Robin and Juliet, the youngest members of the city police’s dog squad secured two prestigious medals at a State-level competition held recently in Thrissur as part of the duty meet of the Kerala police.

While Robin, the one-and-a-half-year-old Labrador Retriever, proved his skills in detecting hidden narcotic substances at the five-level contests, Juliet, the Doberman of the same age, bagged the medal for tracking objects.

Both Robin and Juliet were qualified for attending the upcoming national-level contest in November. Their handlers said the dogs were excellent in obedience and food refusal tests as well at the three-day meet that concluded on April 19.

“Both were trained at the National Centre for Training in Search, Rescue and Disaster Response run by the Indo-Tibetan Boarder Police in Haryana before joining the city police squad 10 months ago. Ahead of the national meet, they will get high-level training,” said additional sub inspector D. Sanilkumar, who is in charge of the dog squad.

Robin, who was trained by his handlers Prasoon and Sujil, won the attention at the State meet by tracking narcotic substances buried in the soil or hidden in different places. Objects hidden in a suitcase and on human body were spotted by him within the given time.

Midhun and Sanal, the handlers of Juliet, too had moments of joy when she came out with outstanding performance in scent discrimination, identification and tracking lost objects. She also excelled in displaying flawless retrieving skills by crossing the hurdles.

Mr. Sanilkumar said the seven-member dog squad had put up sterling performances in several other competitions held earlier in various parts of the State. “Our four-year-old Buddy, a Labrador, was one among the dogs which drew the attention of trainers in such competition venues,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Staff Reporter / Kozhikode – April 23rd, 2018