San Diego's Best Friend
How dogs make our lives safer
By Diego Quintanar
By Diego Quintanar
It's 1:00 in the morning and while everyone is asleep, the sheriff department is chasing a suspected drug dealer on Highway 54. The suspect speeds away to his house and is believed to have left the car and run for a hiding place. SDSP set a yard by yard perimeter around the Oak Park neighborhood. Police then sent in a dog to find and capture the suspect, police then found the suspect with the help of their dog who had bitten the suspect and was headed to the hospital then jail. The dog later found the suspects backpack containing about 3 ounces of methamphetamine and a small amount of heroin.
A dog was willing to die for its teammates in combat taking 4 rounds of an AK-47 then later losing its leg during surgery. That kind of loyalty isn't born with its through connection and that is what I want to find out. National Geographic wrote an article on Layka, a Belgian Malinois known to have endless energy; in the article, the photographer couldn't work with her due to so much energy. They took her outside to run around a bit to burn off some that energy. The photographer said that she was running so fast that it didn't even seem like she only had 3 three legs. As any cop will tell you, the dullest of tail waggers still exceeds by good measure, the best burglar alarm ever invented. Training police dogs is very tough. Finding a training facility is even harder. I found the only place here in San Diego where they train police dogs. I contacted Manuel, a police dog trainer for over 30 years; he owns his pet care service in in Mission Bay and up in Oceanside. Interviewing Manuel almost felt like privilege; the room was filled with awards and plaques about dogs that went on to serve in the military or that gave their lives in the line of duty. I asked a couple of questions, one being “How strong is the connection between dog and handler if the handler got hurt?” He said, “Two things will happen. One is the dog will stop everything it’s doing and go and protect its handler and won't let let anyone touch him/her, not even other policemen. Or the dog will keep doing its job but will attack more violent towards the one who hurt its handler.” I was very moved when he told stories of dogs protecting their handlers even from its own policemen. I asked, “Why dogs? Why not cats or other animals?” His answer, “Dogs want to do this. They want to help us there loyalty is like nothing he's ever seen before.” I also had the privilege of two K9 policemen in training. I was ask to keep them anonymous, but one said “That it has his second dog because the first had died in action.” He told me that he had cried for days because you become so close to the dogs, they’re like partners and not just an animal.” The second police in training was recertifying and his dog was trained to understand commands in English and in French. When I heard this I was blown away. A dog can understand two languages just left me breathless. What looks like a fun obstacle course actually simulates real life situation that the dog might be in. While I was there, they were able to show me some of the drills that they run with the dogs. I was very surprised when they told me that I had to have at least one policemen at my side at all time or the dog might take me for the enemy. It made me think of how hard the training must be for the dogs to only focus on the target and ignore any distraction or urges to chase, play, and smell something else because if they don't, it could put the dog’s or handler’s life in danger. The dogs looked like they wanted to be there helping the policemen, at one point I could've sworn I saw one of the dogs smiling at its trainer. The dogs showed so much emotion and spirit once they find the scent, nothing is going to stop him from getting to it. They showed me the “sleeve” that the handler can put on so the dog can bite them. Once the dog bites, it will not let go, the handler can slide it off and even though the dog is shaking the life out of it. I was very surprised that it took three handlers to take the sleeve out of the dog’s mouth, it showed how strong the dog’s bite is. I tried on the jacket that handlers put on to have the dogs bite them, and it was easily 10 times my size and very, very heavy. Manuel told me that even though I have the jacket on you can still feel pain when the dogs bite. That really got me scared and astonished of how strong their bite is. I ask Manuel for one piece of advice for training dogs he told me, “Build trust by walking your dog is the best way to get the dog to listen you and trust you.”
Dogs aren't just man's best friends, but they have a strong bond with cheetahs. Our own San Diego Zoo introduces rescued dogs to 1-month-old cheetahs and they become great companions for life. Cheetahs aren't known to be social creatures or in the wild; the mother will abandon their cubs at a young age; but for some reason cheetahs, enjoy the company of dogs. The San Diego Zoo has been doing this paring for over 30 years and the park has only been open for 33 years. This just shows that dogs want to have a life long friend and connection with someone. Ruuxa and Raina were paired up when Ruuxa (the cheetah) was four months old. Raina (the dog) is her guardian for Ruuxa. Anything that Raina does Ruuxa does too, they are inseparable. It's impossible to determine how many stray dogs and cats live in the U.S. Estimates for cats alone range up to 70 million. The Humane Society is an non-profit organization that has a mission to find homes for stray, abused, lost, or abandon dogs. They really do care about these animals. They believe that dogs have this sixth sense that we humans don't have. Dogs can read our emotions better than us humans. They also want to be your best friend. Dogs will listen to you if you're having a bad day. Dogs have proven to be loyal almost to death. I’ve always wanted a dog and last year on May 18, my dad brought home Tommy, a beagle and I was so happy; he quickly turned out to be a lot of work. He never gets tired, he always wants to play and never wants to leave my side. If it wasn't for my mom saying no, he would be sleeping in my room. He loves to howl and I join in. He became my best friend quickly. I love to play with him whenever I’m out of the house; I Facetime my mom and I start to call him and he would go crazy trying to find me. I feel like I have a deep connection with him. I treat him like a brother. Ocean Beach here in San Diego was one of the first beaches to become a free leash beach for dogs and their owners. Since OB is a small community and wanted to protects its legacy for dogs and humans, it became one of the first beaches to let dogs roam around free. From personal experience, I love going to the dog beach; you get to see so many types of dogs. From Great Danes to little Chihuahuas and sometimes you find breeds of dogs that you had never heard of; almost all dogs there are really, really friendly and want you to throw them a ball or something. Since I have a beagle who has unlimited amounts of energy, the beach is the only place where I actually see him get tired. You get to see the great bond some dogs have with their owners. I once saw a trainer teaching her dog how to surf. I thought it was one of the coolest things I've seen and as I kept watching them the dog just wanted to go again and again. By the time the day had ended the dog didn't want to get out of the water. Dogs have been there for us through thick and thin. It seems like dogs are the only animals that were willing to be domesticated. Why aren't other animals so cooperative? just imagine the benefits we could get from this. We could help each other survive for example elephants could help move heavy things that would require machinery we would be helping the environment and taking care of the animals. Just because some animals aren't cute doesn't mean they're not important. |