HAY RIVER - Cpl. Grant Stebanuk - a police dog handler in Hay River - doesn't believe everyone could do his job.

You "need an affinity for dogs," he said, explaining some people are simply cut out for it.

Cpl. Grant Stebanuk and the police service dog Sherlock make up the RCMP's Hay River Police Dog Section. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"I guess you could say we're a different breed," he said with a hearty laugh.

Stebanuk, a Saskatchewan native and a Mountie for 10 years, has been a dog handler since 2007.

However, his preparation to become a dog handler began five years before that.

"You work with the local handler on your voluntary time," Stebanuk said. "You do training with him, you go to calls with him and do certain things like that. After a period, he'll recommend you for a course, and you take what's called an imprinting course."

That course is offered at the Police Dog Service Training Centre near Innisfail, Alta. There, an officer learns about raising puppies, dog psychology, and health and first aid for the animals.

"From there on you start raising police puppies, generally for a period of three to four years," Stebanuk said. "Once you have a certain proficiency, then you're recommended to go into the actual police dog service handling course itself."

A main part of the five-month course is learning to understand a dog.

"Reading your dog is the biggest thing," Stebanuk said. "You're always watching your dog. What's your dog doing? What's he telling you?"

At the course in Innisfail, Stebanuk started training with the dog he works with now.

"Another officer in Alberta raised him until he was about a year old and then he transferred him to me, and I took him into training and we completed the training course together," he said.

That four-year-old German shepherd goes by the appropriate crime-fighting name of Sherlock.

"He's my partner," Stebanuk said, noting Sherlock is a great dog who loves to work and is very strong-minded. "He likes to challenge and think that he's the dominant male in the pack. I've always got to reinforce that that's me."

Stebanuk and Sherlock have a variety of duties, such as seeking out narcotics, searching for evidence, looking for lost people, and tracking and apprehending criminals.

They started working together in Regina before being transferred to Hay River just over a year ago.

Stebanuk, 38, enjoys the work, especially being outdoors.

"I'm not a sit in the office type of guy," he said.

While they are posted to the Hay River Police Dog Section and often work in other South Slave communities, Stebanuk said he and Sherlock can be called to work anywhere in the NWT.

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