INNISFAIL, Alta. – When a 10-year-old Saskatoon girl suggested Nexus as an appropriate name for an RCMP dog, she may have captured the essence of the bond between man and dog.
The word means connections between the parts of a system, so she felt naming a dog Nexus related to the link between man and beast in police work.
Earlier this year the force sponsored a children’s contest to name 10 puppies born at the centre. Using the year letter N, the winning names were Nash, Nathan, Nero, Neven, Nexus, Nikki, Nancy, Niko, Nitro and Nina.
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Only the best of the best make it through the RCMP dog training program based in central Alberta.
“You need a special dog with the heart. Some have more heart than others,” said pretrainer cpl. Jean Blondin.
He has worked with more than 1,000 police dogs in his 22-year career with the RCMP. Blondin compares dogs to hockey players where only a few are good enough to make the National Hockey League.
At the training facility located just outside of Innisfail since 1965, dogs and their handlers are put through a 16-week training session. The area provides a variety of terrain, including farmland, brush, treed areas and rivers, so handlers and dogs can learn to track in different conditions.
Upon completion, the dog and handler are posted and continue daily training sessions on their own and through on-the-job experience.
“It’s a process that can take years. It doesn’t take months,” he said.
The police use only German Shepherds with bloodlines tracing back to Eastern Europe. The dogs are bred for work rather than show or pets.
“The dogs we are breeding are primarily from Czech background right now. They were the closest to being bred for what we were looking for,” he said.
The RCMP has used dogs for investigative work since 1935. They settled on Shepherds because they have a good temperament and can handle winter. They are also loyal, curious, alert, strong and brave. Not every dog makes the grade. The police trainers try to place the dogs according to their abilities, whether it is tracking, guarding or criminal apprehension.
“Our bread and butter is tracking, specialty searches. Versatility is the greatest attribute of our dogs,” Blondin said.
For the last three years the centre has run a pilot puppy breeding program where selected females are artificially inseminated to produce litters of about seven.
Puppies are born in spring and fall. About 40 dogs leave the centre each year to work either with the RCMP or for other agencies where the dog’s individual abilities are best suited. They may become trackers, guard dogs or work in ground search and rescue.
All of the facility’s trainers are former dog handlers.
RCMP officers volunteer for duty with the canine program. Each must be recommended for the job and starts by helping rear pups, which are weaned at around five weeks of age. The pups return for police training when they are about a year old.
“We are looking for an officer who has proven himself in the streets. He must be level headed,” he said.
The potential handler must also have the patience, stamina, endurance and agility to keep up with the dog.
Police start working with the pups at five days of age for neurological development. Within four to seven weeks individual personalities emerge.
“You can see the dominant ones. You see the ones that are curious and bold. You see the differences in the personalities of the dog.”
Handlers care exclusively for their dogs and are asked to stay with the program for six years so there is continuity in the dog’s working life.
The dogs are trained enough to live with a handler’s family, but there cannot be another pet dog in the house because police animals require a lot of time and attention.
The program emphasizes positive reinforcement and fun activities. While the police may be in pursuit of a dangerous criminal, for the dog, this is a fun activity.
About 20 dogs have died in the line of duty and two handlers have been killed.
Most RCMP dogs are in British Columbia because the force has a large presence in municipal and provincial policing. Surrey, for example, has nine dogs. Alberta has about 15, while Saskatchewan has four and is considering more.
Increasing global tensions have raised the demand for dogs from a number of different agencies including police in Victoria, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Newfoundland. Dogs have also patrolled national parks.
