The Canine unit of the Uganda Police Force has organized the first ever national dog walk on Kampala streets.
The walk that happened on Saturday saw dogs walk Kampala streets from Mackenzie drive in Kololo, Acacia Avenue and later Kanjokya street.
According to Sergeant Herbert Nangoli, the chief instructor of the police canine unit, the street walk was organized in a bid to help educate Ugandans on how dogs are used not only as pets at home but for also many other uses.
“Dogs can be used in many specialties. We train them to detect explosives, drugs but also track criminals. We also train them to carry out search and rescue. In case someone gets lost, we can use dogs to track, find and then rescue them,” Nangoli said.
He noted that they are soon developing capabilities for dogs to detect cash but also to help rescue victims trapped in disaster areas like during collapsed buildings, mud and landslides.
“We call upon Ugandans to embrace proper training of dogs and can seek police services in this area,” the chief police canine unit instructor said.
Geoffrey Twesigye, a journalist but also dog breeder described the walk as a great experience to share ideas with fellow dog breeders but also hear from experts.
“This was a great experience to us the dog lovers but also an opportunity to that police think of us, get educated by them as experts and in return we explain to them the challenges we face in rearing dogs. This was an opportunity for the dog lovers to get exposure and be recognized by the public,”Twesigye said.
He noted that this was also another opportunity to ensure dogs are healthy, away from the cages and kennels where they are always kept.
“We also got to know the capabilities of our dogs and the limits through the interaction with experts from the police canine unit.”
Sharif Ssemwanga, aka @mydogug, a veterinary doctor was among those who participated in the walk.
Sharif Ssemwanga aka @mydogug with his dog.He added that growing up in the ghetto, he has so much love for dogs that he says have several uses.
Canine unit
The Uganda Police canine unit that was almost buried was between 2011 and 2013 “born again” to ensure it augments police operations.
Whereas by then most of the dogs were concentrated in Kampala, many were deployed at almost all stations in the country.
This came after the unit started breeding its own dogs at their breeding and training centre in Naggalama in Mukono district.
The dogs from the unit are deployed to fight crime, in public order management operations, track suspects but also detect explosives, just like they were used during the November 2020 bombings in Kampala.
The police dogs have in the past helped in fighting criminality in Karamoja as well as tracking and helping in the arrest of suspects in Kampala.
