COPS AND CANINES: A PARTNERSHIP

His name is Max. He's Czechoslovakian, with a great build and gorgeous
brown eyes. He's outgoing, loves long walks, playing ball and the
occasional tummy rub. He's employed with the Southeast RCMP District, is
one of the top members in his detachment and looks great in uniform. He's
also a three-year-old German Shepherd.

Cpl. Vince Hammer is Max's handler. Hammer has been with the RCMP dog unit
since 1995. He has been employed with the southeast district since 1999 and
covers a detachment area from Golden to Fernie to Creston. His partner,
Max, is new to the scene and finished training with Hammer at the RCMP
Police Dog Service Training Centre in Innisfail, Alta. in July.

Hammer says the training is really "quite simple" and is based much on the
theory of Pavlov's dogs. (Pavlov, a Russian physiologist was famous for an
experiment that involved feeding meat to dogs immediately after ringing a
bell. The meat made them drool and eventually the dogs were conditioned to
the point where they would start drooling on hearing the bell.)

With Max he was taught to sniff out the odor of narcotics, mostly marijuana
or cocaine, and their derivatives. When he finds the odor he gets his red
ball. And finding the odor-even when in a sealed container-is relatively
simple since his sense of smell is 100 times stronger than a human's. "The
training is time consuming, but it doesn't take very long for Max (or any
dog) to figure out that 'Hey if I find the odor, I get my ball!'" Hammer said.

Along with the find-the-dope-get-my-ball theory goes a
different-collar-different-job practicum. When Max is wearing his black
nylon collar he knows he's on the hunt for drugs. When he's wearing his
harness he knows he's in tracking and finding mode and when his chain
collar is on he knows he's off duty. "It's all association and
repetitiveness," Hammer said. "Each job has a different piece of equipment."

Max, a sable-coloured shepherd, is with Hammer at all times. The two live,
breath, sleep and work together 24-hours a day, seven days a week. But
despite the very close bond ("he's like a kid to me,") Hammer says it's
mostly a working relationship.

"I was told while in training that Max is not a pet-he's a working dog. If
I want a pet, get a poodle," he said. Despite this Hammer said when he had
to put his last dog, Klint, into retirement in March it tore his heart out.
"Klint now lives with my vet on an acreage," he said. "When I took Klint
over there it hurt. It was so hard. I didn't go back there for three or
four months. I had had him since he was just a puppy and over the course of
having a police dog you realize he's saved your life at least once or twice."

Most police dogs retire from service at around six or seven years of age.
Hammer says when a police dog reaches a certain age it gets much harder for
them to work at the same capacity. "It's such a high demand job," he said,
adding it's the handlers that get to choose a new home for them. "Their
bodies wear out. And a lot of dogs get put down when they retire, mostly
due to sickness. But some do make a couple more years."

Hammer and Max average around two to three call-outs a week involving
anything from break and enters to criminal tracking to drug busts. But
throughout the calls, Hammer says they watch each other's backs at all time.

"I would never put him in a place that would put his life in danger,"
Hammer said, adding Max, who can understand approximately a dozen commands
and hand signals, has his very own bulletproof kevlar vest. "I'm very
careful as to where I send him in. But if it came right down to it, it's
him rather than me. That's the bare bones of it. But I pray it never comes
to that."

Out of the 116 RCMPolice Service Dogs across Canada, Hammer said the
majority are German Shepherds. The RCMP considers Shepherds to be
adaptable, versatile, strong, courageous and able to work under extreme
climatic conditions. The force also has a few black labs on the beat as
well, but they are used for single profile dogs, focusing on only one job
such as bomb-sniffing or drug-detecting.

"We use mostly shepherds because they are the best dog for what we want
them to do," Hammer said. "They can do it all: tracking, searching,
attacks, crowd control, search and rescueeverything."

Hammer says there are very few breeders in the world that breeds police
dogs. In fact, Max came from a breeder in Czechoslovakia at a cost of
$4,000 American. So in an effort to make things a little easier, the dog
training centre imported a few female shepherds to Canada from
Czechoslovakia few years back to try and create a breeding program specific
for the RCMP. Hammer says the program is going well, but funding is scarce.
Training a police dog is expensive, Hammer says, adding Max's four-months
of training cost approximately $60,000.

Police dogs begin when they are between 12 and 18 months old. Basic
training is approximately 17 weeks, but it never really ceases, as daily
practice is required to maintain a high level of physical and mental
fitness. Even the handlers must go through an annual Dog Handler Course
Training Standard Field Level Capability every year.

Mostly male dogs are chosen for police work, although Hammer says out of
the 116 service dogs across Canada there are now three female shepherds on
the beat.

He says he isn't entirely sure why there are so few females but guessed
that it may have something to do with the training and a female shepherd's
maternal instincts.

"(But) the three out there are working out well and we've found the females
to be even more aggressive than the males," he said.

Despite the hard work and never-ending training, Hammer says he wouldn't
have it any other way right now. He and Max have a special kind of
partnership that is very unique within the RCMP.

"It's a great job," Hammer said. "And Max is a great dog. I love it."