Bruce does not trust strangers. She puts everyone under surveillance for a brief time, tilting her ears and sniffing around. If she detects that something is amiss, then that’s it. She leaps on to the offender with a spine-chilling bark. She has a reputation to keep. She is the lone narcotic dog in the Kerala Police.
The 14-month-old Labrador passed out from the State Dog Training School in Thrissur on April 9. Her first appointment was in the border district of Idukki.
Bruce’s appointment is a landmark event in the narcotics operations of the Kerala Police. Specially trained to sniff out narcotics, the Labrador made her debut with a bang. She announced her arrival by chasing two bikers and intercepting them at Kumily. They turned out to be ganja carriers. The white dog that sniffs around the Kumily and Cumbummettu checkpoints has become a nightmare for ganja peddlers trying to smuggle in the weed from Cumbum in Tamil Nadu.
The police bought the Labrador from a kennel at Poonjar for Rs 19,000 when she was only three months old. Inspector General Suresh Rajpurohit named her Neeli. That stays her official name. But trainers like to call her Bruce.
Her training started early. She was trained to detect ganja and other narcotics. Bruce can detect the contrabands hidden in baggage or inside vehicles. She can even sniff narcotics buried down under.
Bruce is put up in a kennel near the Circle Inspector’s Office at Cheruthoni. She is in the company of five other Labradors of the Idukki dog squad. They are a pampered lot. Their kennel is no ordinary one. It is covered with ceramic tiles and fitted with tube lights and fans. Labradors find even a slight increase in temperature unbearable.
The canines are taken out at 6:30 in the morning. Bruce, along with Fido, Sweetie, Jeny, Stephy and Chandu, has to be present at 6:45 am at the parade ground. She trains with the other dogs up to 11:30 am on the days when she is off duty.
Sweetie, Jeny and Stephy are tracker dogs. They hunt for trails in murder or theft cases. Fido and Chandu are sniffers. They are usually attached with the bomb squad.
Bruce’s daily menu includes half a litre of milk and 700 grams of Pedigree dog food. She already weighs 33 kilos. She is offered a bath every 10 days. She is bathed more frequently when the mercury rises.
Idukki district police chief K V Joseph has ordered to let Bruce rest on the weekends. On the other days, she reports for duty at either of the checkpoint from dawn to dusk.
Renjith Mohan and Somy Markose are the trainers in charge of Bruce. They work with Saji John, Biju, Sunil Kumar, Sabu, Jerry, Ratheesh, Maniyan and Judeson, the other trainers in the Idukki dog squad. The squad is under the direct watch of the Superintendent of Police. Assistant sub inspector Chacko Francis is in charge of the squad.