A coat dark as midnight, he sniffs out the bad to bring people to book.
He never backs down until he finds what he is there for.
This is metro police K9 officer Troy.
Looking very muscular Troy is a German Shepherd Sable, and is mainly used for the detection of narcotics.
When the 5-year-old K9 is not on duty he enjoys a good game of fetch with his handler, officer Abraham Danster.
“When we are off-duty Troy is playful and is very attached to me as his handler.
“Besides being trained as a narcotic dog, Troy is like any other dog.
“He is loving and playful and especially loves to play fetch,” said Danster.
Young Troy has had numerous achievements in the three years he has worked with Danster but the one achievement that stood out is when they executed a search warrant for a house in Delft.
Troy detected 300 mandrax tablets in a portable music speaker which resulted in an arrest.
Troy does various exercises which are based on real-life scenarios.
“We create real-world scenarios whereby the canine must perform their canine narcotic duties in the specific scenario we created on any given day,” said Danster.
Troy has been taught Afrikaans and only acts when his handler commands him.
“There is various equipment that I use which serves as an indicator to Troy when whether we are going to work or when it is play.
“For example, when I put on his brown leather collar which indicates to Troy that it is playtime.
“Then his choker collar indicates it is work time,” said Danster.
The command used to indicate to Troy that it is game time is voor uit soek which means to seek.
Other commands used in obedience training are daar meaning Troy must stay put where he is.
The following commands such as sit, meaning he must sit.
Lê’ meaning he must lay down.
Staan means Troy must stand up from his lying down position.
All these commands he must perform on the spot where he is.
“For example, if he is 10m away from me, he must perform these commands 10m from me.
“Then hier indicates to Troy he must come to me,” said Danster.
Troy has a strict diet and enjoys meals twice a day while keeping to a strict exercise schedule to keep him fit and healthy.
His current diet is Optimizer dry dog food which he receives 300 grams of both in the morning and evening.
Danster enjoys taking Troy for his daily exercise.
“I enjoy walking with the dog for at least five to six kilometres a day to keep the dog fit.
“Playing fetch with Troy which is his favourite game to play.
“Obedience training which consists of him completing various commands.
“Another one of my favourite exercises to do with Troy is to complete the obstacle course that we have at work,” said Danster.
Danster said he has a strong connection with his K9.
“In my opinion traits that any good handler needs to possess are patience, compassion, passion, and endurance.
“You need to have patience when it comes to the training of the dog.
“Today your dog will listen to your commands and tomorrow the dog could be in a more playful mood and getting him to cooperate will take longer than it usually would.
“You need endurance when you have to repeatedly do the same training for three months it can be frustrating thus it is important to have endurance because it will help you to complete your training course,” said Danster.
“The most important trait is that you need to have a love for dogs.
“Your work mostly consists of working with them and at the end of each day you are covered in dog hair and you smell like one and without having love for a dog you may not be able to tolerate these aspects of your job and going to work may become unpleasant,” said Danster.
The metro police K9 unit consists of 23 handlers and 24 dogs and one member is currently busy training.
They have three instructors who does the training when new members arrive in the unit.
The handler training duration is for three months.
The K9s specialize in illegal drug detection, explosive detection, missing persons searches and they also do drug awareness demonstrations for the community on request and will also do school searches on request from the school principals.
-Weekend Argus
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