The Police Are Your Mother and Father....

So today my post is somewhat late due to a cub scout pack meeting with some special guests. I was not going to attend this meeting as it was outside and the day had turned chilly, however I bundled up and went, and was glad I did.

The cub scouts had a visit from the Westminster Police Canine Unit. They showed up with five black SUVs and five dogs, and parked on the side lawn of the elementary school. I'm sure passersby thought some sort of major bust on school grounds was going on; I know we attracted the attention of the fifth graders and parents who were still at the school for a play.

One of the cub scout's parents is an officer in the unit and graciously agreed to demonstrate the training and skills of the officers and police dogs.

I am always amazed at the obedience these dogs display towards their trainers, and the hard work they do every day. The dogs used are Dutch Shepherds and Belgian Malinois dogs, the dogs with the very best noses, and also bite instinct, that the police can use. Apologies for the distance of the photos; I only had my camera phone on me and the thing has no zoom.

First they demonstrated the acuity of the dog's nose, by planting a suspicious little packet on one SUV and having the dog find it. The kids knew immediately when the dog had found the item and were delighted. It looked like it was pretty fun for the dog too; as soon as he found his item he got a toy to play with, woohoo! Toys are worth any amount of work!

The next demonstration was of obedience. The officer threw a ball and a rubber toy; obviously the dog loved to play fetch, but at his officer's command he left off chasing the ball immediately to listen for the next command. Pretty impressive to someone like me; I could never be patient enough to train a dog to go against a strong instinct quite that well. The dogs also followed hand signals too, which I find pretty cool. It's that whole possibility-of-stealth thing. Ninja dogs!

 The last two demos were very cool. They put an officer in a bite suit and demonstrated the bite commands and what happens when a dog attacks a human being. Of course, they put the "rookie" in the bite suit, we all knew that was coming. He was grinning though, so he didn't seem to mind too much.

 The dogs were intensely focused and at command they hurled themselves at their "prey". You could hear their jaws smack the suit, and they hung on, dangling from his arms like 80-pound handbags. 80-pound snarling, angry handbags with teeth.

The officer in the suit made loud noises and yelling so the dogs would feel they were doing a good job, although I would think a big angry dog hanging off your arm by his teeth would make anyone yell and groan, bite suit or no. The police explained that the dogs are trained to go for any exposed part to drag out their prey; arm, leg, foot, hand....once, a man who had hidden himself only presented his neck. You can imagine how that turned out for him. It was the only instance of a dog causing a death in a hundred plus years of canine police units, so the officer said. And the officer and dog were not blamed for it.

Pretty cool stuff, and I almost missed it because chilly spring nights make me a weeny. I should have volunteered to be in the bite suit. Grrrr!