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immsgvg top dogs police dogs earn honors at international event julie caspersen staff reporter like most dogs digger has some favorite toys and games but unlike other dogs diggers toys train him in tracking and attacking constable wayde jackson and his partner of four years police service dog digger spend a minimum two days a week training and exercising digger leaps hurdles in a single bound itches to sniff out a set of the officers keys now bent out of shape thrown into a field of tall grass and yearns to wrestle with a leather and burlap training sleeve all these activities are carried out on a single command from jackson and it is the rapport between the two con stant companions and diggers skill at following orders that gave the partners an edge at an international police dog competition last month jackson and digger placed first over all with a score of 682 out of a possible 700 points in the canine field trials hosted by metro police in scarborough in which 26 teams from canada and the united states competed and were certified it sv3 digger takes a bite out of const steven seabrooke during a training session the dogs bite pressure is 800 pounds- persquareinch the york region team tied for first in obedience and took third place in both criminal apprehension and article search and fourth in area search when paired with a handler and dog from philadelphia the local team took top spot while another york region pair const patrick hester and police dog major came in second when teamed up with an officer and dog from detroit major brought home a first in obedi ence a second in area search and fourth in agility to capture at second place at the international trials firsttime competitor zack the newest addition to the unit at less than twoyearsold and his trainer york region const steven seabrooke placed fourth overall in the novice division the york region canine unit is com prised of five dogs and handlers who work out of the field services unit in aurora a new training centre is under way thanks to tetrapak an aurora company that is donating space and equipment to the canine unit if the police force budget was not so tight the number of dogs would be dou bled currently the unit has only two canine cruisers fitted with cages in the back seat and a remotecontrolled car door the officer can open to free the dog for the most part the dogs are trained to track human scent specifi cally the scent of fear and panic jack son said digger a german shepherd bred in western canada was voted police ser vice dog of the year in york region in 1992 for his part in sniffing out a miss ing markham man jackson recalled how officers searched in vain for a man with alzheimers who had wandered from home jackson let digger off his lead and within 15 minutes the dog located the man who was tangled in a fence in the victoria square area with over 80 arrests credited to dig ger its hard to choose the dogs finest moments but jackson recalled the time last year when four suspects robbed a taxi driver near ninth line and 16 ave then tried to escape through a field i could see their silhouettes in the distance jackson said he and digger tracked the men over a few miles nabbed three but a fourth kept running after a few warnings to stop jackson sent the dog to appre- ifzsff photosteve somerv1lle york region police dog digger clears training hurdles under the watchful eye of partner const wayde jackson digger and jackson teamed up to take top honors at a recent international police dog competion hend the man who ending up punching the officer in the face digger immediately carried out his duty to protect the safety of the officer and attacked but the dogs never strike to harm they grab to hold although the bite pressure is 800 poundspersquareinch which causes a couple of bruises and puncture marks this does less damage to a suspect than being hit by a baton jackson said with the sharp teeth and viscous bark the dogs are surprisingly well- tempered they roam freely through the field services building and are rarely caged the canine unit is a com mon sight in schools where children pat the dogs and grab handfuls of fur with out fear they dont have a savage attitude jackson said explaining that moments after attacking and gripping a mans arm in his mouth in another com mand the dog will be the guys best friend digger is not yet sixyearsold and jackson estimates he has another four years with his partner until digger is retired tickle time brent turner centre is the victim of a tickling attack from his sis ter allie feft and sharie heise the trio was cruising through stouffville on their rollerblades kids earn extra money become a carrier today call 6402100 stouffville attention flyer advertisers we can deliver your flyers for bb little bb 4 a piece so far thib year we have delivered 17655982 flyers doortodoor in markham umonville milliken stouffville uxbridge claremont dickson hill locust hill gormley goodwood victoria square 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