Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
In dogged pursuit
|
Being a police dog has its special moments. DEEPA ALEXANDER reports
|
Photos: P.V. Sivakumar
CAN YOUR dog spell smorgasbord? If not, you'd better start helping goofus with spellings for there's a smoky German Shepherd called Bullet who can read the labels off sugar sacks, flavoured beef and even a sachet of heroin.
The A.P. State Police's CID Dog Squad has discovered that nothing can befuddle Bullet's discerning snout. When we visited him and his buddies at the SARCPL campus, Amberpet, Bullet was stretched out on the cement floor, soaking in the sun and yawning languidly like a super-model on holiday. Chetan and Arjun, both Alsatians quizzically raised one lazy brow while Roma the Doberman pinscher kept a firm eye on the photographer's bag, convinced that her lunch was in it. Goldie the Labrador retriever thinks she is the pin-up girl for her people and was out playing Sherlock Holmes.
On the roster
The A.P. dog squad with the sole purpose of detecting crime was set up in 1962. Now with Naga Rao, S.P. (Admin. CID) in charge, the dog squad has grown to 20 including trackers for crime cases and sniffers for explosives and narcotics. Their more elitist comrades-in-arms are with the Greyhounds and used exclusively for VIP visits and combing operations. But these four-pawed bouncers are the ones who do all the dirty work.
At ground zero it is N. Divyacharan Rao, Inspector CID who is in control. He along with handlers Pritam Singh, Head Constable, and Satyanarayana, A.V. Subbaiah and Madhusudan, Constables, are more than family to the pooches. Says Divyacharan, "We have four breeds in our kennels now. For tracking we send Roma and the Alsatians out and for sniffing the Retrievers. But they can switch duties anytime. Any police constable (PC) willing to join as a handler should show interest and above all be a dog lover. It's totally voluntary."
The dogs and their handler PCs are trained for a year after an initial one-month bonding period with the dog listening in and the handler grooming, bathing and feeding the pup! The pups and handlers then go through the rigours of obedience training and the specific skills of tracking, narcotics and explosives sniffing. Healthy, strong and alert pups, which are registered with the Kennel Club of India, are normally bought from breeders or established kennels, when they are 45 days old.
"This bond is never broken till the dog retires from service, which is after eight years in A.P. or is no more," says Divyacharan. "At the end of a year, the pup has learnt to obey commands only given by the handler, march along with him and `stay' when directed. He learns to identify objects that have been handled by the handler and also to do guard work. This is followed by arrest and escort work. The pups also go through agility training exercises and learn to sail evenly across obstacles like fences, hurdles and even fire."
Life in boot camp is tough on a pup. There's no time to lounge late in bed and reveille is at 6.00 a.m. Then onto a rigorous cross-country for an hour followed by a healthy breakfast comprising half-a-litre of milk. By 8.30 its time for classes - refusing food from strangers and the rest. "The tone of our voices is enough for the dog to learn. We don't resort to anything harsher to ensure discipline," says Satyanarayana. Lunch has no fancy doggie bags coming their way. It's rice with half-a-kg of beef. There is time for an afternoon siesta followed by grooming. Then there's another drink of milk.
Doggie's day out
The dogs indulge in `group dynamics' once a week. "We take them out on a road march to get them accustomed to people and strange surroundings. This enables them to perform unhindered at the scene of crime." So where do the dogs go? Not to a doggie saloon but to the park and lately they seem to have a strange fascination for the railway station. So many people, so many trains and all those smells. How exciting.
Other dogs' lives may have gone completely gourmet with rawhide treats that look like fine Cuban cigarillos but here your reward for a job well done is some hard-to-clamp-down-on biscuits. And no fancy toys either. Just a wooden dumb-bell that Chetan, Arjun and Bullet toss amongst themselves with Roma watching them like they're nuts.
At day's end there's no roll call and definitely no camp songs by the fire. But it couldn't be better in the squad even if it's a dog's life. Woof.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
