Queensland Police dog squad ‘alpha’ Robbie to retire after a decade on the Gold Coast
After a decade on the beat the Gold Coast dog squad’s “ageing warrior” is hanging up the leash - but his handler says he’s still the alpha of the family.
Gold Coast
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ROBBIE the “ageing warrior” police dog is hanging up the leash after a decade on the beat but still considers himself to be the alpha of the family.
Just don’t tell brother Solo, his successor in the waiting.
The 10-year-old Malinois has been with handler Senior Constable Lyle Slingsby since he was just nine months old.
PD Robbie – whose siblings have gone on to be competition and service dogs – has become an “influencer of decision making” for crooks thinking either to run, surrender, or put up a fight.
More often than not he gets them to surrender after issuing a frightening bark, and threatening his terrifying bite.
Like most dogs within the Queensland Police Service, when he jumps into the car for a day’s work he knows it’s go time.
But just as easily he can switch off and becomes “super social” when at home. Just not with his brother, PD Solo.
“Robbie loves kids and people in general, but if another dog thinks they’re going to own Robbie’s car, that’s not the case. Robbie’s very much the alpha dog in the squad,” Sen-Constable Slingsby said.
“He got very upset when I was on (a training) course with Solo … and in that period Robbie had to stay at home.
“He knew exactly what was going on. He knew that we were going to work, another dog was in his car, he wasn’t happy.
“He’s very much ‘I want to go to work’ and ‘who’s this young whipper snapper you think can go in my car?’.”
Sen-Constable Slingsby said PD Solo was a more “bash and crash sort of dog”.
“He loves conflict, he loves to track. He’s very alpha. In his work he thinks he’s the man. Robbie and him disagree. He’s only a young dog, he’s got a lot to prove.
“This change-over period we’ve done, if there’s a job where we would believe that it’s out of Solo’s ability, Robbie would be brought in. But at this point of time Solo’s very much ‘I can do everything’, so Robbie’s very much missing out on jobs.
“That’s probably why there’s a little bit of the grudge between the two boys. (They’re) two starting halfbacks … and there’s a bit of competition between each other about who’s the best and who’s going to run on.”
The Gold Coast dog squad will have some fresh blood in the new year with the retirement of PD Robbie, and PD Hondo, who the Bulletin this year revealed was best mates with a sausage dog.
Sen-Constable Slingsby, formerly of the bomb detection squad, admits he has too many dogs, and says he joined the police with the intention of becoming a handler.
He said it would take some adjusting for PD Robbie in retirement.
“He’ll become an old warrior, and have a good life at home and get fed what he wants,” he said.
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“He will be the dog that’s sitting on the back veranda, relaxing, having a couple of tennis balls around.
“He’ll very much be a pet dog that will have some pretty good war stories to tell over the years to the other dogs.”
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