Reqs the Labrador, 12, has labored within the hearth service for 11 years, displaying “excellent devotion” and serving to on high-profile investigations.
The nation’s longest-serving hearth investigation canine has been awarded a lifetime service medal after a profession spanning 11 years.
Labrador Reqs, 12, is the forty second recipient of the PDSA Order of Merit, which recognises animals which have proven “excellent devotion to their proprietor or wider society”.
Reqs started his profession in 2012, attending greater than 500 fires and serving to with high-profile investigations earlier than his recent retirement.
He joined the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service after specialist coaching. There he was paired along with his handler, watch commander Nikki Harvey.
She was on the ceremony the place Reqs acquired his medal, and mentioned she was “immensely proud”.
“It simply sums up magnificently all of the work that he is finished over the years and we’re simply extraordinarily happy with that.”
Ms Harvey mentioned she rapidly fashioned a bond with Reqs and now they’re “one of the best of buddies”.
She mentioned that despite the fact that Reqs is retired, he nonetheless “loves” his tennis ball, in addition to meals, together with a cup of tea.
Speaking about coaching a hearth investigation canine, she mentioned it’s all “based mostly on a reward”, within the type of the animal’s “favorite toy”.
“In Reqs’s case, that is a tennis ball, so the preliminary search he’s doing is for a tennis ball after which we build that up over a course of searches (so) he’s figuring out ignitable liquids,” she added.
“Then as soon as he identifies the ignitable liquids, he then will get a tennis ball as a reward.
“We’re searching for dogs that have gotten a excessive search drive, they actually wish to play with their toy and work together with the toy, and never solely simply be given a toy to play with – which is clearly their ultimate reward for working – they need that drive to have the ability to search and hunt for it in impact.”
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PDSA director-general Jan McLoughlin mentioned Reqs’s “distinctive expertise go above and past that of regular companionship, making him a really worthy recipient of the award”.
“His excellent devotion to responsibility and repair to society has been demonstrated time and time once more all through his lengthy profession,” she mentioned.
