A new, world class training centre for dogs will officially open its doors in Kamloops this Saturday, June 24.
The new Search, Recovery, and Detection K-9s of British Columbia facility is over 6,000 square feet in size, and its located at the Cooper Centre on 780 Windsor Avenue in North Kamloops.
The organization’s Vice President, Randy MacLeod, says it will be used primarily to train working dogs.
“Say for example detection work. Whether it’s explosives or narcotics or essentially missing people or wilderness searches and even searching for people that have been missing for a long time and are overdue,” MacLeod told Radio NL.
“Those various training opportunities are something we’ll really be able to host well and focus on.”
In 2019, the Cooper Family Foundation began renovating the facility into the Cooper Centre. The building was formerly home to Soccer Quest, the Dirty Jersey Pub, and the Bowlertime bowing alley. The building also houses the Cooper Family Foundation headquarters and the recently opened Angry Otter liquor store, with a Tim Hortons restaurant also on the property.
MacLeod says the facility will also be a classroom that will have courses on keeping dogs safe in the wilderness from things like trap lines and poisonous snakes.
“Plain and simply the province is divided up into trap lines and people who like to walk their dogs in the wilderness should really become informed and understand how to recognized it, how to avoid it and what the signs are that they’re in an area where active trapping is taking place,” MacLeod said. “So it’s really a familiarity course.”
“[People will also be able] to talk to one of the local experts on rattlesnakes, Frank Ritcey. He came in and did an unbelievable presentation for a packed room on rattlesnakes, where you’d encounter them, what to do when you encounter them and how to keep your dog safe.”
The official grand opening takes place at noon, and MacLeod says anyone with an interest in dogs should drop by, though given the dog demonstrations that will take place, they’re asked to leave their pets at home.