“It’s unlucky, however throughout the nation there are events the place we do lose a police canine to a legal act, both a taking pictures or one other incident,” stated Inspector Devin Pugh of Saskatchewan RCMP Support Services.
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Work is being carried out to maintain a few of the Saskatchewan RCMP‘s top dogs safe through a recent training opportunity.
The recent training course in Prince Albert was the first of its kind to be held in the province, and extended the first aid training RCMP Police Dog Services (PDS) handlers already had by adding canine mobility exercises as well as how to recognize the signs of heatstroke in the dogs and administer proper doses of medication in the field.
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“It’s unlucky, however throughout the nation there are events the place we do lose a police canine to a legal act, both a taking pictures or one other incident,” Inspector Devin Pugh of Saskatchewan RCMP Support Services stated in an interview Friday, including he’s grateful it hasn’t occurred in Saskatchewan for a while.
“This training course was addressing how best to provide that immediate first aid or that care to a police dog in the field after an injury.”
According to Saskatchewan RCMP, their eight full-time PDS groups consisting of a canine and handler helped with 1,015 investigations in 2023, a few of which had been thought-about high-risk conditions.
Pugh, who oversees the PDS program, stated the groups responded to 229 calls involving firearms, 82 involving different weapons, and 89 involving folks fleeing from police final 12 months. Pugh stated the groups assist the RCMP every day, and are a really invaluable software of their police software equipment.
“They are out there travelling throughout the roadways of Saskatchewan,” he stated in an interview Friday. “They’re putting on thousands of kilometres every week to support our front line detachment members. Their assistance with their dogs really affects the safety of Saskatchewan.”
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One of the dogs on the coaching was eight-year-old Hawk, who was born on the PDS Training Center in Innisfail, Alta. He and his handler Sgt. David McClarty are based mostly within the Regina space, however journey to calls all through the province. As a common obligation police canine, Hawk performs a number of duties, together with attending high-risk and lacking person calls, and monitoring legal suspects.
All of the RCMP’s police dogs have common obligation coaching, however some are additionally skilled in drug detection, utilizing their sense of odor to determine and detect sure narcotics.
In a launch, McClarty, who heads PDS, stated the RCMP’s police dogs are “just like their police officers.”
“When they respond to calls for service, it requires a high level of physical activity and exposure to high-risk situations,” he stated. “Because of this, our handlers need to have the skills to keep these valuable members of Saskatchewan RCMP’s operational team healthy — and to know what to do in the case of an emergency.”
Pugh stated the handlers are continuously coaching with their dogs, by means of completely different techniques and strategies.
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In the discharge, McClarty stated he’s pleased with the work the PDS groups do.
“I don’t think people always realize the immense physical condition our handlers must be in or the intense training — which is always ongoing — PDS does,” he stated. “This medical training we provided is just one example of our ongoing efforts to seek out more and more ways to enhance PDS’s already-impressive skills, so we can continue to support public safety in Saskatchewan.”
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