KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — Our dogs in blues also deserve some love from us this Year of the Dog Chinese New Year celebration apart from the normal furry friends among us.

Established in 1968, the Royal Malaysian Police K9 Unit located at the Malaysian Police Training Centre (Pulapol) boasts an All-star of doggies with most of them imported from China.

Discipline, determined and cute, let’s embark on a journey to know them!

Rambo the German Shepherd

Rambo, a 10-year-old German Shepard attached to the Criminal Investigations Department, going through an obstacle course.― Pictures by Azneal Ishak

Born: 20 March 2008

Handler: Corporal Zeno Reed A.M. Wira, 38

The only European import, 10-year-old Rambo is one of the oldest serving dogs in the unit. He is a General Purpose Dog attached to the Criminal Investigations Department specialised in the tracking of suspects.

Anou the Tactical Explosive Detection Labrador

(From left) Dahei, Mate, Heike, Rambo, Youni and Anou posing with their handlers for a group photo.

Born: 4 December 2011

Handler: Sergeant Michael Thyriam Xavier, 56

The seven-year-old Chinese-born dog specialised in detecting explosives and firearms residue. He is light-footed and quiet.

Youni the German Shepherd

Youni, a six-year-old General Purpose German Shepherd dog during an obedience and listening control training at the Malaysian Police Training Centre's K9 Unit obstacle course.

Born: 11 February 2012

Handler: Corporal M. Shivabalan, 30

Like Rambo, six-years-old Youni serves as a General Purpose Dog for the unit and specialised in the tracking of individuals or suspects.

Dahei the drug-sniffing Labrador

Dahei, a seven-year-old drug-sniffing black Labrador retrieving a towel during an exercise to motivate the dogs to search for contrabands based on a reward system.

Born: 4 July 2011

Handler: Corporal Denese Diway, 34

Dahei, 7, literally meaning Big Blackie in Chinese, specialised in the detection of narcotics contraband.

Mate the Belgium Shepherd

Mate, a four-year-old Belgium Shepherd performing the obstacle course with its handler Lance Corporal Selyvester Kirinus, at the Malaysian Police Training Centre's K9 Unit.

Born: 12 February 2014

Handler: Lance Corporal Selyvester Kirinus, 28

Four-year-old Mate is a Malinois dog breed and is the youngest of the group.

Heike the German Shepherd

Heike, a seven-year-old German Shepherd during a biting exercise with its handler Lance at the Malaysian Police Training Centre's K9 Unit.

Born: 13 July 2011

Handler: Corporal Jimmy Dong, 33

Like the other German Shepherd dogs in the unit, seven-year-old Heike also serves as a General Purpose Dog and specialised in hunting down suspects.

Caring for canine

Bukit Aman Technical Assistance Inspector M. Alagu Mani said the dogs are weighed every Monday to ensure they are not overweight as it may affect their performance.

"We feed them once per day to reduce the risk of obesity and keep them fit for their respective responsibilities,” he said.

Mani said he lucky to be able to work with animals as a full time job at the same time serve the police force.

"We can use them in murder cases, crowd control and even identifying bullet casings that may be too obscure for the human eyes to detect.

"I think I speak for everyone else in the K9 Unit by saying how great it is to be able to work with our furry friends whom we see as our colleagues,” he said.

He said the dogs helped a lot in investigation purposes even though there were health risks for the animals such as heat stroke or exhaustion.

The dogs are retired after 12 to 13 years of service and are usually brought in when they reach adulthood to undergo training for at least four months to adapt to the environment here.

General purpose trainer Corporal M. Puvanesvaran, 36, said the dogs were commanded in Bahasa Malaysia due to its common usage among the citizens and acceptance nationwide.

"We want those who come face to face with our dogs to understand the national language and there was no excuse for miscommunication,” he said.

Pavnesvaran also revealed that all of the unit's dogs were male bred as female would disrupt the males' sense of smell.