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December 24, 2008

Police dog receives a gift he can sink his teeth into

By Suzanne Laurent

LONDONDERRY — After a few loud barks announcing his presence, Zip, the Londonderry Police Department's police dog, excitedly watched as his handler, Officer John Perry, tore a giant red ribbon from the top of Zip's Christmas present.

Inside a large cardboard box was a blue two-piece bite suit from Santa.

A local business, Charles George Trucking Co. Inc. heard that the police budget was a little tight this year and wanted to pass along the word to the North Pole on Zip's behalf, since the 8 1/2-year-old German shepherd's writing skills are somewhat limited.

"This is a nice story in light of all the bad news with the storm over the past week," Lt. Bob Michaud said.

Michaud said that they had a couple of meetings with representatives of the trucking company as to the size and color of the bite suit that goes for around $1000.

"The vice president (of Charles George) ordered it (from Santa) for Christmas," Michaud said.

Perry said that Zip was trained since he was a puppy to play tug-of-war with a piece of burlap and that he loves to bite the jute material of the suit.

"It's his playtime," Perry said.

Usually Perry trained Zip with just a bite sleeve, but the suit will allow Perry to train Zip to bite other parts of the body, like the back, and legs when tracking down a suspect.

After Perry unpacked Zip's present, Lt. Chris Gandia put on the well-padded suit and Perry offered a demonstration. Gandia said he could feel pressure through the thick material, but not the dog's teeth.

"Two of us own German shepherds that even come to work with us," said Michael Karras, executive vice president of Charles George.

"It was a natural match for us to do this for the police department."

Two other representatives from Charles George were present at the gift-giving ceremony: Karen George, chairperson, and Chuck Bolianties, vice president.