Another successful procurement with MoD Malaysia. A range of breeds such as Border Collies, German Shorthair Pointers, German Shepherds, Labradors, Malinois and Rottweilers were selected for numerous roles such as search and security. Our more common working guarding breeds are used to flush out heavily dense areas such as jungles and treacherous caves to find illegal immigrants or criminals that are in hiding, whereas our detection breeds are used to find missing persons alive or deceased (on land and in water), cadavers, drugs, bombs, explosives, firearms and other substances such as fake cash and tobacco etc.
With having Major Lee appointed as the new head of Wolf Wing, it gave us the opportunity to discuss and discover new ways to improve the ways of training and selection as well as exchange ideas and methods.
Whilst having the team of six from Malaysia including the head Army vet, we were able to elaborate more on the way we train, how we maintain and manage each dog so that each dog reaches their full potential and can excel further afield. This included diet plans, figuring the right amount of food and the types of food. The amount of exercise and how to mentally and physically motivate the dog to ensure they are willing to work for them happily.
At K9 Met Specialists, we can provide dog equipment that is specially handmade in-house with our top quality design technology, stitching and sewing machinery. We were of course happy to supply our own signature equipment for each of our selected dogs, as well as sourcing dog equipment the MoD use currently and from the last couple of years.
In the picture above, you can see our company director and team leader Andy, giving a debrief to the Malaysia Army team before proceeding the dog selection.
Each dog is tested on their ball drive, willingness to retrieve and also to search for the ball/article using their nose. Once the dog has passed that first test, the dog is then checked over to make sure they are healthy. This is when their eyes are checked over as well as ears, skin care, 2 descended testicles, full set of teeth and joints all ok.
Once all has been confirmed, our dogs would have x-rays by a nominated local vet. We have a long standing working relationship over the years. The vet would have health checked and ensured all our working dogs are fit and functional ready for deployment abroad. More than 10 of our dogs were selected and x-rayed to guarantee that they all have full working hips and elbows, before they allowed to fly abroad to their new destination. Conformation and health of a dog is very important to us prior to workability and abilities.
Picture above is Malaysia Army and a few of our UK trainers (not all!) whom specialise in Search and Security dogs.