Dog handling dream on track

Constable Elyse Lewis with her pet German shepherd Zinny, who shows great form. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whangarei police Constable Elyse Lewis joined the thin blue line as a teenager with one goal in mind - to become a police dog handler.

Nearly nine years later the 27-year-old is tracking well to achieve her goal with confirmation last week she has been accepted as a trainee dog handler with the Dunedin police dog unit. Once Ms Lewis becomes fully operational she will be only the fifth female dog handler in the history of New Zealand police.

"As soon as I joined the police that was what I aimed for. It's my dream job," Ms Lewis said.

The former Kamo High School student, of Ngati Kahu decent, joined officers on the beat in Whangarei when she was 18 and since then has done all her policing on the frontline in Northland.

"I wanted to get frontline experience first and then four years ago starting really focussing on dog handling. I'm a senior member of my section now and I've had a wide and varied experience policing here in Northland but there's always more stuff to learn in this job."

She has fostered three police pups, which involved getting the potential canine crime fighters when they were 12 weeks old and training them for a year.

A dog-lover since she was a child, Ms Lewis said it was extremely hard to hand over the pups but there was a real sense of achievement knowing she had taught them the fundamentals. Two of the puppies she has trained are now fully operational dogs padding the beat in Wellington.

"I grew up with dogs and always seemed to bond with them. I love their company and love what they are capable of doing. They are such intelligent animals. I think working with a dog and being able to track an offender who has taken off from a crime scene and finding them is the best thing.

"It's all down to you and knowing your dog is going to perform," she said.

The selection course was a rigorous physical and mental process, with the physical test including a very long hike with a 20-litre jerry can in a back pack. The only down side to the new job is she will have to leave her own canine pets in Northland as the job does not allow her to have any other animals.

Ms Lewis has two dogs waiting for her to trial and once she has teamed up with the best match the duo will start training on March 9.

It will take at least a year before the teams become operational and hit the chilly Dunedin beat. She said members of the Northland dog section had been very supportive and her family had also backed her.

Dog sections are male dominated and there have only been four other women who have made the dog unit ranks.

One of those was former Whangarei area commander Inspector Tracey Phillips.