Max to join his fellow pooches on patrol
Guernsey Police’s latest dog recruit is soon taking to the streets, after passing all of his national standard qualifications.
German shepherd Max, 18 months old, is the latest animal to join the squad.
‘The police dogs are used all the time for a wide variety of different things, they’re very helpful with missing people,’ said Inspector Adam Miller.
‘There are general patrol dogs, and detection dogs, who are trained to locate cash or controlled drugs or people.’
The dogs are useful in missing person searches, particularly as they can cover larger areas of land quicker than a team of officers.
They are also useful for searching for items of property that may have been lost or discarded following a crime.
On a day-to-day basis, the dog section of the police attend all types of incidents, not only those requiring their specialist skills.
Police have five working dogs, three German shepherds, a spaniel and a Labrador.
The dogs and their handlers come as a pair to create a licensed team, with the dog living at home with the handler.
The dogs are trained to listen specifically to their own handler, and both have been trained together.
‘All of the dogs are trained to national standard,’ said Inspector Miller.
‘It takes 12 months to train and license the dog, and then they continue training and having assessments while they work to maintain the skills and be safe.’
The working age of the dog depends on each individual animal.
Handlers and their dogs were at Rue Mainguy yesterday for a routine training day and agreed to meet the media, introduce newly-qualified Max, and outline some of their training activities.
Some of the training exercises included finding property and showing off their chasing skills.
