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Kiwis Fly High At Australian & New Zealand Police Dog Trials!The New Zealand Police Force Dog Squad have runaway with the two main awards at this years Australian & New Zealand Police Dog Trial. An elated Senior Constable Guy Baldwin and his best friend Police Dog Kaiser won the coveted overall first place for an individual team and was subsequently declared the 2001 Australian and New Zealand Police Dog Handlers Champion. They were then presented with the Perpetual Trans-Tasman Police Dog Shield at the official presentation.
Guy and Kaiser doubled their success by also teaming up with Senior Constable Todd Southall and Police Dog Jonti to take the Graham Bracey Teams Trophy for the State or Country scoring the highest combined marks. The Team from the Queensland Police Service Dog Squad could consider themselves unlucky as they finished about 1% less overall than the victorious Kiwi Team.
This year’s event was held on and around the Gold Coast between the 10th-17th of November 2001. The trials are normally open to the New Zealand Police Force and all the individual Australian Police Services. A maximum of two Dog Teams from each competing Police Agency is allowed. The 2001 field consisted of the following Police Dog Teams; Senior
Constable Guy Baldwin with Police Dog Kaiser (New Zealand) All the competing Police Dogs were German Shepherd Dogs. Although a number of different breeds of dogs have been used for Police work around the world, it was no surprise that German Shepherd Dogs once again dominated the field. It is a well known fact that the German Shepherd Dog is considered by many to be the most suitable breed for Police work due to it's high intelligence and great versatility. German Shepherds can be found serving in the majority of Police Forces throughout the world that utilise K-9 units.
The Trials are always guaranteed to be of a high standard as all the competing Police Dog Teams have first to prove themselves amongst their peers before taking on the international competition. The standard required to be part of the final eight Police Dog Teams is extremely high and making the Trials is a great achievement in itself. The competing New Zealand Police Dog Teams for example were selected from well over 100 Police Dog Teams across New Zealand. Various Regional Trials were conducted in New Zealand until 7 teams qualified for the New Zealand finals. The first two place winners are then eligible to represent the New Zealand Police Force in the Police Dog Trials. Similar efforts in qualifying were required by the Police Dog Teams from the competing Australian State Police Forces that were also entered in the event. All competitors are awarded with a Certificate of Participation to acknowledge the outstanding effort required just to qualify for the event. The event showcased the main skills of a General Purpose Dog. These skills included Tracking, Obedience, Agility, Nose Work, Criminal Work and General Policing scenarios. One day of the event was open to the public but the majority of the event was closed to the public due to the need for the Police Dog Units to retain some confidentiality of their operational tactics and training methods. We must not forget that although the Police Dogs see their work as playing a great fun game, they and their handlers have to often deal with the more dangerous members of our community. Although the Criminal Work Display was the most spectacular element on display to the general public, it is the Police Dogs sense of smell and not his ability to bite that is his greatest asset. The ability to ground and air scent is probably the greatest advantage Police Dogs have over people in relation to Police Work. The speed with which a Police Dog can search an area saves many valuable Police man-hours. The ability to track down offenders or lost persons provides great assistance to other operational Police. Police Dogs can also locate important evidence that may not be readily visible to the human eye. Specialist Dogs can also be trained to detect dangerous explosives or narcotics. Police Dogs can also assist the community by deterring crime in times of serious unrest. The first few days of the event showcased some of the best tracking dogs you could ever hope to see. This was followed up by an Obedience Demonstration that included a heel free pattern, a retrieve and a number of signal and distance control exercises. A series of agility exercises requiring the dogs to either jump over or through a series of obstacles followed. This was followed by some spectacular to see criminal work exercises. The first exercise involved a Police Dog being sent to apprehend an offender. As the "criminal" ran from the Police Dog Team the Police Dog would close the gap with amazing speed. As the Police Dog came in close to the criminal he was then given a command to abandon his pursuit. This demonstrated the absolute control a Handler must have over his Police Dog in the real world and clearly demonstrated that uncontrollable and dangerous dogs have no place in the Police Force. After the Police Dog returned to his handler the exercise continued with the Police Dog being allowed to apprehend the criminal. The degree of control required by handlers over their dogs was again demonstrated by the requirement of the handler to order the dog to release his hold of the criminal. The Test of Courage was another exciting element of the Criminal Work displayed on the day. This involved another pursuit of a criminal, but required the Police Dog to ignore simulated gunfire as he made his approach to the criminal. After tackling the criminal, the Police Dog would have to watch the criminal as the handler searched him. The criminal would then attack the Police Officer and the Police Dog would then automatically rush in and defend the handler. After the criminal had been secured the Police Dog would help escort him from the arena. The actual Police Dogs involved showed lots of enthusiasm and judging by the amount of tail wagging they really appeared to enjoy their work. The Judging Panel for each exercise was made up of a representative of each of the Police Forces. The four Judges would score each of the exercises against set criteria. The highest and lowest marks would be discarded and the score would then be averaged from the remaining two Judges. Another Judge would actually give the orders for the exercises and explain what was required to each competitor. The aim for each of the Police Dog Teams was to score maximum marks for each exercise. The last two days of the event enabled the completion of the tracking and a number of nose work exercises to be completed. The final part of the competition required the handlers to address a number of police work related scenarios. At the completion of the event all the scores were tallied up and it became apparent that the award for the overall individual champion was very close indeed. The top three dog teams were as follows; Overall
1st place was Senior Constable Guy Baldwin with Police Dog Kaiser N.Z.
One of the first to congratulate Guy and Kaiser was Senior Constable Glen Wilson who, with Police Dog Geordie, was previously declared the 1999 Australian and New Zealand Police Dog Handlers Champion. Senior Constable Glen Wilson and Police Dog Geordie could still be very proud of their efforts this year as they also received the Air New Zealand Cup for the best performance for Criminal Work. Senior Constable Sean Chapman and Police Dog Bodie were also awarded the Pedigree Pal Obedience Cup for obedience control. Some of the exercises covered included Agility, Send Away Redirection, Distance Control, Speak on Command, Food Refusal, Out of Sight Sit, Out of Sight Down and Retrieve. Sean and Bodie also previously competed in the Melbourne based 1999 Police Dog Trials and are obviously consistent performers. The tightest finish occurred during the tracking with a tie being the final result between Senior Constable Steve Evans with Police Dog Oscar and Senior Constable Garry Bishop with Police Dog Radar. Steve and Garry were both happy to share the highly regarded Paul Deimos Memorial Shield for Tracking, named in honour of the Victoria Police Dog Squad legend who is sadly missed by the local Police Dog fraternity since his passing away. The Police Dog Trials now form part of the Australian and New Zealand Police Games and are held every second year. The Police Dog Trials first came about in 1986 after the Australasian Police and Service Dog Association took up an invitation from the Council of Sports to promote the way Dogs help people. This competition helps develop a standard of performance throughout Australasia and enables the various Police Dog Units to exchange ideas and training methods. The 2001 Australasian Police Dog Trials were hosted by the Queensland Police Service Dog Squad. Sergeant Dean Hansen who coordinated the event on behalf of the squad was impressed with the high level of skill shown by the various competing teams. Dean advises that the Queensland Dog Squad was established in 1972 when two handlers travelled to New Zealand to train two dogs. The Squad has now in excess of 50 General Purpose Police Dogs located across the Sunshine State. The unit also has a number of Specialist Dogs trained for such things as Narcotics Detection, Cadaver Detection and Explosive Detection. The Squad has also utilised dogs to assist in Arson Investigations. German Shepherds are the main breed used by the Squad but they also utilise a number of other breeds. The Squad is hoping to develop a breeding program in the future but currently relies heavily on public donation of suitable dogs. A plaque of appreciation was presented to the Squad for hosting the trials. Police Dog Units are always on the look out for new recruits. They are looking for German Shepherds aged between 9 months to 36 months. The dogs need to have excellent temperament and be very keen retrievers. Puppy walkers are also required on a regular basis for those Dog Squads that have their own breeding programs. For further details please contact your local Police Dog Unit or Squad. Special thanks need to go to Sergeant Dean Hansen of the Queensland Police Service and Sergeant Shaun McGovern of the Victoria Police Force in providing information for this article. Peter Comatas
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First
Place - Police Dog Kaiser
Police
Dog Jonti
Police
Dog Oscar
L-R:
Evans, Baldwin, Chapman, Wilson
Police
dog defends handler
Contact
Dog
waits by criminal. No hint of aggression here
Winning
team performing the criminal escort
L-R:
Evans, Baldwin, Chapman, Wilson, Williamson, Bishop, Sonthall, Gray
