An extra serving of lassi, a daily shower, coolers in kennels and body temperature checks at least thrice a day — with the mercury breaching the 40-degree mark, police officers are doing their best so their canine colleagues can beat the heat this summer.
Unless it is very pressing, members of Kolkata Police’s dog squad are not being called out for work after 11am.
“Showers in running cold water have been made mandatory at least once a day. The vets are running a check on their body temperature every few hours,” said a senior officer of the detective department.
The canine squad of the city police has 48 members. The breeds include Cocker Spaniel, Beagle, Rottweiler, Belgian Malinois, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd and Labrador.
Depending on the nature of assignments, the squad members are trained to be either sniffer dogs, with expertise in differentiating between narcotics and explosives, or search and rescue dogs, who can aid in investigating crime cases. Another set is trained to be guard dogs.
“When the dogs are out on duty for a longer duration, like for IPL matches, the handlers carry cooling jackets for them in insulated boxes. These jackets are wrapped around them to prevent a heat stroke,” the officer said.
“When they are assigned duties for shorter durations, the handlers ensure they carry water, ORS and wet towels. The towels are wrapped around them from time to time,” the officer said.
Training sessions have been tweaked to include relaxing periods in between to reduce excessive panting and prevent water loss.
The morning workout timing has been brought forward to 6am and the duration is now two hours, cut down from the usual three.
The afternoon sessions, on the grounds of the Police Training School in Alipore, are also shorter now. The idea is to keep the dogs fit and not leave them exhausted, some of the handlers said.
In the afternoon, when the searing heat leaves the long-haired breeds fretting, the dogs are housed in two kennels equipped with air coolers.
“The bigger of the kennels has three coolers and the smaller two,” an officer said.
Their diet has been changed. “The meat is now only chicken. Depending on the recommendation of the vet, either plain curd or curd in water is being served,” said a senior officer overseeing the deployment of the dogs for their daily duties.
Ahead of stepping out on sniffing duty or tracking a suspect, the handlers have to check the temperature of the dogs. “If a dog’s body temperature is found high, it has to be rested,” a handler said.