
Taichung police dog first trained in both drug detection, rescue
A dog from Taichung recently became Taiwan’s most accomplished police pup. Trained to sniff out drugs, the police dog Uhoo once cracked a major nightclub drug case. Over the last two years, Uhoo’s handler has dedicated extra time to search-and-rescue training. Uhoo recently passed the intermediate search-and-rescue dog certification, making her Taiwan’s first police dog trained in both drug detection and search-and-rescue.
At her handler’s command, this golden Labrador jumps into the car and starts searching.
The dog’s attention focuses on the door, indicating she has detected the smell of drugs there.
At only three years old, Uhoo has served on the Taichung police canine team for two years. She is trained not only to find drugs, but to locate trapped people as well.
Uhoo walks around the rubble, investigating the scene with her nose. She barks loudly when she finds a human scent, showing her training as a search-and-rescue dog.
Hsiao Chih-fan
Police dog handler
Domestic police dogs don’t actually have a certification system. They need to take IRO international assessments held by the fire department to obtain a professional working dog certification. Search-and-rescue training improves the dog’s physical performance, which, in turn, gives them more endurance to perform their primary drug detection duties.
With her especially talented nose, Uhoo successfully obtained the intermediate search-and-rescue certification, making her the first dog in Taiwan that can perform both search-and-rescue and drug detection.
Hsiao Chih-fan
Police dog handler
For drug detection, the signal is to sit down and stare at the drugs. For search-and-rescue, the dog needs to bark to indicate it has found someone. At first, when she was learning something new, she might suddenly seem confused and unsure of what to do. But I think she is naturally talented.
After two years of training, the talented Uhoo is the first dog in Taiwan that can serve on both the police force and firefighting team.
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2025-03-20