Bear-ing down on fleeing suspects

Police Service Dogs

Sunshadows German Shepherds are working members of many police departments across Canada and the US. We currently have over 20 dogs working the streets with new recruits starting regularly.

Here's a note we got from Regina in July '09:

I just thought, I would let you know that Sumo has been brought out of retirement. One of our other patrol dogs got an injury to his back leg/hip area and will be on recovery time.

Instead of training a new dog for the summer. I was asked to come back to Canine until at least the end of the year. Sumo is doing great. He's slowed down a little but he will also be 9 years old in September. He's still way faster than the bad guys!

After 7 months of retirement and not doing too much, he picked pretty much where he left off. We passed the annual certification with a couple of days of training. We started back July 6, and recertified on July 9.

Talk to you later.

Cpl. Shane Hoedel & PSD Sumo

Barry and Cathy:

Just thought I'd let you know that Sumo has been retired again as of January 10, 2010. Sumo is doing great. He misses work as he still tries to beat me out the door when I leave for work now. From July 6/09 to January 10/10, Sumo performed quite well. He had 6 apprehensions and a dozen dog arrests without contact and that's with all of November off as I was on Holidays. Regards, Shane

And here's another old recruit. Sunshadows Bear retired this past summer, but he got one last shot at the 2008 Canadian Police Dog Championships; back to defend his Championship title.

Bear watches as Ray calls a suspect out of a bank where a robbery is in progress.

Barry helps out with the 'Fastest, Toughest Dog Contest'. Dogs were 'radared' to see which one reached the highest speed getting to the bad guy.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office acquired Sunshadows Voodoo and Vortex in July '08. Sgt. Thomas of the K9 unit says they're doing well with several apprehensions already.

Sunshadows Voodoo catches a big bad guy and hangs in for the fight.

Sunshadows Vortex shows a full bite as he carries off his reward.

Sgt. Thomas of Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office writes:

Voodoo and Vortex are doing great. Vortex is known throughout the valley as a man eater with many justified bites. He could care less about article/evidence search and prefers to try to out-track bloodhounds to find humans. We have sent Voodoo and Vortex to the CTA (Colorado Tracking Academy and both have their level 2 certifications).

Take Care,

Randy

We love to hear from our dog's handlers. This great note came from Ray Wong and Sunshadows Bear from Vancouver K-9.

Hi Barry and Cathy:

Hope all is well out there. Haven't seen you guys since Regina in 2004. Since then we've competed at the Nationals in Drumheller in 2005, Victoria in 2006 and Las Vegas 2006. And of course working! He is such a great boy. Not a day goes by that I don't thank my lucky stars for getting him. Here's an article for you from a recent busy day in Vancouver. We've also been seen on Spike TV; film crew was out with us when we did a building search. Bear located the bad guy in the bushes in the rear yard. Bear just turned 7 but is still strong as ever. Have a great Christmas.

Ray and the Bear

Bear-ing down on fleeing suspects

Police dog electrocuted in 2002 nabs three in one busy day. Peter Severinson, The Province

Bear the police dog -- who made headlines in 2002 after being electrocuted on the job -- had a busy day Sunday, bringing down three fleeing suspects in three incidents.

The 42-kilogram German shepherd's first adventure happened by accident when he and his handler, Vancouver police Const. Ray Wong, were driving to an incident at about 12:30 a.m. At Kingsway and Gladstone streets, their lights and siren apparently spooked the driver of a grey Mercedes, who made a quick turn to get away from the cruiser but collided with another car.

The 21-year-old Vancouver man ran from his car, not knowing the police cruiser hadn't been chasing him in the first place, nor that it carried a police dog. Bear was set loose and brought down the man.

About three hours later, Vancouver police surrounded a house just two blocks away, on East 28th Street, where a home invasion was in progress. When the two suspects tried to leave the house, one was detained by police and the other was brought down not too gently by Bear, winding up in hospital with a serious bite wound in his leg. The two men, from Burnaby and New Westminster and both 26, face several charges. Police later found a grow-op in the house basement.

At 6 p.m., Bear and Wong were investigating a report of theft from a vehicle in the 2600-block East 41st Avenue. Wong soon spotted a man on a bicycle carrying what looked like the stolen goods. The man fled, outpacing officers chasing him on foot. Wong followed in his cruiser, sending Bear on the chase. Bear caught up to the cyclist and knocked him down, allowing officers to make the arrest. A 43-year-old Vancouver man was charged with theft under $5,000.

In 2002, Wong likely saved Bear's life when the dog was electrocuted on the job. Wong performed mouth-to-snout resuscitation on the way to the animal clinic, reviving his partner.

pseverinson@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Province 2006

Here's some more of our boys and girls, though some may have retired by now.

Sunshadows Odin is working in Estevan, SK

Edmonton Police K-9s

	No Picture Available
Sunshadows Solo	Sunshadows Bruiser Sunshadows Wizard

Sunshadows Teak	Sunshadows Monty	Sunshadows Smoke

"BOSCO" - Sunshadows Vosser works in New Glasglow Nova Scotia

Vancouver Police K-9s

Sunshadows Jackal, Flash, and Bear

Regina Police K-9s

Sunshadows Kendo retired January, '03	"SUMO" Sunshadows Amok	Sunshadows Alia	Sunshadows Koda (Demon)

Retired Service Dogs

Sunshadows Sackett worked in West Vancouver, and was a 5 times winner of the aggression trophy Canadian National Police Dog Championships.

Paul and Sunshadows Steel

ended a successful career in Edmonton, AB in 2008, and also won the 2004 Canadian Police Dog Championships in Regina that year.

Sunshadows Bear retired in Vancouver in 2008 after winning the 2007 Canadian Police Dog Championships in Edmonton.

"Timber" Sunshadows Tremor retired from the Delta Police Department in 2006.

Click here to see some more of our retired police dogs.