Police Dog Services

Meet Lazer!

Birth Date: May 15, 2001
Birth Place: Innisfail, Alberta.
Color: Sable
Weight : 85 lbs
Regimental: #645
Handler: Cpl. Marc Periard.
Favorite Activities: Going for a walk in the bush.

Lazer was raised in British Columbia and was teamed up with Cpl. Marc Periard in November 2002. Following graduation in March 2003 Periard & Lazer were posted to Stephenville Newfoundland were they worked together until September 2004. From there the team was transferred to Charlottetown P.E.I.
Over the years, Lazer has proven to be a very good and efficient police dog by assisting in numerous criminal apprehensions and locating some missing and/or deranged individuals.

Lazer’s training includes: Human tracking, Obedience, Criminal Apprehension, Gun searches, Building searches, Large and small article searches, and Narcotics searches.
Lazer has also been trained to work with the tactical Troop and the Emergency Response Team.

When he is not working, Lazer enjoys a long walk in the bush!.

Only purebred German Shepherds are considered for the RCMP Police Dogs Services. In addition to being in perfect physical condition, they must have particular personality traits which make them suitable for police work: an even temperament, hunting instinct and sound character are essential. In the 1990's, the RCMP began a pilot breeding program with the intention of producing a line of working dogs most suited for police work. To read more about this program, visit the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre.

Did You Know?

• The estimated cost to train a member and dog team is $60,000.
• A dog entering the RCMP training program has a 17% chance of succeeding due to the high standards required.
• It takes from 125 to 150 dogs in order for 35 to 45 teams to graduate.

Learn more interesting facts at: RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre

Evaluation of potential working stock begins at 7 weeks when puppies are first tested. Puppies who do not have the desired traits are placed in pet homes at that time, while those who do are placed with RCMP members as part of the Imprinting Program. In addition to socialization and basic obedience/tracking training, the dogs are also reevaluated at 4, 8 and 12 months to determine their suitability for the police dog program. Once accepted, the dogs and their handlers go through a rigourous 80-day training program and are required to complete annual validations.

All teams are trained in tracking criminal suspects or lost persons, search and rescue, searching for lost or stolen property, agility, retrieving, obedience and criminal apprehension. There are also two specialist searching areas -- narcotics searching and explosive detection. Once training has been completed, the teams are posted to locations throughout Canada.