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Dog Depression - A Story About Dekker



        Dekker would spend time  ment. The Handler assured  time” to relax, play and
        with all of them, grabbing  us that Dekker would                          forget training and his job.          F
        his long rag and teasing             spend the majority of his            The Handler assured us                O

        the puppies to chase him,            time with him and only be  that he was doing as we                         R
        latching on to the rag for a  in the kennel when abso-                    had suggested.                        G

        ride. He was a wonderful,  lutely necessary.                                                                    E
        well-adjusted dog.                                                        Time went by and as is                R
                                             On the third day of                  normal, the phone calls               Y

        Dekker’s Career                      Dekker’s 2-week proba-               from Dekker’s Handler
                                             tion as a K-9 Officer, he            became fewer, but eventu-             D

        The day came when we                 made a felony drug arrest.  ally we received a phone                       E
        received a phone call from  The Handler was very                          call from him expressing              C
        a police department in-              pleased with Dekker and              concern that Dekker was               E

        quiring if we had another            we felt we had placed him  being lazy and listless                         P
        dog like Anka, as word               where he would do the                on the job. We asked if               T

        had spread about her out-            most good.                           he was still competing in             I
        standing performance. We  There are Police Dog Tri-                       dog trials and the Handler            O
        informed the Police Of-              als that K-9 Handlers can            gave a negative response              N

        ficer that we did indeed             enter for prizes and rec-            because Dekker had lost
        have another Belgian                 ognition within the Police  the last few trials he had                     L

        Malinois that would fit his  K-9 community. Because                       entered. Our advice was               I
        requirements. Every dog              Dekker was so good at his  for rest, play and cut back                     E
        we placed with a Police              job, his Handler started             on training sessions out-             S

        K-9 Unit received 2 weeks  entering him in these com- side of on-duty hours.
        of instruction and training,  petitions. Dekker was now

        which included evalua-               working regular shifts as            Depression
        tion of the bonding pro-             a K-9 Officer, training for
        cess because believe it or           competitions, attending              A short time later,

        not, not all dogs like their  competitions and winning.  Dekker’s Handler called
        Handlers. The first reser-           During a conversation we  again, complaining that

        vation we had about this             had with the Handler re-             the dog was not perform-
        K-9 Unit was that the dog  garding Dekker’s success                       ing at work and he wanted
        was kept in a kennel at the  at yet another Police Dog                    to return him for a refund.

        police station instead of            Trial, we reinforced the             We convinced him to send
        living in a family environ- fact that he needed “down  Dekker back to us for



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