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Thread: Police Dog
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28th February 2015, 12:35 PM #1Member
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Police Dog
I guess you could class this fella as a pet: PD576 Dante. PD Dante was a RAAF Police Dog, Dante was 3 years old when I began training him on number 31 RAAF Police Dog Handlers Course in 1975, we remained together for the next seven years. Along the way he/we won Dux of number 31 Basic Course, Top Dog of the RAAF 1981, and three out of the three inter unit RAAF Police Dog competitions he was entered in. In his last competition he made a clean sweep winning trophies for Best Basic Obedience Dog, Best Attack Dog and Best Dog Overall.
Dante, or Sugar Plum, as I called him, could be an extremely aggressive dog, in fact six months after graduating basic course he attacked me (my fault), fortunately I managed to fight him off and convince him I was the boss. He never so much as growled at me from that day forth. Strange really, he suffered no ill effects from that incident, not so for me though, I was bandaged from fingertip to shoulder on both arms for over two weeks after the incident. Whilst we were ‘discussing things’ Sugar Plum punched a canine through the face of my brand new Tissot watch, out the back through the stainless steel cover and into my wrist,– didn’t keep good time after that. He became extremely protective of me after that incident.
In his latter years Dante suffered three episodes of gastric torsion. I’d made a habit of checking on Dante first thing before starting shift and last thing before going home (I preferred to call it tucking him in for the night/day); so, I was lucky enough to catch him in time on all three occasions and rush him to the Vet. On the third episode I elected to put him down because I was concerned the next time his bowel twisted I wouldn’t be there to save him. A difficult and absolutely heart breaking decision. Sugar Plum died in my arms at 1615 hrs 2 December 1982, grumbling, growling and trying to eat the Vet – as it should be. 33 years, and two further Police Dogs (Shinta and Chum) later I still miss him terribly and remember our time together like it was yesterday. When you work with an animal this closely for many years, the bond becomes very close, much, much more so than an owner/pet relationship.
I was lucky enough to have a friend who was a RAAF Photographer and he took many, many pictures of Sugar Plum, here’s a few from my brag book:
1. a happy chappy,
2. an even happier chappy,
3. a clean sweep,
4. carrying an egg around the obstacle course,
5. snatching a stick from my mouth, and
6. swallow dive from the high board.Sit down comedian.
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28th February 2015, 01:06 PM #2GOLD MEMBER
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Hi, unfortunately we all have to go through loosing our loved ones The good thing is that the memories live on. Dante reminds me very much of a shepherd that we gave the RAAF, his name was Rebel. As we had 2 small children 5 and newborn, he was a bit to boisterous for the kids. This was back in about '77.
Kryn
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28th February 2015, 01:25 PM #3.
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Good story and nice pics - it would be good if they were a bit bigger.
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28th February 2015, 03:01 PM #4Senior Member
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Special dogs, GSD's. We are now on our fourth, although she is a bit long in the tooth and I suspect she will be our last. Fabulous companions and so loyal. That is not to say other breeds don't have special qualities as well. Happy travelling.
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28th February 2015, 05:18 PM #5Member
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More of the same - boring!
A few more pics of Sugar Plum:
1. going for 5’3”,
2, fail,
3. doing what dogs do,
4, if you could throw it, he could fetch it (he also fetched car tyres),
5. Playing catchy (note the facial expression),
6, pleeeeese, don’t miss, and
7. bivouac.
Sorry, the pics came out in the wrong order, self explanatory though...
Dante’s best jump was 5’2”. I ceased training at this height because the landings were getting a bit too hard on him. Dante also performed the high jump blindfolded - low level only. It was a bit of a hit and miss affair though, my voice was his only clue he had on when to jump and how high to jump.
In my off time I also trained Dante in 'Host Scent' drug detection (marihuana only). The base coppers use us a couple of times and we were also loaned out to Navy for a couple of jobs - they never asked me to do a body search though - I don't know why!
These dogs were never permitted to mix together, wasn't considered a good idea with most of them!
That'll do for Sugar Plum, I'll see if I can find some pictures of Shinta and Chum and write more boring stories.Sit down comedian.
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4th March 2015, 12:51 PM #6GOLD MEMBER
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I remember going to work at 38SQN Richmond one cold dark morning and the doggie bailed me up in the hangar door well!. Handler had let him off while he had a nap!!!!
I wasn't impressed and would have told him so, but he had backup...
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9th March 2015, 09:24 PM #7Member
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Could have been me.
Could have been me, I quite often sat there. Dam cold place Richmond.
Sit down comedian.
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