Canada was late to the party, so to speak. It wasn’t until the mid 1930s that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police added a police dog to its ranks, a German Shepherd Dog named, “Dale,” owned by St. John Cawsey. “Dale” was a companion animal, and training him in police dog basics came out of Cawsey’s own meager funds when he consulted a breeder/trainer.  “Dale” was a quick study and soon attracted the attention of supervisors. The police force wasn’t prepared to buy “Dale,” but they did provide a stipend to support the dog: 25 cents a day.

“Dale” quickly adjusted to police work: Tracking down robbers and car thieves, sniffing out train-hoppers from railroad cars, and providing an intimidating presence when needed. One of his more impressive cases was the pursuit of three men who’d gone on a murder spree that included three “mounties” killed in the of duty. “Dale” tracked the men to Banff National Park where in a gunfight with police, the bad guys were killed.

It was a different case, however, that we found especially memorable. In 1935, a child named Eileen Simpson, not quite three years old, wandered away from her family. En route to the child’s home, “Dale” and Cawsey came across a suspicious car filled with stolen property, but no driver. Instructed to find the occupants, “Dale” quickly found them, and one had an extensive criminal record. The sidetracked mission complete, they resumed their trip to find the missing child and were dismayed to find the family home filled with relatives, volunteers and well-wishers who’d muddled up the scene, a scent long gone. After two hours, “Dale” found nothing, but as they changed direction, “Dale” perked up, and in spite of his fatigue from finding bad guys the night before, he charged across a field and vanished. His barking minutes later alerted all that he had found Eileen who was semi-conscious and hypothermic, but alive. Witnesses say “Dale” was licking her face when searchers came upon them.

Fast forward 70 years. A woman with dementia and a history of wandering off strolled away from her nursing home in Alberta. Within thirty minutes, Sgt. Hawes and his dog, “Kory,” found the woman in a ditch, hypothermic, but alive. The woman was Eileen Simpson.

Returning to “Dale,” the German Shepherd was made a full member of the police force two months after Eileen Simpson as a child was found. A $200 fee was paid to Sgt. Cawsey to make the induction legitimate by transferring ownership of “Dale” and his son to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. “Dale” was featured in the Washington Post and Dog World Magazine, but more than that, he was the catalyst in establishing a police dog training center in Calgary with his owner, Cawsey, at the helm. Within four years, thirteen police dogs were at work in five provinces  of Canada.  “Dale’s” last official duty was to ensure that the area in which King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s train arrived for a state visit was safe and secure. When “Dale” died in 1941, his obituary appeared in papers across the country.

In 2010, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Dog Service celebrated its 75th anniversary making it the longest continually operating police dog service in North America.

Photo of the RCMP’s first Police Service Dog, “Dale.”