It's a tough day for Senior Constable Cam O'Sullivan. He's turned up for two days' training for the central Queensland dog squad, but there's an empty space next to his black labrador, Violet, at the back of his police truck.
Up until a week ago, this space was occupied by Rue, but the tough decision was made to put her down after she suffered from an untreatable infection.
"It was pretty heartbreaking," Senior Constable O'Sullivan said.
The bond goes back more than six years when the dogs were just puppies, and Senior Constable O'Sullivan was first accepted into the dog squad after running a single-officer station in western Queensland.
The trio then completed a 16-week course in Brisbane together, forming an attachment through all the training needed to detect drugs, firearms, and explosions.
Rue and Violet
The dogs carried out jobs all over the state with Senior Constable O'Sullivan, from as far north as Bowen, south to the Gold Coast and west to Camooweal, taking sizeable amounts of ice and guns off the street.
"The bond is pretty inseparable," Senior Constable O'Sullivan said.
Violet and Rue were like chalk and cheese.
"Rue was just a really cheeky dog — she would push the limits, but in a good way," he said.
"Her drive to work was phenomenal. That's all she wanted to do — she lived to work. It's tough not having that now.
"But I still have my other good mate, and my focus is on making work as fun as it can be for Violet — as we do with all our working dogs — particularly more so now because she knows her mate's not in the kennel next door."
Violet is a gentle soul, and a people dog — a temperament perfect for a detection dog that needs to go to music festivals or pub line-ups.
Training for crunch time
She is one of five dogs from Rockhampton and Gladstone taking part in today's training at an abandoned resort on the Capricorn Coast, just a short drive north of Yeppoon.
Once the jewel in the crown for the region, the overgrown bush and dilapidated rooms are perfect for the dog squad to go through their paces.
The dogs are put through every possible scenario: tracking suspects through dense bush, ignoring constant gunfire, and barging into rooms to pin down suspects to name a few.
Sergeant Jeff Brandt is the officer-in-charge of the Capricornia District Dog Squad in Rockhampton, and he describes this as one of the best jobs in the police service.
"We place our lives in the hands of our dogs, they do stuff for us all the time … we're relying on them," Sergeant Brandt said.
The dogs also put their lives on the line.
This training is about ensuring the dog will not fail when it comes to crunch time.
Unlike Violet, the four tracking dogs are German shepherds selected for a more high-energy and aggressive temperament, but all have been in training since they were eight weeks old.
Griffin, a sleek black German shepherd, is about to run through his paces and it cannot happen quickly enough.
He whimpers with excitement as his handler lets him out from the back of the truck, and the two take their position at the entrance of an empty building.
After yelling and barking, the two run up the stairs in a darkened corridor and Griffin gets to do what's he's been dying to do — launch at the suspect — another police officer dressed in protective gear.
The barking turns to muffled growls as Griffin's mouth is full of protective arm gear, and after a "good job", he's allowed to head downstairs to a small garden and chew on his prize.
Golden years
Sergeant Brandt's sidekick is Sacco, a German shepherd bred specifically for the police force and has all the traits wanted in a general-purpose tracking dog.
"He's a bit of a lunatic," Sergeant Brandt said, rubbing Sacco's ears to show it's a compliment.
He said Sacco had not only searched for suspects on the run but for people who were lost.
Retirement is just around the corner, however, as Sacco is almost seven years old, and all police dogs leave the service when they turn eight.
He is Sergeant Brandt's third dog, and he will go the same way as his predecessors.
Really long walks and lots of ball play are planned.
