NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
Const. Bev Kennedy and Kal take a quick break from training Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. The Medicine Hat Police Service purchased two new dogs for its K9 unit recently, bringing the unit to four total.
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
The next four months will put Const. Bev Kennedy and Const. Matt Hubbard to the test with their dogs Kal and Ace.
The four are the newest additions to the Medicine Hat Police Service’s K9 unit and they will be training just about every day for the next four months to get ready to fight crime.
“Since I have been a cadet – this is what I’ve wanted to do,” said Kennedy, who has been with the MHPS for eight years. “My field trainer when I was a cadet was a K9 handler and I got to see first hand how he did his work.
“As time went on I thought about it more and more, then this opportunity came up and I was happy to put my name in.”
Hubbard worked various jobs before joining the MHPS four years ago and says he is excited to have training underway with the K9 unit.
“I jumped at this opportunity,” he said. “This is such a cool unit to be a part of – everyone’s goal is to do the best job possible.”
The officers and their dogs are joined by unit returnee Const. Jason Dola, who worked as a K9 handler from 2007-14 with his dog Reno. Dola will be working with Flint, who was in need of a new handler.
“After talking with my wife, we agreed that this would be a good position to go after,” said Dola. “This is something I loved doing before and it’s one of the most unique opportunities in the police service.
“I’m excited to be back.”
After spending the last month getting to know their dogs, Kennedy and Hubbard will train for four months straight with their animal companions, building a bond and earning trust for high-pressure situations. Dola and Flint will train for one month to build a bond and to make sure they’re always on the same page.
“The training is intense,” said unit head Sgt. Clarke White. “They’re working 10-hour days and full weeks to get to know this stuff – right now it’s all about obedience and then we’ll get into building searches, drug searches and tracking.
“At the end of the day, everything comes back to obedience and the dog and the handler respecting each other – we need to have the obedience perfect and then everything else will follow.”
All four dogs are imported German Shepherds from Europe and are purchased by the MHPS just outside of Los Angeles. White says they are perfect animals for what the MHPS needs.
“They’re the Swiss Army Knife of the K9 world,” he said. “Certain dogs specialize in certain things like smelling for drugs or tracking – German Shepherds are well rounded and good at everything.
“We want dogs where we can take them to schools with young kids, do a demonstration and then five minutes later he can be called to track down a potential suspect.”
The unit is rounded by Const. Jason Ross and his dog Astor, who have been working together since early 2017. White says it’s nice to have the unit back up to full strength.
“Traditionally we’ve been a four-dog unit – we’ve been playing catch-up and we’re really close to having four dogs again,” said White. “Once everyone is trained and up to speed – this is going to be a really strong unit.”
