Princeton entertained a couple of VIP law enforcers on the weekend during the annual Emergency Services Demo Day in town square.
Harro and Miko were chauffered to the event, and even brought along their own credit cards.
The German Shepherds are the star performers of the RCMP dog program headquartered out of Penticton, and were accompanied by their handler, Officer Jason Goodfellow.
Goodfellow and his dogs entertained the crowd with stories and information about the police dog service.
“I spend more time with my dogs than my wife and kids combined,” said Goodfellow, who joined the service expressly for the purpose of working his way into the dog program.
“You have to love dogs more than anything.”
RCMP dogs locate missing persons, track criminals, search for narcotics, explosives, human remains and crime scene evidence. There are approximately 170 dog teams across Canada and they also perform crowd control and avalanche search and rescue.
Training is intense and “every day is a training day” for the animals, said Goodfellow.
An RCMP dog, at the age of two, is worth between $80,000 and $100,000.
“He gets the best ever,” said Goodfellow, referring to 8-year-old Miko. “I have a credit card just for him. He gets whatever he wants. I have to pay for my own meals myself.”
Goodfellow debunked a popular myth that search dogs can track a person using scent from an article of clothing like a sweater or a hat.
“That’s TV, CSI stuff…What I need to know is the last place the person was and where they were heading.”
When looking for missing people dogs pick up the smell of microscopic bits of skin that naturally fall from the body, he explained.
“Missing kids are one of the hardest calls I have…When you find a missing kid that’s all the success you need for the year.”