RCMP K9 trainers entertain student crowd
Students in Melfort learned more about the process it takes for a puppy to become a working police dog.
The city’s RCMP detachment hosted a day-long event with several speakers from a Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE) investigator, a presentation on fraud prevention plus an open meeting to discuss the force’s initiatives. The lightest topic on the agenda was a presentation provided by two officers who train puppies to become working RCMP dogs. Cst. Lorne Burles was one of the members who spoke to the Grade 7 to 9 students at the Kerry Vickar Centre. He said the process starts when the puppies turn seven weeks old.
“They get taken from their litter and undergo a basic temperament test,” Burles told northeastNOW. “Nothing is said to them, they just witness how the dog will handle. The dog then gets put through the paces in all areas of police dog work.”