Dog squad on duty

IT APPEARS “just a game” for the enthusiastic dogs from the South Australian Police Dog Operations Unit as they visit the Mount Gambier region to refine their skills in a week-long training camp.

The canines were put through their paces at the Mount Gambier Airport yesterday morning as they joined their handlers for a day of intense training.

Senior Sergeant Kurt Newcombe said the training of the Labradors and German Shepherds was the largest part of the unit’s work, but the dogs would not know it.

“We try and keep the training as operational as possible, so the reality is the dog doesn’t know that it is actually training, it is just going to work to do an exercise,” Snr Sgt Newcombe said.

“It is all about fun and the reward for them at the end of the day, which is food for the Labradors and toys for the German Shepherds.”

With forests, licensed premises and an airport in the region, Snr Sgt Newcombe said Mount Gambier was ideal to conduct their camp.

“We were in Mount Gambier in 2015 and one of the advantages of coming to a town like this is that we have a range of environments to train in that replicate what we do operationally, all within a close proximity,” Snr Sgt Newcombe said.

“As you have seen today at the airport, we’ve managed to do some people screening, freight screening and we have our general purpose dogs doing criminal apprehension work in the forests.”

Travellers were met with a surprise yesterday morning, when Labrador “Indi” was at the door to meet arrivals to conduct her drug and explosive detection training.

After conducting the check on all passengers, handler Senior Constable Jeff White put Indi to the test on luggage and freight items.

Snr Con White said watching Indi go to work is just one of the great rewards of being a handler.

“A lot of people don’t know that we spend 24/7 with these dogs,” Snr Con White said.

“When I am at work they are at work, so they become a part of you and you develop an unbelievable working relationship.”

It was a change of tune when Snr Sgt Newcombe showed The Border Watch the general purpose German Shepherds at work.

Specifically required for criminal search and apprehension tasks, these intelligent dogs have a trained aggression for when they are on the job.

“We get one of the officers to put on some protective clothing that is designed to look like what a criminal would normally wear,” Senior Constable Andrew Ludgate said.

“When I come out with that on, the dog sees a picture and quickly realises ‘that’s what I’m normally chasing’.”

One dog was guided to show aggression when he was sent to track down a “dummy criminal” in one training exercise on Wednesday.

While each dog is trained to switch for a show of aggression, Snr Sgt Newcombe said they all still have a social side.

“What we look for in our dogs is a very easy-going level temperament,” he said.

“They will do some work that will involve serious offences, but still be able to stroll into a kindergarten to give a community presentation.”

The dogs will complete their training in the region on Friday before the second half of the unit visits the region next week for their week-long camp.