Police Service Dog Hope
Image Credit: Contributed
March 10, 2016 - 8:00 PM
KELOWNA - There’s a new furry member of the Kelowna RCMP’s downtown enforcement unit.
Hope, a five-month-old German shepherd, has been assigned to train with Const. Sean Craven and you’ll spot them making the rounds in the city’s downtown core.
“Hope is just in the beginning of her training to track suspects,” Craven says in a media release. “For now she is focusing on becoming comfortable in all environments.”
A dog officially starts police training at 12 to 18 months of age, police say.
“It’s important to know that a dog entering the RCMP training program has a 17 per cent chance of succeeding due to the high standards required,” RCMP media spokesperson Jesse O’Donaghey says in the release.
O’Donaghey says Hope has shown very good progress in all of her training so far.
He encourages people to stop and say hello to Const. Craven and Hope if they see them on patrol.
Kelowna RCMP will tweet updates and pictures on its Twitter account at #HopesJourney @KelownaRCMP.
Here are some interesting facts provided by the RCMP about Hope and police dogs:
- Hope is the niece of two other local K9s Ice and Talon.
- Males are often favoured but some females like Hope are chosen.
- The dog’s heavy coat allows them to work under extreme climatic conditions.
- A police service dog can search a car in approximately three minutes.
- A healthy police dog costs less than $1,000 annually to maintain.
- A police dog usually retires at the age of seven.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infonews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016