Colin with Tanner during daily training

This unit assists Conservation Officers in the detection and recovery of evidence and concealed fish and wildlife. The highly trained dogs accompany their handlers every day to work and ride with them in trucks, boats, snowmachines, helicopters and ATVs.

These dogs provide high visibility patrols to deter violators from poaching and/or crime scenes. When someone is lost in the back woods they provide search and rescue support.

Once the trainer has his or her dog, it is up to them to train the dog in obedience, detection, tracking, etc. Frequent and intense refresher courses are mandatory. It is very important for the dog to have complete trust in the trainer. The dogs live with their trainers and are treated as professionals within the family. They are police officers. At present there are only six to seven such dogs working in the province of Ontario.

Colin Cotnam is a Conservation Officer in the Bancroft District and is shown here during training exercises with his Golden Retriever mix, Tanner, who has been a canine officer since 2008. When not directly servicing the south and central part of Ontario, Tanner and Colin conduct educational seminars.

Thanks to Susan Henderson, Fergus, Ontario

When I read your request for stories in the Canadian Legion magazine I was happy. I have a story about an Irish Wolfhound. This photograph was published by the Star Weekly, Toronto, on October 28,  1939.                                                          

Before the war started, my father raised this and other Wolfhounds to show and breed. My dad was 17 years old in this picture. When my grandfather realized that he and his three sons were going to war, he sold and gave away his horses and his dogs.

Kenny was one of the nicest dogs he ever had. For my dad to be able to join the Regiment that Kenny was going on must have helped them both. Dad being only 17 years old, first time away from a very close family and Kenny now belonging in the army, the dog provided a familiar face.

Kenny was in his element with the soldiers. He never could decide who he’d have sleep by him. “My men felt so close to this dog it was decided to make him a Captain”, my grandpa said to me. And he got Captain’s pay.

One day the soldiers went on a very long march, from Montreal to Trois Rivieres on the way to the east coast. This kind of march was used as a recruiting drive. The dog wouldn’t stay at home base and he caught up to the marching troops. While marching, the dog walked at the head of the column. By the time the march was finished, Kenny was exhausted, the pads on his feet were worn down and became infected. He never recovered from that march and had to be put down. My dad said among the soldiers there was not a dry eye. Captain Kilkenny had a full military burial. He had been family to all those men in The Toronto Irish. I hope you can find a place in your project for this dog story.

Kenny in front

PS. Barbara Skipper wrote to let Good Dogs Canada know that her husband joined up in Toronto in 1940. In 1942, after the men had trained at Camp Borden and were ready to be shipped overseas, they were sent by train to Montreal. There, she recalls, they disembarked and walked through Quebec to recruit others. Barbara remembers her husband talking about the Irish Wolfhound who led the march all the way and how when it was over, the pads on the dog’s paws were too raw to be rehabilitated. The commemoration to this special Canadian dog is one of the reasons I created Good Dogs Canada. Thank you, Barbara Skipper, for sending me your husband’s memory.

Bob

This is Bob the Pug.  He belongs to Trevor Deschamps and Courtney Scott.   With their children they live in a residential area of Prince Rupert, B.C.   

On April10,2010, neighbours observed what they first thought was a large dog grab Bob from his front lawn and trot away with him in his mouth like a mother would pick up a kitten.

They hollered to Trevor and Courtney that a wolf had picked up Bob and run off with him.  Soon everyone, including Courtney who had given birth to her third child just two weeks before, was yelling and running in pursuit down the street into the woods nearby.  As they ran they kept hollering and making a lot of noise and throwing rocks and sticks.  Finally the wolf, who by all reports was a large and very handsome  guy, dropped the Pug and ran off.  Bob’s neck was punctured, but he was alright.  Apparently his neck was too fat for the wolf to maintain a good bite on him!

Bob is home safe with his family who wonder whether to put him on that diet they’d been considering before wolf boy paid them a visit.

Krystle Morrow and Koby at home recovering. Photo by Christopher Pike thanks to the Ottawa Citizen

In February 2010, Krystle Morrow and her dog Koby were taking their normal walk along a snowmobile trail where they walked together daily in Casselman, Ontario. 

Koby, the Border Collie/Husky mix had been adopted by the Morrow family about three months earlier when his former family moved to Florida and felt that the Husky part of the dog wouldn’t do well in Florida’s climate. 

On this day, the 19 year old and her dog inadvertently got caught in a foothold trap that had been laid along the trail to catch coyotes.  These traps are easily concealed.  Krystle dragged the 55 kilogram birch log to which the traps were secured for about a kilometre through snow to get help.  Once she’d made it to her house, she was unable to navigate the hallway to reach the phone because of the log to which she was tied. 

Her father Kevin, a retired fire chief, found her sitting bloodied with her dog in the livingroom almost three hours later when he returned from work.  He said his daughter’s first concern was for her dog.  After he had freed her and called an ambulance, Kevin said there were  three foothold traps tied to the three metre-long log.  His daughter’s middle fingers had been cut almost to the bone. 

I talked to Krystle after her wounds had healed and Koby had recovered from his injuries which fortunately were minor.  “It could have been so much worse,” Krystle told me.  “Koby was really worried”.  She added that her adrenalin kicked in to help her calm her dog as they made their difficult way back home.  Krystle’s modesty and simple gratitude for prevailing through this ordeal was heartwarming to hear. I told her Good Dogs Canada is proud of her efforts.  See  http://www.ottawacitizen.com/story_print.html?id=2588868&sponsor=

Diane Day with Molly on her lap

Michael Day’s desire for another dog began very soon after the Leamington, Ontario couple’s Cockapoo, Pepper, died of a heart condition.  So restless was Michael for another canine companion that he secretly called a Brantford pet store and “drove like hell” after reserving a six week old Llasa Apso puppy.  He brought the puppy home and his wife, Diane, was immediately smitten.

Their grown children thought the parents were a little crazy after Michael and Diane  bought their little dog an extensive wardrobe, beginning with a pooch pack they bought in Naples, Florida, during a road trip.  Molly was seen cruising the shore of Lake Erie, wearing said pooch pack aboard Michael’s Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Class.  In November, 2003, she made quite a stir in her leather skull cap, red “doggles”, a brand of goggles made for dogs, and with all her toenails painted purple.  Molly loves to point her mustache into the wind; she lasts about two hours, then starts digging her claws into Michael’s back to let him know it’s time to stop.  If he doesn’t respond as soon as she likes, she puts her paws against his back and pushes with all four legs straight out.  That always works.

Molly also likes to sail on the Days’ little sloop, “Day by Day”, wearing a yellow life jacket, on sunny days wearing a pair of movie star sunglasses.  Once, while out on Lake Erie, a storm blew in and before they knew it, the intrepid Days were struggling through two and three metre waves.  Molly’s one and only bout with seasickness did nothing to thwart her sailor’s spirit.

Whenever Michael is in the basement practising his trombone, Molly lies around quietly until he plays “When the Saints Come Marching In”.  Then her head rises, her ears perk up, and she’s off like a shot.  She races down the basement steps, runs full tilt, and stands in front of him until he stops playing, at which point she offers a paw in appreciation.  No other song has this effect on her and the Days have no idea how her little routine started.

One of Molly’s more serious antics is helping Michael at his book signings.  People like Molly’s presence as she is something of a celebrity. One of her escapades that involved destroying a cell phone in an SUV without touching it, was adapted for Michael’s first novel, Overload.  

About the cell phone.  Diane, Michael and Molly Day were out for a drive in the SUV one Sunday afternoon.  They had just picked up take-out coffee from Tim Horton’s, including a Timbit for the princess.  Proceeding along Highway 18 East between Kingsville and Leamington along the lake, the seats were folded down in back as Molly likes to wander around while driving.

Diane placed her coffee in one of the two cup holders near the floor.  Her cell phone rested in the other.  Just when Molly was preparing to hop up onto the console arm rest from the back, the traffic light ahead changed to amber.  Michael doesn’t like to run red lights, so he braked abruptly. Molly sailed clean over the armrest, landing squarely on Michael’s coffee filled paper cup which promptly exploded , filling the cup holder holding the cell phone with coffee.  The phone began buzzing and vibrating.  Molly yipped, Diane screamed, and Michael muttered about both lost coffee and busted cell phone.  Crisis averted.

Molly is also a dog with a job, albeit a cushy one.  She frequently boards at the Leamington Veterinary Clinic when the Days go out of town.  Iinstead of spending her days in a kennel, she has reception area privileges and performs as professional greeter.  For these days of labour she wears a nurse’s uniform.  The attendants are very fond of her, as is Molly’s vet, Dr. Dana, who takes Molly home at night to the comforts of her apartment.  Molly Day truly gives meaning to the expression, “it’s a dog’s life”.

Molly had surgery a few weeks ago. She had a cyst on her hind left leg removed, along with some warts.  Her fur looks like a patchwork quilt which must be difficult for such a fashion conscious animal. Diane Day writes that she’s such a good girl, she never bothers with her stitches and takes her medicine very well.  Good Dogs Canada wishes Molly good health and long life ahead.

Vahlter

Anne Campeau who works for the Windsor Police Department sent me this photo of two- and- a- half year  old Vahlter, taken during one of his visits to the 911 Centre. 

The Belgian malinois was running through his daily training regimen at the Windsor Police Training Facility with his handler, Constable Paul Brothers, when he slammed into one of the obstacles on the course. 

According to the Windsor Star article written by Sarah Sacheli, it was one of those freak accidents.  The dog had performed the same exercise a thousand times, but this time he misjudged the distance.  He died of his injuries onTuesday, February 2, 2010 at the Walker Road Animal Hospital.

Good Dogs Canada extends condolences to the Brothers family with whom Vahlter lived.  The close bond between police dogs and their handlers is well known.  Vahlter was one out of five police dogs on the Windsor force.

The Windsor Star article goes on to quote Tecumseh veterinarian Catherine Thomson McGhie as saying that any blunt force trauma can be potentially lethal.

If your dog runs into something, take him/her to a vet.  Heads up if your dog is very active and will go to any length to catch that ball or leap that hurdle.

www.TrainPetDog.com , enter the contest code:  JI7A1-and Submit

Thanks!

Courtesy Mike Smith, Sudbury, Ontario

Officers knew something wasn’t right and that’s when they brought in Otis, who sniffed out about a 1.5 kilograms of marijuana and several thousand dollars in cash.

Police used that discovery to get a search warrant for a home in Peachland, B.C., where they say they found a large marijuana grow operation, more cash and a power bypass. Two men and a woman, all in their twenties, were arrested

A picture taken of Otis just after the bust shows the dog smiling, something that RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says makes him chuckle every time.