Gunner, Member of Redding’s Canine Unit

December 14, 2023

We were honored today with one big black German Shepherd dog, named Gunner. Accompanied by his handler and 4 other officers.

You can read about these humble heroes of Redding’s K-9 Police Department on their Facebook page.

We were surprised by the cost of obtaining one of these highly trained athletes. The extensive training required to make them be good at their job and yet gentle giants at home. I’m sure many dogs can’t pass the requirements even if they are hand selected. Much like service dogs that don’t all qualify, even though they are carefully picked and go through extensive training.

None of the dogs are altered and most are male.

We also learned that some police dogs are trained to do different tasks. I guess it is much like us humans. Some are good at one thing, but not everything. So to expect a dog to excel at all crime scenarios would be highly unlikely.

And a bummer… they don’t get retirement pay! But their handlers get to take them home to live a great leisurely life for the time they have left. There is also a fundraising for vet bills for these heroes.

They have a healthy diet and vitamin supplements to keep them in top shape. And yes, he did call them athletes, which of course they really are true to form. Working dogs that need to be in top shape, just like any police officer on patrol. They need to be in good health to perform their absolute best, for not only law enforcement, but for their own survival due to what is required of them at any given moment.

Their day doesn’t end at the close of their shift. Most of their on duty time is spent in the back of a police car. Very little exercise can be done with such confinement. They need to run and get a real workout when they need to take action and perform what is expected of them. It reminds me of the time when the men came to cut down our tree. It had just started to sprinkle and my comment was to the fact at least they were done. To which he replied that he had to go run for an hour. The reason being was that he was also a firefighter and needed to be in top shape all the time as he never knew when he would have to fight a forest fire.

Officers have to monitor their dogs need for water and bathroom breaks. Also knowledge of their overall health on a daily basis. It was fascinating to find out what is required of both the dogs and their handlers.

One officer said when he was a cadet he was a “Catcher of Dogs”, I believe I heard him right? Again he repeated that description and that was why he decided to be on the K-9 unit. Okay, so I don’t know if anybody else had this picture of the old black and white comic strips with “Dog Catcher” plastered on a truck and a guy running around with a net trying to catch stray dogs. A few questions and we found out what the term meant. Wow, I think there could be a better term for it. Maybe something along the line of Bad Guy Decoy for the K-9 Unit. He has protective gear on so the dogs can practice how to bite and hold. It is nice to know they only go for the extremities, arms or legs. A police dog may require someone to need medical care, but they won’t kill a person and since they are so well cared for, rabies would never be an issue.

A question I thought of after the fact. Since they are trained to go for arms and legs, would they recognize if a person has a weapon? Whether it was a gun, knife, rock, or even a baseball bat and would they go for the arm that contains the weapon? Another question. Do they have more than one K-9 unit to report to the same call? If so, how does each dog know which command to follow? They have a device on them that they can push to control their dog, but is this device heard by the other dog, or is their dog trained to only respond by their collar controls? Third question. Do they have any other pets at home? One of the officers told us that his kids lay on the dog and pull his ears and the dog is okay with it. The dogs know when they are part of the family and when they are on duty and act accordingly.

Such awesome information. We can only admire these 4-legged heroes.

See larger photo by clicking on below photo. Thanks Lion Norm.