KUCHING: K9 Units were involved in 45 operations across the state last year.
Their services were deployed in over 24 operations for SAR cadaver and wilderness operations and 21 operations in the FI discipline.
The K9 unit was expanded to Sarawak and Sabah in 2018 and each state was given six K9 dogs for three different disciplines, namely, fire investigation (FI), search and rescue (SAR) cadaver and SAR wilderness.
Head of K9 Unit Sarawak, Dominic Girai, said the State Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) K9 Unit consists of four English Springer Spaniels, a Border Collie and a Labrador.
The four English Springer Spaniels are Cliff, Bella, Sue and Wilf, Bailey the Labrador and Daisy the Border Collie.
He was speaking to New Sarawak Tribune at the Pet Market programme held at Bark Park Borneo, Saradise, here, Saturday (Jan 14).
Dominic gave an insight on the unit and how a bond is forged between dog and handler, saying the canines must be treated as their own family members.
He said both handlers and the K9 dogs will be monitored and evaluated during the first two months of acclimation and bonding course of training after selection.
“The K9 trainers then will see whether the handlers are compatible with their respective dogs and to evaluate the dogs’ capabilities during the bonding period.
“If the trainers find there is no compatibility, they will switch the dogs with other handlers and so on.”
Admittedly there will be challenges during operations but Dominic said extra precautions are taken to ensure the dogs are not injured during such work.
He said at the end of the day the relationship between the handlers and their furry partners trumped everything.
At the event, only three dogs,namely Cliff, Bella and Sue took part in the demo.
Visitors, both the elderly and the young , came to the Bark Park as early as 11am anticipating the K9 unit demo.
