Philipsburg:--- The St. Maarten K-9 Foundation hosted a group of scouts that came over from Anguilla to see their training on Sunday morning.The St. Maarten K-9 Foundation was established with the purpose of training dogs for Police, Customs, Coast Guard and Security companies. With sixteen K-9s highly trained in Police work on the field showing their abilities in searching, guarding, escorting and biting, the visitors were very impressed with the skills displayed during the demonstration.
"It takes us approximately two years of severe training to get a K-9 to this level," explained Michael Kuiperi. He further stated that what makes these dogs so special is the fact that they can switch from being very social to a vicious animal that is ready to defend its handler under the most difficult circumstances. "We train our dogs according to the Royal Dutch Police K-9 program which is one of the highest and respectable programs world-wide."
Tessa Oudkerk, one of the organizers that came from Anguilla stated that she kept this visit as a surprise to the youngsters and was very happy with the outcome. "It was beyond our expectation and I'm sure that these youngster have learned a lot and most important learn to respect police dogs or other highly trained K-9s." She thanked both Felix and Michael for hosting them and suggested to hold similar demonstration in Anguilla in the future so that more youngsters can enjoy the dogs.
Felix Richards thanked the group for coming over and extended a warm welcome to any other group of youngsters who wish to see their trainings. A special thank you was also mentioned to the highly trained K-9 handlers who participated in the demonstration.