It's a dog's retirement

For eight years, Dodger nailed lawbreakers with the power of his sniffer.

He is now whiling away the days sleeping, eating and commiserating with other canine retirees in Innisfail.

Dodger served as St. Albert's narcotic-sniffing canine from 2005 to 2013. Last year the golden retriever, who was trained to sniff out illegal drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy, retired from the force.

He has since moved to Innisfail to live with an RCMP officer who was looking for a pal for his retired police dog.

“He was ready to retire. He still had a lot of drive to do the job, it's just that as they get older, they just don't have the same stamina,” said Const. Greg Hawkins, Dodger's former handler, who is now serving as a general duty officer.

When he first started his career as a police dog, Dodger was a bit of a slow learner. He was so hyper that he had difficulty concentrating and following direction, admitted Hawkins.

After a couple weeks of training “he became a really good searching dog – one of our best,” Hawkins said.

“He was so motivated and so willing to work.”

But the qualities that made Dodger a good working dog also made him a less than ideal pet.

“He wouldn't sit down with you and watch TV or sit by your side and chill out. He's pretty hyper – needs a lot of exercise and always needs to be doing something,” said Hawkins.

“His main motivation wasn't to be with people – it was his ball. He would do anything for his reward.”

The pair spent nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week together. Now Dodger leads a regular dog's life – in which play time is all the time.

Always on

As a narcotics detection dog, Dodger would uncover drugs in the most unlikely of places, explained Hawkins.

Once during a training exercise at the Edmonton International Airport, Dodger sat down next to a bag of golf clubs.

When officers put the bag through an X-ray machine, they found that the innards of the drivers had been hollowed out and stuffed with cocaine.

“He was always surprising me. It never failed to amaze me how well he could detect,” said Hawkins.

Narcotic detection dogs are trained to pursue the odour to its strongest source then sit down as an indicator that something has been detected. The smaller finds are considered the bigger wins as the scent is more difficult to discern, explained Hawkins.

Dodger even unearthed drug stashes on his days off … literally.

Out for a walk one day, Dodger sniffed out what appeared to be garbage and signaled Hawkins to take a look.

“When I look at the garbage, it's actually not garbage, it was patties of cocaine,” said Hawkins. The size of rice cakes, the patties had been buried in the ground and covered with plywood.

Together the duo carried out search warrants for drugs in vehicles, homes and commercial buildings. On certain training days they would work with other police-dog teams to search airports, prisons and outdoor areas.

“Anywhere you can hide drugs, we would search,” said Hawkins.

Dodger also served as the RCMP's mascot, demonstrating how searches are executed in at least 100 school visits.

“Dodger was an ambassador for police. He served as a bridge between the police and the community,” Hawkins said.

“I miss him all the time.”