Some new members of a Lower Mainland police force are proving they have a bone to pick with criminal activity.
And they’re doggone cute, too.
Police Service Dogs Shelby, Sammy and Sultan — after completing their training at the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre in Alberta — have been helping fight crime in communities across the Lower Mainland since this fall.
They serve the 28 municipalities policed by the RCMP and six municipal policing partners in Surrey, White Rock, Abbotsford, Delta, New Westminster, Port Moody and West Vancouver, assisting their human counterparts in every way pawsible.
PSD Shelby and Const. Alexandra Bourque had their first shift in September, an RCMP release noted.
Shelby’s working profile is frontline duty and explosives detection. He loves all toys but his favourites are his Kongs, bite tugs and ball. Shelby carries a legacy of bravery and service as he was named after Constable Shelby Patton, who was killed in the line of duty in Saskatchewan in 2021, the release shared.
PSD Sammy “loves tugging with his favourite ball, swimming whenever he can and howling to the sirens in the truck,” the release continued.
Sammy and Const. Dave Dolan started in October and work in the frontline duty and explosives detection profile.
PSD Sultan and Const. Corey Braddick have been working together since the very beginning of Sultan’s career, as Braddick started raising Sultan as a young puppy, and now they’ve completed their training, the release continued.
The pair had their first shift in October. Sultan’s working profile is frontline duty and explosives detection.
“He loves his Kong, enjoys being brushed and likes to use his voice.”
To get to this stage, all three constables spent several years in the ‘quarrying’ and ‘imprinting’ process, raising and training puppies before they went off to PDSTC, the release noted. After their training and bonding with their partner at PDSTC — at approximately two years old — the team is ready to begin working on the road.
These three dogs have all been named starting with the letter ‘S’ because they were born in 2023. Each year, the RCMP PDSTC in Innisfail, Alta. names the puppies beginning with the same letter; PDSTC also holds the ‘Name the Puppy’ contest for children across the country to help name these potential police dogs.
In 2026, they’ll be looking for names starting with the letter ‘B’.
<!– X blxKLnKhV KPh DV ePBUF –>