Frankie, one of the heroic tracker dogs remembered for his tireless efforts in the Batang Kali landslide tragedy in Hulu Selangor last year, will be participating in the National Day parade this year.
Frankie is among the eight sniffer dogs from the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department’s (JBPM) K9 Tracker Dog Unit will be taking part in the parade to celebrate National Day held at Dataran Putrajaya, on Aug 31
JBPM K9 Unit Senior Assistant Superintendent H Pramnath said the K9 unit will also provide two special vehicles to march along with the dogs, which belong to three disciplines, namely fire investigation, search and rescue (SAR) Cadaver and SAR Wilderness.
The dogs and their handlers will have to undergo intensive training for mental and physical preparation, especially to ensure that the dogs will obey instructions during the parade.
“The pre-parade training, on top of the daily routine training, is necessary to train these dogs to listen to their handler’s instructions and not run away during the parade because there is a possibility that they will ‘lose focus’ if they are tired as they have walk about 3.5 kilometres that day,” he said when met at his office today.
Pramnath said the training will begin tomorrow (Aug 5) and that utmost attention must also be paid to diet, hydration and supplements to make the dogs more energetic and enthusiastic.
“The tracker dogs will be groomed before they go out in public. They are also dressed ‘specially’, bathed and their fur trimmed so that they look neater and classier in the ‘uniform’ they will wear,” he said.
Frankie, an English Springer Spaniel, and three other K9 unit dogs assigned to the Batang Kali landslide SAR mission were conferred Golden Performance medals by the Housing and Local Government Ministry in January.
The following month, Frankie, and fellow sniffer dog, Denti, joined the Malaysian team sent to assist search and rescue efforts in southern Turkey, following a devastating earthquake there.
The National Day 2023 celebrations with the theme ‘Malaysia Madani: Tekad Perpaduan Penuhi Harapan’, (Determination in Unity, Fulfilling Hope), will see the Fire and Rescue Department’s participation under the Welfare (Kesejahteraan) Contingent along with several enforcement agencies such as the Royal Malaysian Police, the Malaysian Armed Forces, and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Source: BERNAMA News Agency