Civil Nuclear Police Authority
General Purpose dogs Dio and Vader and explosive search dogs Mindy and Darcy attended the event in Caithness on 18 July, with their handlers PC Brian Watson and PC Robert Cormack.
The event was held to raise funds for Labrador Retriever Rescue Scotland SCIO (LRRSS), a team of volunteers who cover all of Scotland and the north of England and are dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming Labrador retrievers.
The day celebrated gun dogs and as well as displays from the four CNC dogs, there were a number of stands and stalls manned by gundog handlers from Greenland K9 Training, and displays from other dogs, including Harris, the deaf ambassador for the charity and Tilly, who is blind.
PCs Watson and Cormack began their display with Dio and Vader, explaining about the different search and tracking techniques in open area, buildings, urban and open field tracking, before the dogs took to the field and showed the crowd how they can search for and locate property. They then began a criminal work demonstration and showed a straight chase demonstrating how the dogs could bring down an armed intruder on their nuclear site. Mindy and Darcy showed their impressive tracking skills by carrying out a full search of the hall where some of the stalls were located, locating a hidden explosive in this case a small amount of cotton wool soaked with scent.
Carolyne Poulton, Head of the LRRSS invited the CNC dogs and handlers along. She said: I was very impressed with PC Watson and PC Cormacks training skills and the methods they use teaching police dogs.
They did me proud with an amazing demonstration and it was plain to see how much the four dogs enjoy working. They wowed the crowd and I have been asked if I can get the CNC dog section back at future events! Everyone was talking about the display and how good it was.
PC Watson said: We were delighted to be asked to attend the gun dog event in Caithness and take along four of our dogs to show the public what they can do. Both us as police dog handlers and the dogs themselves go through a vigorous training and licensing regime to make sure we meet the extremely high standards to allow us to carry out the role.
As the armed police service responsible for protecting civil nuclear sites, its important that the communities local to these sites know who we are and what we do. Attending events like this allows us to meet people and answer any questions they may have about the CNC and the highly trained dogs we employ.
All pictures used in this press release are reproduced with the kind permission of Tanya Mackenzie Photography.