Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2005
Source: Northern Daily News (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005, Osprey Media Group Inc.
Contact:  http://www.northernnews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2315
Author: Rick Owen

CANINE UNIT SHOWCASES ITS FOUR-LEGGED PARTNERS

KIRKLAND LAKE - People who attended Swastika Public School's annual Bean 
Super not only enjoyed a good meal, they were treated to a demonstration of 
the OPP's Canine Unit.

Const. Dave Wert, who works out of the South Porcupine OPP detachment, 
brought his dogs, Rome and Chill, to the school to demonstrate how police 
use the canines to keep communities safe.

He explained that he works from Temagami up to the James Bay Coast, and as 
far west as Hearst.

Const. Wert's dog Rome, which is trained to sniff out explosives, 
ammunition, shell casings and guns, was originally going to be a seeing eye 
dog. However, the purebred Lab's natural curiosity meant the dog was too 
easily distracted for that job. Ironically, that curiosity is just what the 
OPP was looking for, so Rome was trained to be a working dog with the OPP.

The four-year-old Rome has been in active service with the OPP for three 
years. Const. Wert said a dog's nose is hundreds of times more sensitive 
than a human nose and a dog can smell thousands of different things at one 
time.

The combination of highly developed sense of smell and a dog's ability to 
search areas quickly make them ideal for police work. Rome is one of nine 
dogs the OPP has trained to search for explosives.

Const. Wert said everything Rome does, he does because it is fun, and when 
he finds something, he is rewarded by playing with a ball. Because Rome is 
looking for potentially dangerous things it has been trained to give a 
passive indication when he finds something. That means he puts his nose on 
it and then sits down, letting Const. Wert know he has been successful.

Const. Wert said his part of working with Rome is learning to interpret 
what the dog does.

After Rome gave a demonstration of his abilities, Const. Wert brought out 
his German Shepherd, Chill, who is three years old and has been working as 
a police dog for about one year.

Prior to being trained by the OPP, Chill had been a helper dog, who Wert 
said was trained to open and close fridges and provided other similar 
services for its owner.

Const. Wert said Chill's most important job is finding people, he looks for 
people who are lost and he looks for people who are wanted by the police. 
He explained, to Chill there are no two people that smell the same, so when 
it picks up on the scent of a person Chill is able to follow it.

Another area that Chill is trained in is clearing people from buildings and 
this is another thing that dogs can do must faster than humans. To clear 
people from a building, the dog must search the entire building.

One very important role that Chill plays is protecting Const. Wert. If a 
person makes threatening jester's or attempts to attack Const. Wert, Chill 
jumps into action to protect him.

Chill is trained to search for illegal drugs, and in fact, on the day of 
the demonstration Chill and Const. Wert had just returned from a job in 
another town where Chill successfully found two sets of drugs in a high school.

Unlike Rome, when Chill finds something, he starts biting and scratching at 
the area where the drugs are hidden.

Chill also works for rewards, and just like Rome, Chill's reward is getting 
to play with his ball.

Const. Wert said with all the special training, Chill is worth about 
$50,000 and he's worth it because he can save people's lives and makes a 
contribution to society.

Across the province the OPP have 26 Canine Teams and 45 specially trained dogs.
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MAP posted-by: Beth