He can swim, he can jump, he can track but does he like fireworks? Click on the video and see for yourself as ‘Police Dog-in-Training’ Axel gets his first taste of the bright lights and loud bangs at the Cairns Show.
Well I have never seen anything like it, Dave took me to the Cairns Show last week.
There were people and smells everywhere. My nose was going out of control! Everywhere I looked there was more people, more lights and more noise! I stood so close to Dave I thought I might push him over.
Then… It was like nothing I have ever seen before. All of a sudden in the sky, there were lights- lights everywhere and bangs- big loud bangs! I was so scared I ducked in behind Dave’s legs.
The lights and bangs kept coming, I had no idea where they were coming from. It was all very scary and confusing, until… Dave brought out my toy. Ahhhhhh, the bangs and lights were still going on but with Dave and my toy there I started to feel a whole lot better.
That experience was almost as bad as the bath!
Dave says I need to do stuff like this for my police dog training. Loud bangs, swimming in the ocean, climbing over walls… Those police dogs sure can do a lot!
Gotta run, I’m off to the agility course to run through tunnels.
Axel
Sergeant Dave Raymond and puppy in training, Axel.
Handler’s note
- The purpose of taking Axel to the show was to get him used to being in a crowd and having lots of things going on around him.
- Police dogs are often in involved in jobs and training scenarios with specialist units where shots may be fired. We put a lot of work into training the dogs to accept that loud noises don’t hurt them and to focus on the job at hand without getting startled. The fireworks presented an excellent opportunity for this type of training.
- Axel was initially startled with fireworks but he relaxed once he had the familiarity of his toy. He did keep a close eye on the fireworks though.
- Depending on the breed and age of the dog, dogs can generally hear sounds up to four times further away than humans. They have 18 muscles in their ears that enable them to move their ears so they can locate sound precisely.
- Stay tuned for the next installment of Axel’s journal. Axel’s progress on the agility course will blow you all away.
Sergeant Dave Raymond – Officer in Charge, Cairns Dog Squad