The ASP K9 teams have a wide range of skills and interests outside of their dog related expertise at work. This article focuses on two particular handlers who have unique interests in an exciting and physically challenging hobby.

First, we have Emilie Gagne, who handles EDD Canine Jordan and has worked with ASP for over a year. Emilie has had a lifetime interest in the Rodeo, and five years ago she took that interest to the next level by joining a bullriding school in Alberta.

From there, she never looked back. Emilie has honed her skills to where she now competes across Canada and the US, winning numerous events. Bull-riding is not an easy sport to master, and Emilie suffered a setback just over a year ago when she broke her hip after being thrown. Fortunately for us, Emilie fully recovered and is back riding and competing.

Next up we have Jenna Belshaw, who handles EDD Canine Samba. Jenna started riding horses at the ripe old age of 3! She was hooked and spent her weekends and summers riding and learning horse care. By 13, Jenna got her first horse and continued to be exposed to recognized experts in the horse industry.

Two of the biggest influencers are Bryn and Mike Robertson, who are renowned for Barrel Horse training. Jenna began her competitive career in barrel racing at age 16 and has not looked back. The goal is to ride a set pattern around 3 barrels in the fastest time. Jenna has achieved multiple accomplishments including countless OBRA 1d championships and rodeo wins. Jenna credits a lot of her wins lately to her main horse Norman, a 12-year-old quarter horse who comes off the racetrack. She continues to compete all over Ontario, Quebec and the United States, traveling almost every weekend.

After several months of planning our first ever canine division fundraiser for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto with teammates from across the country – we are proud to say we successfully surpassed our goal of $10,000 and we were able to raise OVER $11,000.

The Hospital for Sick Children is affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is Canada’s most research- intensive hospital and the largest center dedicated to improving children’s health in the country. Sick Kids creates ground-breaking clinical and scientific advancements and train the next generation of experts in child health. It holds dear to some of our handlers, as they’ve had medical treatments there themselves when they were young. With 27 registered participants/ handlers in our canine unit, it was a great success. The competition consisted of a 3-part challenge. The winner of the challenges was the canine and handler with the fastest time and highest amount of finds combined from all 3 events.

Event One consisted of 32 scent cans in 4 rows where there will be 3 target odors placed randomly intermingled with 29 distractor scents. The goal is to find the 3 as fast as possible.

Event Two consisted of a specified measured enclosed area, where the handler must remain at the entry point and not assist the dog whatsoever in finding the single- placed hide. The handler had an option to do the search off-leash or with a long line. The timer ends when the handler successfully calls the dog’s indication.

Event Three was also an enclosed search area with an unknown amount of odors placed randomly throughout. The canine-handler team was given 4 minutes to find as many hides as possible. Teams were scored here on how many finds they found in the shortest amount of time.

Placing first overall, was handler Marc-Andre and canine Zora from Montreal, Quebec. With her lightning speed, it was hard to keep up with her. The second overall was handler Chris Brown with canine Sasha from Toronto, ON. Sasha’s great nose was precise and quick!

Very special thank you to our corporate sponsors – without you, this would not have been possible. From the bottom of our hearts, we’d like to thank AgapiK9, Omega Alpha Pharma, Olympus K9, and DJD Inc. We were also fortunate to have many other donors that contributed to our raffle and handler prizes. Another special thank you to our guest judges Karen Apfel, Yanick Choquette, and Jean-Marc Dugas across the provinces. We could not have done it without you!

An extreme amount of hard work and dedication went into this fundraiser. First, we’d like to thank our committee which consisted of 3 of our handlers across some of our provinces and our Master Trainer. Special shoutout to Paige MacDonald, Krista Hockey, Ivanna Skotar and Russ Fox for working tirelessly to put together an incredible fundraiser. We truly look forward to being just as successful next year, and hope to open it up to many others – including our entire ASP family.

Lastly, TRUST YOUR DOG, and we will see you all next year.

With the transition from a crisp fall to a cool winter, the canine unit has been extremely busy in the last few months in preparation for the holiday season. You can almost consider all the FedEx handlers “Santa’s helpers” for assisting in getting everyone’s Christmas gifts delivered efficiently, securely, and safely. In Montreal, all the FedEx locations have been busy and really warm this Christmas season. Many a times, the handlers were invited to enjoy the FedEx staff Christmas meals! It really goes to show you how important it is to build and strengthen our relationship with the employees of our contractors. With the extra hard work, both the handlers and the dogs are putting in their very best every single shift and going above and beyond each time. While working phenomenally as a team, we achieve the high standards that ASP strives for, and it is acknowledged and appreciated during these times. It’s great to see that the dog’s drives are still sky-high and they’re always ready to work. Screening all the parcels at all the different locations and ensuring the safety for all packages is something we thrive for.

In the past couple of months K9s Roef (Malinois) and Zsoti (GSD), along with handlers Chris and Courtney underwent the first ever Transport Canada and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspections for A.S.P. Incorporated at FedEx Canada. The inspection was to view how our K9s operated in the fields that they were tested in palletized and non-palletized cargo.

We (the handlers) were tested on our understanding of the legislation Explosives Detection Dog Handler Teams Security Measures (EDDHTSM), as well as how well we interpret change of behaviour in our dogs when they identify explosive odours.

With us having worked operationally since May and having understood what the legislation requires of us to do, we were able to exceed standards and pass our inspections.

The knowledge we attained from the inspection was passed on, in hopes that other locations would follow in these footsteps and continue to show Transport Canada and our future potential clients our units high standards for performance and compliance. With peak season among us, things have been ramping up here in Ottawa. Our shifts always begin with screening auto parts, and we then move on to screening cargo for international and economy flights. How we screen in a tandem has not changed, as we have devised a process that works to include ample searching time with good amount of rest. The location in which we operate out of is very dog friendly and dog oriented as the phrase “we’ll do anything for the dog” can be heard in the many conversations that we’ve had with FedEx employees. We occasionally must add in a joking manner “what about us” just to make sure they don’t forget about the handlers.

The phrase “we’ll do anything for the dog” can be heard in the many conversations that we’ve had with FedEx employees”.

The ASP Canine unit has undergone explosive gr owth (haha) in recent months. In response to new regulations set out by Transport Canada, the air cargo industry is preparing for new cargo screening standards, among those, canine explosive dog detection. ASP will be the provider of choice for what we hope will be many of the major cargo carriers in Canada.

The ASP Canine unit has undergone explosive gr owth (haha) in recent months. In response to new regulations set out by Transport Canada, the air cargo industry is preparing for new cargo screening standards, among those, canine explosive dog detection. ASP will be the provider of choice for what we hope will be many of the major cargo carriers in Canada.

FedEx
Our first major account in the area of cargo screening is FedEx. To prepare for EDD screening services at FedEx we have recently hired more than thirty new canine handlers. Our handlers will work at locations across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to start.

Train, Train, Train
Recruiting and Management have been sourcing and hiring passionate and talented new handlers throughout the spring. Our trainers are running 8 week courses in both Toronto and Ottawa to prepare our new handlers and our new canines for certification with Transport Canada this summer. The certification is a requirement and will be renewed annually.

Fun Facts
A dog’s sense of smell is at least 40 times better than ours. They can hear roughly 4 times further than humans. They have 18 muscles controlling their ears! And if that weren’t talent enough, dogs can sniff and breathe at the same time.

Dog Joke of the Day
Why was the dog such a good storyteller?He knew how to paws for dramatic effect.

On December 21, 2020 ASP was awarded a new contract with FedEx Canada to provide Explosive Detection Dogs in Eastern Canada at nearly 20 FedEx locations in four provinces. Our team was so excited to start our relationship with FedEx, but we knew how much work it would be! Working closely with our ICTS family, we started to plan the necessary training and acquisition of our dogs, recruitment and hiring of 30 new ASP employees, planning for operation in four provinces and of course working for Transport Canada Certification by July 1, 2021!

We couldn’t have done it without the help of so many ASP employees. Our Canine division worked hard assisting our new handlers, our Trainers worked tirelessly with consultants to ensure all of our new handlers were ready for FedEx. And of course so many other departments like Finance, Human Resources, Security, Resource Planning and Administration all stepped up to help in any way they could assist. The ASP Family was amazing. I am so proud on Thursday June 10, 2021 our new Canine handlers officially graduated from our ASP Training program and are ready to commence their careers at our partners locations. Congratulations to all of our new ASP employees and Thank you to each and every one of our ASP and ICTS family for your help and guidance.

Congratulations!!!

Although it’s unclear where the origin of the rich history that is Canine Partner Trading Cards began, it is rumoured that it started in 1959 with the Launch of Sputnik 2.

When the famous Satellite launched it had a furry friend onboard dubbed “The Sputnik Dog” with the intent of testing the effects on a living organism in space. A cigarette company issued the famous Sputnik Dog trading card shortly after the launch. The trend “took off” and since then Trading Cards with our four-legged partners have been produced by Military, Police Forces, Security Teams and Therapy Dogs Companies around the world.

ASP carried on this tradition with the first edition cards in 2015 with a Wayne Gretzky Rookie Card inspired design featuring the signature ASP red and white. A true Canadian take on the long-lived tradition.

ASP is proud to announce that our cards are getting an overhaul. We have recently completed a photo shoot with our K9 Team and will be going to print with the new designs soon.

Ask your local ASP K9 Handler for their canine partners trading card in mid-summer 2020!!

ICTS General Services, an ICTS Europe subsidiary in Spain, has recently won a new contract with Terminal Catalunya S.A.U, for the provision of security services at the Port of Barcelona.

This 2-year contract will see ICTS providing 24/7 control room monitoring, as well as access control and patrolling of the Hutchison Ports BEST Terminal, one of the most modern container terminals in the world.

“The Hutchison Ports BEST is a semi-automated terminal, with a very high productivity rate and expansion plans for the coming years. For many years now, ICTS has provided similar security services at the Ports of Malaga and Mallorca and is looking forward to supporting Terminal Catalunya S.A.U.’s business plans.

The award of this prestigious contract increases our presence at the Port of Barcelona, as we already secure Barcelona’s Cruise Port Terminal. Hutchison is a very welcome addition to our client portfolio, and we are proud to have been entrusted with this new contract,” said Ofer Barder, General Manager, ICTS General Services.