Retired police K9 laps up home comforts

Peanut butter flavoured treats, morning walks along South Shore and a comfy rug to himself in an air-conditioned lounge; Arras the retired police K9 is getting used to his new life.

But the arrival of perhaps Bermuda’s most successful and well-known sniffer dog into the Gunn household has brought with it some amusing and unexpected challenges too.

Laminated pieces of paper with the Dutch words for ‘sit’, ‘drop’ and ‘stay’ now cover the walls.

And nighttime trips to the toilet are done on silent tiptoe so as not to wake the new addition to the family.

“It’s like having a child in the house again,” says Stephen Gunn.

“He’s into everything and just loves any attention.

“And if any of us wake up in the middle of the night Arras gets up too because he thinks it’s time to play.”

The police sergeant and his family made the decision to take on the retiring police K9 after their old dog, Jackson, died in April of this year.

Mr Gunn added: “An internal memo went around at work and I went down to the kennels to meet him.

“And then for the next three weeks I went down to see him and walk him around Prospect.

“He’s got such a kind and gentle temperament — we all loved him from the start.

“And most of all we wanted to give him the retirement he deserved.

For the last nine years Arras the Belgian Malinois, has been responsible for some of the biggest drugs busts on the island.

And he, together with his handler PC Denise Downey, have helped stop millions of dollars worth of cannabis, cocaine and heroin from getting on to the streets.

The gentle hound was born in Holland and, after completing a series of rigorous training programmes in the US, came to Bermuda in the summer of 2004.

Jennifer Gunn told the Sun: “My Dutch is certainly improving.

“He’s got a lovely nature and he is so smart.

“When we first got him home he spent two days searching the house for things like he was still at work and he did a lot of pacing, but he quickly got used to his new surroundings.

“I was a little nervous to begin with. I wondered how he would react in a family setting but he has been fantastic.

“He has learned everything so quickly.

“He would snatch a treat out of your hand to begin with but now he is ever so gentle.

“And in the evenings he just goes between us in the living room looking for a tummy scratch or a stroke. He’s very affectionate.”

But despite the tasty treats and the air-conditioning, Arras’s favourite thing in the world remains his tennis ball, the reward that was used to train him as a puppy.

Mr Gunn added: “It took him a while to get used to dinner time.

“He would sit there thinking ‘why are they eating and I’m not?’ as he walked around the table.

“And the first time we had a barbeque was like someone had let off a water balloon in his mouth — there was so much drool.

“But he’s a good boy now and sits down when we eat.

“He’s a very special dog and we are so happy to have him as a part of our family.”