Ice jackets, shorter training schedule & diet tweak for Kol Pol’s canine squad
Times of India | 30 April 2024
Kolkata: All members in the Kolkata Police Dog Squad — especially those who slog long hours of VIP duty in the bomb detection unit, including sanitizing the Eden Gardens on the IPL match days — are now wearing ice jackets to beat the heat. The ice jackets were introduced last year and had become an instant hit. However, these ice jackets will be used “only on a need basis and based on the job in hand”.
“The checks at Eden begin at 3:30 pm when the heat is extreme.We put ice jellies inside their jackets so that there isn’t a sudden rise in their body temperature. These are stored in refrigerators and taken in ice boxes whenever the dogs travel,” a trainer said.
The canines’ daily, on-ground exercises have been cut short too — the day now starts as early as 5.30 am and the first set of exercises end by 7 am.
The dogs, however, are missing their pool visits after some technical issues held up its yearly maintenance. Lalbazar said the contract had ended in Jan and efforts were on to prioritize it at the earliest. “It should be operational in the next 48 to 72 hours,” said a senior officer.
“Jewel, a Belgian Malinois, who is taking up VIP duty, is under special watch. We had earlier lost a highly trained Malinois due to health issues a few years ago,” a senior officer said.
With six coolers at their disposal, the officers who have been allotted AC chambers are now opening their rooms in the sultry afternoon for the dogs to rest. “Just like the horses in the Mounted Police, we are in the process of setting up ACs in the kennels,” said a highly placed source.
The afternoon training has been shortened to between 30 minutes to an hour. “They usually train between 3 pm-4 pm. But with temperatures breaching the 40°mark, they mostly stay indoors under the trainers’ supervision. At dinner, we stopped serving beef. Chicken with vegetables and ghol is served instead, along with other food laden with probiotics.”
A senior officer who is overseeing their training said: “Swimming relaxes muscles and helps to fight high humidity. Some of the dogs like the Labradors love to swim. Hence, we are looking at taking the dogs to the pool at the earliest.”