Campbell River RCMP’s September 2020 Mountie of the Month is PDS Gator.
PDS Gator is not a normal RCMP member, he was groomed for the role since birth, and has only known the life of an officer. He got his training at an elite academy in Alberta, and loves to play with an orange rubber ball.
PDS stands for Police Dog Service, and Gator is one of the police dogs working with RCMP members in Campbell River. The dogs are trained at PDSTC (Police Dog Service Training Centre) in Innisfail, Alberta and are farmed out as puppies to RCMP members who are interested in becoming handlers. Most puppies do not make it past the initial training, as they need to walk a fine line between being too timid and too aggressive. After training, the pups go back to Innisfail to learn the skills they need to locate missing people, track down criminals and remove drugs from Canadian communities.
Campbell River RCMP is extremely lucky to have such an exceptional dog working for us in our community,
said Const. Maury Tyre. We are also extremely fortunate to have such a skilled and experienced dog handler as Const. [Kurt] England. The sheer amount of skills that they bring to work every day provides an extra layer of community safety and response for Campbell River. I’ve worked in communities where dog services are hours away and it’s truly missed when it’s not there.
England and Gator are on call constantly, and will attend incidents at a moment’s notice no matter the hour.
Gator was asked what his favourite part of being a Mountie was. He responded: “Woof!!”
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Campbell River Mountie of the Month:media liaison officer Const. Maury Tyre
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