Students from the Carlton Comprehensive High School shop class put together dog houses for the two police dogs of the PAPS. (Facebook/Carlton Comprehensive High School)

By Nick Nielsen

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The relationship between a dog and its owner is a special one, but when that relationship is a working one like the relationship between a police dog handler and their police service dog, it’s something different.

Constable Garth Mostowich is one of two officers in Prince Albert who handle the dogs for the police service. His partner is a 6-year-old German Shepherd named Ares.

Cst. Garth Mostowich and his dog Ares work together on different investigations in the city. (Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

He says that the times the dogs are brought out can be up and down, but they tend to get out into the field more often in the summer.

“It’s hit and miss. Sometimes they’ll be out four times in a night. Sometimes they won’t be out at all in the night. It just kind of depends what’s going on and little bit of the season, too. Depending if it’s winter time, it’s a little bit slower for the dog, there’s less people outside. Summer time, nicer weather, there’s more people out and it kind of seems that our call volume goes up and then the dog might be utilized.”

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While Mostowich handles Ares, Constable Mat Brown handles the other police dog Kal, a 9-year-old German Shepherd who will be retiring from the force soon. Both dogs were originally born in Slovakia before being brought to a training facility in California, and that’s where the Prince Albert Police Service originally picked them up.

Ares and Kal live full-time with their handlers, and Mostowich called Ares ‘another member of the family’ with how he is around the house.

The police service has purchased another dog that will be taking over for Kal once he retires, and that dog will undergo 16 weeks of training with Brown through the summer before he’s officially ready to head into the field.

While the dog’s main duties are to assist in police investigations, they often get brought out for police outreach programs to interact with people. When it comes to those public situations, the dogs are approachable and non-aggressive because of one simple thing: their favourite toy.

“Generally, we’ll give the dog a ball, and that just kind of calms the dog and they have something that they focus on because they have a high drive for the ball so with the ball being in their mouth, they’re just kind of relaxing so.”

Recently, the dogs at the police service were given a gift. The shop class at Carlton High School in Prince Albert made Ares and Kal their own doghouses.

“We were in need of a couple dog houses and Kent Arpin, the vice principal at Carlton, he actually lives on my street. So I saw him out on the street one day and asked if the kids at Carlton know how to make dog houses, and he told me that they can make anything we want. So he said come in and see him and come up with a plan.”

(Facebook/Carlton Comprehensive High School)

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com