Fw: (TH) Thai King wants to put dogs to work rather than kill them

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Teaching old dogs

 

Published on Dec 11, 2002

 

 

Stray dogs are to be given an opportunity to avoid the slaughter house, with

the Royal Thai Police and the Justice Ministry considering putting them into

service as sniffer and patrol dogs.

 

The idea to put stray dogs to work instead of importing foreign breeds was

suggested by His Majesty the King on the eve of his birthday.

 

Patrol and Special Operations Division Commander Maj-General Niphon Pummarin

said the Justice Ministry had requested the cooperation of the Metropolitan

Police Bureau in having 25 dog trainers would select 50 stray dogs from

those rounded up by city officials.

 

The dogs may be trained behind Bunyachinda Stadium or at a yet to be built

training centre. The training will take 20 weeks, the first half of which

will involve training the dogs to obey basic commands such as to sit, stand,

run and bite, and the second half how to sniff for drugs, track down

suspects and patrol.Niphon said that since this is a new project, it is not

yet known whether stray dogs can be trained for the job.

 

But Colonel Suranit Prombut, chief of the Police Canine sub-division, said

he believed it was possible, provided police picked appropriate dogs for the

task.

 

He said his unit currently has 59 dogs, adding that he would deploy trainers

to select strays for training on Monday

 

Chuthamas Charoensup

The Nation