Rookie Police Pups Receive Badges as LPS Honors Retiring Veteran Service Dog – Lethbridge | The Canadian News

The Lethbridge Police Service honored a trio of four-legged employees Tuesday when a grizzled veteran retired and a pair of rookie police dogs received their badges.

Police service dog (PSD) Arco was recognized alongside his partner Const. James DeMone for nearly a decade of work in the force. Arco will now live the rest of his life as DeMone’s pet, rather than his partner.

The ceremony was something of a changing of the guard, as LPS also presented badges to a pair of rookie police dogs and their handlers: Const. Terry Fieguth and PSD Zap, as well as Const. Steven Zwartbol and PSD Aron.

The event marked the official end of the 20 weeks of training that the dogs and their handlers endured.

“It’s very humbling to realize how smart these dogs are,” Zwartbol said. “You realize how quickly they can learn and how much it costs us.”

Zwartbol and Aron completed their training in late August and have been out on the road for a couple of weeks. He said that as recently as Saturday night, his partner showed how valuable his keen sense of smell can be to an investigation.

“We had an incident at Marshalls-HomeSense on the south side of Lethbridge, and Aron was able to follow a trail and we ended up tracking a mile and a half to the Montana (restaurant) area, right where one of our patrol members had talked to someone who matched the description of a witness, ”Zwartbol said.

Partnerships go far beyond your typical full-time job.

Fieguth said the decision to join the canine unit required a serious conversation with his wife and children; their partner Zap will live with them for the rest of their K-9 career and after retirement.

“I share a partnership with a dog that only I can care for, he’s my third child in a sense,” laughed Fieguth.

“But that said, that’s what builds our bond so much, is that he trusts me and I trust him. I can’t do my job without him. “

There have been more than 30 police service dogs in the history of the Lethbridge Police Service.