’ll become family pets.
“They get to go home, get their slippers on, and relax in front of the TV – just like the rest of us!” n