The youngest member of the Drumheller RCMP is already reaching a milestone less than a year into her service.
The Mail brought readers the story of Fura in its March 27 edition. Constable Jeremy Willis took on training the pup to get her ready for police training.
Constable Jeremy Willis with Fura. They have been constant companions as Willis prepares Fura to become a police dog. In the next couple of weeks Fura will be evaluated and possibly move on to the next step in her training.
Fast forward seven months and the black little puff of puppy has grown into a 70-pound German Shepherd that wouldn’t necessarily be described as cuddly.
In fact cuddling is out of the question as the dog is groomed as a service animal.
“Over the last couple weeks we have been working on her aggression, her tracking and developing her prey instincts, and a small amount of obedience training,” said Willis.
He said the goal is not to inhibit her animal instincts and turn Fura into a pet.
He said when she was younger there was some socialization and Fura would meet kids at school. That has since shifted to fostering her innate abilities.
Willis also says she is taken into as many different situations so she is familiar and doesn’t begin to exhibit any fear.
“Basically we want her to be tough and lose her fear. She has been socialized and familiarized with all kinds of things such as darkness, woods, anything she could encounter we have tried to expose her to,” said Willis. “That way if she is exposed to that in the working world, she won’t have any issues.”
“Watching her go for a swim the first time was interesting,” he adds.
By design, the two have been inseparable for the last seven months, but this may soon change. In a couple weeks, Willis says trainers will be taking her to Innisfail for testing.
“They will evaluate her to see if she has what it takes to be a police dog. See if her prey drive is up to par, judge her size-wise and make sure she is not displaying any signs of submission. We don’t want a dog that is going to rollover and let us pet her belly,” said Willis.
He said after that, there are a number of possibilities. If she is ready, they will take her into training. If she needs more work, she could come back to Willis, or if she is not showing the necessary traits, she could be let out of the training program.
“She could be used as a service dog elsewhere, like search and rescue. Sometimes they are sold from the RCMP,” said Willis. “But usually around the 12 month mark, if she is doing good they will take her and put her on a training course, the next step in her career.”
Willis is also interested in becoming a RCMP dog handler, however it is an involved process. He will have to raise in the area of three to five dogs before he is considered for further training.
“To try and be a dog handler in the RCMP is extremely competitive. There are around 100 candidates across the country, while there is something like eight positions open each year,” said Willis.
If a recruit is selected for the handlers course, which takes about six months to complete, often they will go into service with a dog they enter training with.