Profiles

Prison Search Dogs

Dogs have been used in the Prison Service since the early 1970s, but the first drug sniffer dog was introduced in Yorkshire in 1993.

The Yorkshire Area Search team has approximately 33 dogs and covers 11 prisons across Yorkshire and Humberside.

The search dogs generally come from dog sanctuaries, rescue centres and, sometimes, donations from families. But the team consider most dogs from 12 months of age to two and a half years old. They tend to choose Labradors or Springer Spaniels because of their placid nature, but do have other breeds of dog that work just as well.

Yorkshire Area Search Team

Dogs are trained in two different types of search techniques. The first is passive searching; the dog is usually kept on a lead and searches prisoners and their visitors. It takes around 6 weeks to train a passive dog. The dog is not only trained to smell drugs, alcohol and mobile phones, but is also trained to inform its owner of a substance by sitting quietly next to the carrier and gently pawing. It would be inappropriate for the dog to bark at a person in this type of situation.

The second is an active search technique. It takes four weeks to train an active search dog, which is allowed to run free from a lead around cells, vehicles and buildings and searches for drugs, alcohol and other contraband objects. The active dog alerts its owner of an illegal substance by barking.

The dogs are trained via scent association. The dog searches for a particular scent and once found, the dog is rewarded with a ball and lots of encouragement.

Steve Harrison is Head of the Yorkshire Area Search Team, "It's all a game. We try and make it as pleasant as possible. The whole aspect of searching for drugs, to the dog, is a game, it's about fun, it's about enjoyment."

The search dogs live with their handlers and are treat as part of the family. The team receives requests from prison staff and members of the public to give a home to the search dogs once their working lives are over. Re-homing is always successful with many of the dogs usually staying with their present handlers.

Keith Dobson, a trainer for the search team, explains, "We ask a lot of these dogs. They've got to love you to bits, why else would they be prepared to do everything what they do, if they didn't love you and enjoy what they're doing?"

Guide Dogs

A familiar sight on our streets, guide dogs have a history stretching back over 75-years.

The dogs are specially bred and are usually Labradors and Golden Retrievers, although sometimes German Shepherds are used. More exotic breeds such as Labradoodles, Irish Water Spaniels and Curly-Coated Retrievers are making an appearance.

The costs of training and supporting a guide dog is about £40,000. The dogs tend to work for about seven years but are looked after all through their lives.

Alison Booth and Graham Brown with Nola & Braxton

Eddy McCabe from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association's East Riding District Team says that the main skill is matching the personalities of dog and client. "That's an absolutely critical element in the whole thing. The dogs have individual characters and individual needs. They have their own preferred walking pace and so on. It's vital that for each dog we get an visually-impaired person who is able to meet all of those needs and that the dog's abilities can match the needs of that individual."

Graham Brown from Hull is paired with Labrador Braxton. Graham says the dog has transformed his life.  He is attending a local college and says that having a guide dog has made him more independent. "Most of the times I depended on my wife, but since I've had Braxton  I go anywhere I want."

Police Dogs

In 1908 Hull was the first place in the UK to employ police dogs. Four Airedale Terriers were used by the North Eastern Railway Police to fight crime in the city’s docks.
The idea was adopted after a local police officer visited a pioneering dog section in Ghent, Belgium.

The idea spread to other ports and soon Hull was training dogs for use across the North East. At the outbreak of the First World War some of the local dogs were sent to the Western Front for use in guard duty.

After the war the railway police started using German Shepherds and eventually regular police forces became interested in using dogs.

PC Julie Turrell and Tyke

The latest Humberside Police dogs are imported from Germany. This means that the handlers have to use a combination of German and English during the training.

PC Turrell, a dog handler over 12 years, has been partnered with Tyke for a year. Like all police dogs he lives with his handler and their family. This develops a close bond between dog and officer, as PC Turrell explains. “I love them, they’re my babies. Yes, they are working dogs and they snarl and are nasty on the end of a lead but I love working with my dogs.”