The latest recruit to the Quebec City police department is short, hairy, and has four legs.
Six-month-old Sparky is a German Shepherd that has begun basic training with the force's K-9 unit.
Obtained from a breeder in Portneuf, she is the first local dog for the department since 2005.
'She'll be doing tracking, lost persons, drugs. She'll be able to locate firearms," said Sgt. Jerome De Champlain.
Most police dogs the Quebec City police acquires are from the RCMP training centre in Alberta, but the Quebec force wanted to try something new.
Sparky is now learning how to track.
"That's only the beginning. She's going to be in the full training, the real training, when she's one year old, and the real training lasts four months," said De Champlain. "It looks easy but it's kind of complex for the dogs to be able to track on snow, on hard surfaces like asphault, and in the woods. She really needs to be comfortable."
The dog will also need to learn how to work in a crowd, to cope with distractions, and to get over her fear of escalators.
"Socialization is 50 percent, about half of the training that we have to do to make a police dog," said De Champlain.
It will be another year full of treats and praise until Sparky is ready to join the force.
