Kelowna

K9s converge on the city

Jennifer Zielinski - Sep 13, 2014 / 6:53 am | Story: 122780

Photo: Contributed - File photo

It’s a bad week to be a criminal in Kelowna.

Over 30 of the country’s most highly skilled dogs and their handlers are in the city for the annual Canadian Police Canine Association trials (CPCA).

The teams have come in from across the country and they are from many different agencies, including:

RCMP
City Police
Canadian Border Services
Corrections

CPCA President, Staff Sgt. Steve Kaye, says members started arriving on Wednesday and seminars started Thursday.

“We kicked off the competition, today (Friday), in various locations around the city,” Kaye says. “The teams will be tracking, they’ll be doing a building search and they are also doing special police detection work.”

The competition is closed to the public, until Sunday, but Kaye says don’t be surprised if you see several canine unit vehicles and handlers out in the community.

The dog trials are held in different cities each year. Last year the trials were held in Sannich, and local resident Cst. Jon Zielinski and Zeke took home the winning title.

Kaye says Zielinski is the team to beat, they've won two years in a row.

“We have all kinds of specialty dogs here this year, we have some Labs, a spaniel bred, a malamute, but the majority are German shepherds.”

K9s can start training around one to two years old, and don’t necessarily have a ‘retirement age’ says Kaye.

“We gauge it on their health and mobility, and how the dog seems to be handling the work, because it is very demanding work, but once we see the dog is starting to labour with certain things then they will spend a few years hanging out on the handler’s porch as opposed to being in service.”

The competition will be open to the public on Sunday. Spectators will see: