Hutch, the newest member of the Medicine Hat Police Service's K9 Unit, trains in Echo Dale Regional Park Friday afternoon. - Photo by Bob Schneider.

By Charles Lefebvre

K9 Training

Newest member of K9 Unit arrives in Medicine Hat

Oct 27, 2019 | 8:30 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The Medicine Hat Police Service is putting it’s newest four-legged recruit through the paces.

Hutch, a two-year-old German Shepherd, arrived in Medicine Hat this week to become the newest member of the police service’s K9 Unit.

He will be joining Kal, who began training with the police service this summer, and replaces Ace, the previous dog who was to become a member of the K9 team.

Sgt. Clarke White with the Medicine Hat Police Service says during training, they determined Ace was not an ideal fit for the Police Service.

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“A lot of times through the training, we can shape a dog’s behaviour, and that’s essentially what we do with the training,” he said. “Sometimes, there are some behaviours that are so deeply inborn in the dog genetically, that there’s just no changing it. When that’s the case, you have to wash that dog from the training program and find one that’s more suitable.”

White says they haven’t had to remove a dog from training in 15 years.

Ace was returned to the broker and kennel at no extra cost, with the goal of him finding a position with another police service.

Hutch arrived in Medicine Hat on Tuesday, and has been working with White before moving onto work with his handler next week.

White says the have very specific requirements for their police dogs, and says Hutch so far has been a good fit for the team.

“We want a dog that we can take into a kindergarten class and have the class surround him, pet him and have fun with him, and then five minutes later, we’re getting called to deal with the worst of the worst, and tracking down hardened criminals,” he said. “We just want a good, friendly dog, and that’s what this guy is. He kind of melds with the rest of our team.”

Hutch and Kal are both expected to finish training in December.