Why Canadian Mounties train with dogs in sub-zero temperatures

• Future members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, known as the Mounties, learn to work in frigid temperatures before they begin their service.
• Some cadets get the opportunity to accompany a police dog on their outdoor run when a dog and its handler are at the RCMP Academy Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan.
• When senior video correspondent Graham Flanagan joined a group of cadets who got to go on a run with Baylee, a retired police dog handled by Constable Brent Bates, who spent seven years with her in the field.
• On the day of this video shoot, temperatures dropped to negative 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

Following is a transcript of the video.

[Baylee barking]

Meredith Darrah: Everybody needs to get over this fence!

Cadet: Let's go, let's go!

Brent Bates: Grab her by the harness. This is Baylee. She was my partner as a police dog. I spent seven years on the road with her. She's retired. I should say semiretired, because she comes in to work here every now and then at the training academy to help out with the cadets.

Narrator: Future members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, known as the Mounties, train with police dogs like Baylee during their 26-week training at the academy. [wind whipping] When Business Insider visited the RCMP Academy in December 2019, temperatures in Regina, Saskatchewan, averaged around minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

Darrah: Come on, let's go!

Narrator: Cadets run in these extreme conditions to get a feel for what it's like to pursue a suspect or search for a missing person in the frigid Canadian climate. And when they're in the field, they're often accompanied by a police dog, which is where Baylee comes in.

Bates: She also goes on what are called uniform runs. And one of those uniform runs in particular is called a dog-handler run. It's supposed to simulate running with a dog handler, pursuing a suspect, or looking for a lost person.

Narrator: This canine-accompanied training only happens when a uniform run is scheduled and a dog is on-site [Baylee barking]

Darrah: If you call the dog out in your detachment, you'd better be ready to run with the dog. And this is a valuable resource that you guys are gonna want to take advantage of. She's a bomb dog. She's a bad-guy dog. She's a jack-of-all-trades.

Officer: RCMP police dog! Stop, or I'll send the dog!

Narrator: The RCMP uses purebred German shepherds for general duty teams. The breed is chosen for two key reasons: their thick coats can withstand extremely cold conditions, and, according to the RCMP, the breed has a "inhibitive psychological effect on potential wrongdoers." [dog barking]

Officer: Head them off, Eric!

Narrator: The dogs are bred at a facility in Alberta and start their training when they're between 12 and 18 months old. They're trained to detect traces of drugs and explosives, and there are approximately 160 dog teams across the country. [Baylee barking] A veteran police dog with seven years of service, Baylee and her former partner Brent Bates dropped by the academy to show these cadets the ropes.

Darrah: What is a dog handler's sole responsibility?

Cadet: Stay with the dog.

Darrah: Yeah, and what's he gonna be doing? While Constable Bates is working, what is he doing?

Cadet: Focusing on the dog.

Darrah: Yeah, so if you call out a dog handler, what is your responsibility as the police officer?

Cadet: Keep them safe.

Darrah: Yeah, so your responsibility is to look after Constable Bates, because his responsibility is to watch Baylee. When the dog works, it's two speeds: go, and then it's stop, take a second, sniff around. OK, we're moving on.

Narrator: Once the run begins, the cadets stop sporadically to learn how to safely get Baylee over walls and fences, obstacles they may encounter in the field while in pursuit of a suspect or searching for a missing person.

Darrah: Everybody needs to get over this fence!

Cadet: Let's go, let's go!

Narrator: But first, the cadets have to prove that they can climb over.

Darrah: I bet you there is a lot of times where you're like, maybe you're out for a run and it sucks going fast, and you're like, "You know what I'm gonna do? I'm just gonna slow down." When you are out with a handler, that is not an option. You can't be like, "Constable Bates, you're going too fast. Can you slow down?" 'Cause guess what? No. 1, he's not going to, and No. 2, he doesn't care that you're tired or you haven't eaten or that you're in s--- shape. He does not care. His sole responsibility is to get the bad guy. So, he comes to a fence like this, what's he gonna do? Is he gonna turn around and go, "That's a bit high." No, he's gonna get Baylee over the fence. And guess what you're gonna do?

Cadets: Help Baylee over the fence.

Darrah: Yeah, let's do it!

Bates: We end up going over a lot of fences when we're chasing bad guys. It's just the nature of how our work is. When people are fleeing from the police, a lot of times they'll jump fences to try and escape. For Baylee, this is how we do it. You're already up there, so you gotta grab her by the harness. You've gotta hold her up there till I get over. And then you're gonna let her down to me. Our main concern is the safety of the dog. We don't want the dog getting hurt chasing somebody. And so there's certain ways to get the dogs over the fence. What we usually do is get one person at the top of the fence, sit on top of the fence. And then I hand the dog up to them, and their job is to make sure she doesn't come back over the fence or jump down the other side and hurt herself.

Darrah: Awesome, good work.

Cadet: Good girl.

Cadet: That's awesome.

Bates: We're lucky with Baylee. Baylee's very friendly and very easy to work around. Let's go, Baylee. All right, paws up.

Narrator: Cadets also train to get Baylee safely over a chain-link fence.

Darrah: All right, she's over, everybody over!

Narrator: Which, in frigid Canadian conditions, is easier said than done for the cadets themselves.

Cadet: Oh, my God. [cadets chatter] [snow crunching]

Bates: Ah, that's it, girl! Once we retired, this was a nice transition, because now she was at home, but I still get to bring her to work every now and then. She still gets to come with me once every 10 days or so. We come over here and she gets to feel like a real police dog again. [Baylee whines and barks] Come here. [Baylee pants] Good girl, stay.

Narrator: This interview was filmed in December 2019. In September 2020, Baylee passed away due to kidney failure. She served in the RCMP for seven years, during which she responded to more than 3,000 calls for service, and for every suspect or missing person she located, she was rewarded.

Bates: Every time that she caught a bad guy or found a missing person, I always took her to McDonald's and got her a cheeseburger at the drive-through, so she was known for her cheeseburgers 'cause she caught a lot of bad guys. And so, when we retired and when we left Nova Scotia, they actually bought her a McDonald's gift card. [laughs]

Narrator: According to the RCMP, Baylee recorded 132 cheeseburgers during her seven-year career.