The Bagalkot police on Tuesday inducted a locally bred puppy in their canine squad. The one-and-a-half-month-old canine named Krish is a Mudhol Hound that has been welcomed into the group on a pilot basis by Superintendent of Police Lokesh Jagalasar. The Bagalkot Police thus became the first police force in the state to initiate ‘desi’ hounds into their team. The canine squad of the Bagalkot Police has five dogs.
The pup has been adopted by the police department after they recently decommissioned their Labrador named Hero who has since then been sent to the state-run dog shelter. “The suggestion was made to the Director General and the Inspector General of the police force to include the canine in our team. We had for long thought of welcoming a locally bred canine into the squad and with the permission from the superiors, we inducted Krish,” said Superintendent of Police, Lokesh.
He added that Krish will be used as a sniffer dog. It will be working for another month and a half before being sent off to the Police Dog Training Centre where Krish will be trained for the job. According to the SP, the duration of the training will last from six to eight months depending on how Krish performs.
Subsequently, based on the reports of his performance, the Karnataka State Police Department will consider inducting more locally bred dogs including Mudhol Hounds in canine squads of other districts across the state.
The SP said, “We have adopted the pup from Canine Research and Information Centre, located in Thimmapur near Mudhol in Bagalkot. It was their suggestion that we experiment by initiating a Mudhol Hound into the team. We always used German Shepherds, Dobermans, Labradors because it is imperative that the dogs we have in the squad have a strong sense of smell. The research centre and veterinarians said that the hounds have a strong sense of smell which also was one of the reasons why we adopted Krish.”
He further added that the canine’s performance will closely be assessed and upon learning of his strengths and weaknesses, Krish will further be used in corresponding roles after training.