David Raymond
A police dog handler's PTSD recovery shows what happens when the caregiver finally receives the care they have given others.
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David Raymond spent 36 years in the Queensland Police Service, 26 of them as a dog handler. He watched his mother experience domestic violence as a child, and it shaped his calling to become a police officer. A chance conversation while teaching karate led him into the Dog Squad, the most sought-after posting in Queensland Police, where he worked alongside five German Shepherds: Buddy, Zed, Vader, Axel, and Jet. Each dog had its own personality and taught him something different about the work.
The real work of a police dog is finding missing people and tracking offenders, not the bite demonstrations people see. David has located people on the edge of self-harm, including a young man hanging from swings whom he cut down and revived with CPR, and a woman who had taken medication and was lying on a riverbank with a crocodile stalking her. Without his dogs, those people would not be alive today. But the job takes a toll. After decades of attending difficult calls, David was diagnosed with PTSD about five years ago. Queensland Police allowed him to keep working with his dog during his recovery, understanding that the bond between handler and dog is essential to healing. The dog does not judge and offers unconditional love, which made all the difference.
Today, one of David's retired dogs, Axel, is remembered with a statue in the Aeroglen Dog Park near Cairns airport, and the park is named after David's predecessor. David has kept a diary since 1989, documenting his career through newspaper clippings and stories. A book about Vader, his third dog, is being published in October. His message is simple: recognise what police dogs do for the community, not just in law enforcement but in finding missing people and saving lives.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses domestic & family violence and suicide & self-harm prevention, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • 1800RESPECT (family, domestic & sexual violence): 1800 737 732 · 1800respect.org.au • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au
“I was diagnosed with PTSD going back, I suppose, 3, 4, 5 years ago now. And that's just from going to so many, so many jobs.”
“They don't judge, as you know. They just, unconditional love. And that's probably the best thing about the whole thing.”
“I found him in a park, he was hanging from the swings. I managed to tie the dog up, cut him down and give him CPR, and he's still around this today.”
The hero, today
Police dogs are often the only conduit between living and dying when someone is lost or in crisis, and without them, people David found would not be alive today. A dog reads your fear and adrenaline in real time; if the handler is afraid, the dog knows it, and they feed off each other during dangerous calls. The hard work of police dogs is finding missing people and tracking offenders, not the bite work people see in demonstrations, so the community rarely understands what they actually do. David was diagnosed with PTSD after years of attending difficult jobs, but Queensland Police allowed him to keep working with his dog during recovery because they understand how essential that bond is. Dogs don't judge and give unconditional love, which is why they matter so much in the community across disability services, mental health support, and law enforcement.
Yes. David Raymond is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Police dogs are often the only conduit between living and dying when someone is lost or in crisis, and without them, people David found would not be alive today.
A dog reads your fear and adrenaline in real time; if the handler is afraid, the dog knows it, and they feed off each other during dangerous calls.
The hard work of police dogs is finding missing people and tracking offenders, not the bite work people see in demonstrations, so the community rarely understands what they actually do.
David was diagnosed with PTSD after years of attending difficult jobs, but Queensland Police allowed him to keep working with his dog during recovery because they understand how essential that bond is.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 00:01
Welcome to another episode of Animals and Us, the podcast that explores the profound connection between humans and animals. For over 35 years, Sergeant David Raymond has dedicated his life to frontline policing, with 25 of those years as a police dog handler. As the officer in charge of the Cairns Police Dog Squad, he has worked alongside 5 brilliant police dogs. Tracking offenders, finding missing people, and serving the community in ways few can imagine. David's courage and service have earned him Australian Bravery Awards, and his experiences highlight the extraordinary partnership between police officers and their dogs. In this episode of Animals and Us, we explore David's fascinating career, the intelligence and skill of police dogs, and the deep bond that makes them such wonderful partners. Get ready for an inside look at the loyalty, trust, and bravery that form the foundation of life in the police dog squad. Hello, Dave. Welcome to Animals and Us.
David Raymond (Guest) · 01:15
Thanks, Natalie. How you going there?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 01:17
Good, good, good to see you again. Dave, can you describe what attracted you to the police force? Initially, and then what led you to actually work with police dogs?
David Raymond (Guest) · 01:27
Yeah, it's a bit of a sad story, or poor me, poor me, but I remember a DV situation that as a child watching, watching, very, very young child I'm talking about, when, and I think that's what led me to, just in my own family with my mother, And that led me basically to the police. I wanted to join the police from there. So, and ever since I can remember, when Mum brought home little boxes for the groceries, we used to go to the supermarket and get groceries back in those days. They used to come in paper bags or boxes. And the first thing I'd do as soon as the box was empty, I'd put on the side of the box, I'd spell police, P-O-I-L-C-E. Excuse the spelling there, but, uh, but that's all I wanted to be. So I just used to, you know, really look up to police and want to be a policeman ever since I, uh, ever since I was a little kid.
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This conversation includes a child watching his mother, a karate connection, why everyone wants the job, a diary kept for 36 years, the boy hanging from the swings and when the dog reads your fear.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 02:27
And then what led you to actually working with dogs?
David Raymond (Guest) · 02:31
Well, it's funny, the Dog Squad is a very difficult, uh, gig to get into. It's, um, uh, very, very sought after, probably the most sought after spot in the whole of the, uh, whole of the Queensland Police Service, and I'm sure most other services throughout Australia. And it was more of a fluke than anything. I hadn't set my sights on it because I knew it was very difficult to get into. But I, at the time, because I've been teaching karate for quite a few years, and at the time I was teaching the officer in charge of the Dog Squad's boys in karate. And I just mentioned to him one day, what are the chances of getting into the Dog Squad? And he said, I think they're quite good. So he said, make sure there's a job coming up, so make sure that you apply for it, which I did. And yeah, I managed to get in there, so it was great.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 03:20
Now, what makes them so popular? Why is it so competitive and a hard area to enter?
David Raymond (Guest) · 03:25
Well, the obvious one is working with the dog, having the companionship. Everybody gets their own dog for home because they're such a good companion. You work by yourself, which is another thing. You don't have to deal with people because you know what people are like, so you don't have to deal with them. In the dog squad, you get to go all the good jobs. We're probably the first called to any major incident. They look at the experience on the road, plus that extra use of force which we got. We have our, obviously, our use of force. We have our firearm, our baton, our handcuffs, our capsicum spray, our taser. But we're the only ones obviously with that extra use of force, which is the dog.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 04:07
Now, you've had about, correct me if I'm wrong, about 35 years in the police force?
David Raymond (Guest) · 04:12
That's right, 36. 36. 36.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 04:15
36. And about 26 of those you've been a dog handler?
David Raymond (Guest) · 04:19
Uh, 26 I've been a dog handler, that's right, and 14 as the officer in charge of the Cairns Dog School.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 04:26
Right, so over those 26 years there must have been a lot of, a lot of memories. Could you share with us some of your highlights?
David Raymond (Guest) · 04:34
Oh, there's so many to mention, and to be quite honest, I, um, it's a funny thing about me, ever since I started the police in 1989 I kept a little diary. So if I made the news or went to a good job or something like that, I'd cut out the newspaper clipping, keep it in my scrapbook, and I'll also write a bit of a story about that type of stuff. And just recently, I put all those stories together and I showed it to my family and they said, oh, send this way to a publisher. So I did. And within 2 weeks, the publisher got back to me and said they loved the story and they want to publish it. So yeah, so congratulations. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So a book will be coming out in, in, um, in October. Yeah, it's actually about just one single dog, um, uh, dog number 3, which was Vader. Dog number 3? Yeah, dog number 3, which was Vader. Um, only because we had a lot of really good jobs there. Uh, he found a lot of, uh, pretty bad, bad people, um, and had a bit of an exciting life. So I did those, but, um, It still opens the opportunity to write about the other dogs too, you know. If they like that story and that book sells well, then we'll be writing stories about Buddy, Zed, uh, what have they got, Jet, and, um, and Axel, of course. Yeah, so we'll be writing more stories. Yeah, and the title of your book is going to be called Vader, I think.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 05:56
Oh, it is Vader.
David Raymond (Guest) · 05:57
So it's going to be professionally published. It's a publisher who picked it up, and they look after all that type of stuff. So, um, but yeah, yeah, so it's something to look forward to. Yes, yeah, yeah. So, so a few of those, a few of those stories, yeah, they, uh, some of them are dangerous, you know, um, some of them are just, uh, and if you didn't, um, if you weren't there, you probably wouldn't believe half them because they're just, um, they're just some amazing stuff, you know, um, uh, jumping on the side of moving vehicles, you know, to get an offender, um, uh, tracking down people who have committed a murder and, and confronting them with the dog, the dog locating them, you know, finding people who are on their last legs and decide that they want to do self-harm and finding them. And in fact, one time I tracked a young gentleman who decided that that was it, he wanted to harm himself. And I found him in a park, he was hanging from the swings. I managed to tie the dog up, cut him down and give him CPR, and he's still around this today. And that's not the only one that we located. Another young lady who— she also took a whole heap of medication and was found on the banks of one of the rivers up here. And there was a crocodile stalking her, so it was just pure luck that we found her in time and managed to drag her back. And I still keep in touch with her, you know, to make sure that she's going alright. Yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 07:28
Mm, must be very satisfying. So do you think you would not have found those people in time had it not been for your dogs?
David Raymond (Guest) · 07:35
Absolutely no chance, absolutely no chance. They wouldn't be here today if we hadn't found them. And finding them in the nick of time, you know. And they're just two stories that I can think of that we found people who— missing people, whether that's they want to go and hurt themselves or whether they just get lost and can't find their way out. We, you know, the dog sometimes is the only conduit between living and dying. So they're just an amazing thing. And that's one thing that we, the dogs, never really get credit for, if that makes sense. They get credit from us, but for people to see that, they see the dog racing in and biting on the arm, you know, that big arm that everybody wears, and they see the dog barking and angry and that type of scene, but they don't actually see the real work that we do.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 08:22
Yeah, I can imagine that there would have been a lot of very stressful, distressing times too in your career with dogs.
David Raymond (Guest) · 08:31
Oh, for sure.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 08:32
Because you'd like to share some of those?
David Raymond (Guest) · 08:34
Because not a lot of time— there are some times where we have found them and we've been a bit too late, you know. They're the sad things.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 08:43
Yeah.
David Raymond (Guest) · 08:44
And some of the offenders that we find that, you know, some of the more violent offenders They're a little bit scary too. It's funny though, because the dog reads off you all the time. For instance, if I'm driving along in the car, the dog's in the back, and as I said, I work by myself apart from my furry partner, and a call comes over the radio. It might be an armed person that's got a firearm or a knife or stuff, and we'll get called to it. And all of a sudden I'll be going, okay, I've got to go through my mind what I've got to do, you know. Make sure that I get a good cord in place, make sure where's my— make sure I get my vest on, make sure I take this route to the location. And as soon as I start doing that, the adrenaline starts running off me because I know it's going to be a solid job. And the dog in the back starts crying and crying, crying. He knows that he's going to do a great job, you know. So it's just that you feed off each other quite often. And why I tell that story is I remember one incident where I was going in, there was a bloke with a cane off, had run into a cane paddock and wanted to injure police and injure everybody, injure the world. He was suffering from mental illness, of course. I don't think he had any real inclination to want to hurt anybody, but, you know, he'd said that type of stuff. And it was 2 o'clock in the morning, and here I am standing with my dog, and we're the ones going in there to try and track him down. And I remember looking at the dog as if to say, well, mate, off you go. And he's looking at me to say, well, I'm not sure about this. And both of us just looking at one another. So if I feel fear, the dog will feel fear and vice versa. So yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 10:20
I remember being on sheep and cattle stations, working with sheep and cattle, similar to your police dogs, how the kelpies would be so excited in the back of the ute and knowing that they're going out to work.
David Raymond (Guest) · 10:32
Oh, it's an incredible feeling too. And they just love to work. That's what they're there for. And a thing about police dogs, and I don't know about kelpies much the same, but when they're not working, they're basically locked up in a little kennel. They'll stay there because we need to keep them bored. And then when they come out and do something now, whether that is let them out to go to the toilet or whether that is let them out to go find a murderer, it doesn't make any difference to them. They're just still doing a task. So we keep them bored because the last thing we want to do is if we go to an urgent job, we don't want the dog to just jump out of the back of the car and go and sit under the palm tree. And just relax. So we keep them really, really, you know, bored, ready to go all the time.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 11:14
Yes, yeah.
David Raymond (Guest) · 11:16
Is—
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 11:16
Dave, are German Shepherds the only breed of dog used as police dogs in Australia?
David Raymond (Guest) · 11:23
In Queensland, most of our Shepherds are. And the reason for that is we have our own breeding program in Brisbane. And those— and, you know, a few years ago we had to make a choice do we buy these imported dogs for breeding process? And do we buy Shepherds? Do we buy Malinois? And the end result was Shepherds. So as you can imagine, to set up a breeding program is quite expensive. So we decided to go with the Shepherds and that's how we go. There are the odd Mals and Malinois and things like that, but they're mostly donated or given to us by other organizations, whether it be the federal police customs or places like that. But 90% of our dogs are Shepherds. That's in the general purpose work, because of course we have detection dogs as well, and they are mostly Labs, although we have the odd Shepherd that does that as well. And they detect anything from, well, all your drugs, your cocaine, heroin, and amphetamine. And then they also detect blood, so blood detection dogs. Arson detection dogs, uh, sperm, believe it or not, for scenes of rape, um, sexual assault, as well as, um, the new thing and the big one is, uh, the tech dogs. So they will search for USB sticks, mobile phones, that type of stuff that has a specific chemical in it. Yeah, so just, just amazing. And most of those dogs, the detection dogs, are labs, right?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 12:56
And just as all Border Collies and all Kelpies don't necessarily make good sheepdogs, are there any special attributes about the German Shepherds that make them good police dogs?
David Raymond (Guest) · 13:09
Absolutely, and not every Shepherd makes it. We have a pretty good success rate because they are bred within the service, so we do have dogs that have good traits that we use for our breeding program. And the, the people in Brisbane, the people, the puppy, the puppy breeders, the puppy developers, the all that staff down there training, still do an amazing job. I have just come back from a training workshop in Ambly, which was done with a US, somebody from the United States there, and even he was amazed at some of our, how our dogs tracked. We would have some of the best dogs in the world. I say that from an experience point of view, looking at what's going on. So, we have some of the most amazing, amazing dogs in the world here in Queensland.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 14:03
And I know not all people are suited to be dog handlers. So, what are some of the characteristics of a good dog handler in the police force?
David Raymond (Guest) · 14:14
My biggest— my biggest assignment when I'm looking for new staff is I— I can teach anybody to be a dog handler. I just can't teach motivation. So you have to be motivated because you are by yourself. So it's quite easy to spend a whole shift just getting— going missing, if you like. So we need someone who's motivated, someone who's really keen to get out, get amongst it, chase up all the exciting jobs, back up the crews. You know, because in Cairns, probably Cairns Town, especially in North Queensland, we have a lot of junior staff here. So somebody with 36 years like me experience have all that knowledge. So it's always good if you can go to back them up, just not, not just for the, for the dog in the background, but also the knowledge, the experience that you can bring to any job. So, um, so a bit of experience to be able to work on your own is very important, and having a bit of, um, a bit of adrenaline junkie, I think, is very important as well, because you, you like going to the good jobs. And I turned 60 in September, I've still got that adrenaline streak, so Hopefully I'll snap out of it at some stage. My wife hopes anyway.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 15:21
So, Dave, um, how long does it typically take to train a pup? Could you tell us about the training process? When— what age do they start?
David Raymond (Guest) · 15:31
So as soon as— basically as soon as they're born, they'll start. Um, they'll start with them once, you know, after about 6 weeks of age, once they start to leave the mum and stuff like that, they'll start just the minor stuff. So we have puppy developers who look after training the puppies early on. And that may be just simple things like doing little toy games with them, little tug-of-war games. It might be a little bit of tracking, you know, to find their food and stuff like that. So we start them from— when I first started in 1999 as a dog handler, I remember going in— actually, 1998— they said, here's your here's your new uniform, here's your new belt, here's your new badge. Go and get yourself a dog. So we used to ring around, we used to put in the paper advertising, asking if people had any German Shepherds that were around that they were, you know, there were a handful that were digging holes or jumping fences, just too much for them. And I said, that's the type of dog we want. So we've come on from there. So we used to get the dogs about 2 years of age. So when they start the breeding program, we now have those dogs that are developed early on.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 16:39
And I understand that they're bred for specific jobs. Is that right? Instead of general purpose, they have special skills.
David Raymond (Guest) · 16:48
Most of the dogs in Queensland are general purpose dogs, so they're what we call the GP dogs. Now, they're German Shepherds again, and they do a number of exercises— exercise, is that the right word? So tracking's our main one. So we'll track offenders from crime scenes, whether that's a dumped stolen car, whether that's from break and enter, maybe, maybe someone from a sexual assault or a murder, things like that. We will have the dog onto the track to see where the offenders run off to. That's their main job. They also do building searches. So if we come across a break and enter where somebody's recently broken into and we think they might be in there, we can put the dog in there to search and locate them. Obviously obedience, which they're trained in. And they also do the main one with the one, the synonymous one with the dog, is where the dog does the bite work to apprehend an offender, whether it be a violent offender or armed offender and stuff like that. But in putting that in perspective, in— we probably had about, I'd say, in Cairns about 200, 220 locations last year, offenders and missing people, and I think we had about 3 bites. So We don't, you know, the dogs just don't go out and bite everybody they find. It's very— most people give up, which is what we want, because— and half the reason I like them to give up is I felt a dog bite and it ain't fun. So I don't even wish that on some of the people I chase. So yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 18:16
Right. All right. Now, what's the average length of a dog's service with the police force?
David Raymond (Guest) · 18:24
Usually we get them at about 14 months after they've been developed a little bit, 14 to 18 months. And then they usually retire about 9, sometimes 10 is a good age for them to retire. And so, yeah, we get 7 to 8 years out of them.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 18:42
Okay. And then what happens when they retire?
David Raymond (Guest) · 18:45
And then they'll come and live with— most of the time they'll come and live with the handler. But sometimes the handler can't do that, so they'll give them to other people who want to take on ex-police dogs and look after the police dogs. But generally speaking, I mean, ever since when my dogs are retired, I've taken every single one of them.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 19:03
And is it hard for them to adjust into normal dog civilian life?
David Raymond (Guest) · 19:08
Absolutely. Axel was a great one. Every time I'd hear a siren, he'd cry, cry constantly, you know, hearing that type of stuff. And it's very difficult for the dogs because when you go off to work with the new dog, it sits in the house and just watches you wander off. And quite often, if I'm working by myself, I'll throw the retired dog in the back of the car too and take him for a track and take him for a bit of a bite work and just keep the training up to him because that's the best thing for them. But keeping in mind that once a dog does retire, they don't usually last too long after that because they do have a hard life. It's not unusual to jump, you know, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 fences when you're chasing an offender and go on a 4 or 5K track. It's hard on their body. And then quite often at the end of that track, if they're a particularly violent offender, they may want to fight you and fight the dog. So it does have a pretty hard life. A good life, but a hard life.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 20:05
Right. Yeah. And I understand that you've worked with 5 dogs in your career.
David Raymond (Guest) · 20:12
That's right. That have been mine. Yeah. Yeah. I'm actually in charge of this section here in Cairns. So In that, that, in that, so my role, part of my role is to ensure assessment and training of, what have we got, 5 GP dogs and 3 detection dogs. So I managed to get to look after all those, but as well as keeping my own training up. Yeah, right.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 20:43
And can Dave, can you tell us about your bond that you have shared with, with your 5 dogs that you've handled? And was there any one special dog that stands out from the others?
David Raymond (Guest) · 20:54
All have been a little bit different. If anybody's had any dogs, and numerous dogs, every single one's got a different personality. Uh, my first dog Buddy was just a big arrogant, arrogant dog, massive in size, and only had eyes for me, didn't, didn't really care about anybody else. Probably not as good of a police dog as some of the others because he was a donated one to the QPS, to me. But he was really good. He was really well known for his bite work because he was just such a massive dog and would hit pretty hard. So it was great. Early on in my first course when I was down there, which takes 3 and a half months, I'll go through that a little bit later on, but When I was down there, I got interviewed by the television and the people put a big boom mic over the top to listen to what we were saying. The dog, well, Big Buddy looked at it and thinks, oh, this is great, this is an arm, and jumped at it and took the mic out. And it cost about $3,000, I think, or something like that. So he was pretty renowned for what he did. So that was Buddy. Followed that was Zed. Zed wasn't the best police dog in the world. Lovely dog, absolutely. Loved everybody. Um, he let me down one day when I was, um, tracking an offender. I came around a corner, um, of a fence line, and somebody cleaned me up with a big, uh, big pole and, uh, broke my nose and, um, put my nose across my face and blood and stuff like that. So I end up having an operation over that. So I had to retire him fairly quickly after that if he wouldn't back me up. Um, then I got Vader, who's the, uh, who's in the book Vader was a bit arrogant too. He had eyes for no one, but an amazing police dog. Just track people down, offenders down, and take people out all the time. So he was very, very good. But as a pet dog, he just didn't care. He neither here nor there. And then I had Axel, and Axel became a bit of a fan favorite up here in North Queensland. He was a lovely dog as well, quite good track, pretty good all-round dog, but just a lovely dog, integrated with the family pretty well. And now I've got Jet, who I've had for a couple of years now, and he goes pretty well too. He's, um, yeah, he, uh, he's— he loves people as well, um, but, but also got that, that good trait of, um, good tracking.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 23:23
Now I understand that Axel became quite a celebrity around Far North Queensland. And yes, a statue, a statue made.
David Raymond (Guest) · 23:33
Absolutely. What, what happened, what transpired from there was the day that Axel got up here, we started a little blog. The community liaison people, our media, media people set up a little blog about Axel and said, well, here's the new police dog, we're going to take you through his training. And that was before he started, we started his thing. So I come up here for 7 months, I had about 7 months of age and we started a blog. And then every time, and the media got hold of it and loved it. So as we went along, he became pretty well known amongst the community. And sadly, after he passed, we were approached by the Lions Club. Sadly, I shouldn't say sadly when he passed, not so much sadly what the Lions Club did, but they thought so much of of police dog Axel. They want to put a statue up of Axel. I'll eventually change it to an honour of all police dogs, but it's Axel, who cares.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 24:34
So people living in Cairns can see his statue in the Lions Park?
David Raymond (Guest) · 24:38
Absolutely, no, it's in the Aeroglen Dog Park, which is out near the airport there. If people are in Cairns, it's worth going and have a look at there. But not only did we do the do the statue of Axel. We also did a memorial to all our police dogs that we've lost in Cairns over the years, all through natural causes. We haven't lost any on duty. And then we've lost a few who've been working at the time, but not just through natural causes, if you know what I mean, not that hadn't retired at that stage. And also, because my original boss, officer in charge before I got there was Sergeant McCaskill. And I, uh, he'd done a great effort for the whole of the state in his 38 years or something as a police officer. And I lobbied the council and they changed the name to the Mal McCaskill Dog Park, which was a wonderful thing. So we've got a triple whammy. We've got the statue, we got the dog memorial, we got the park named after Mal McCaskill. So it's great.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 25:41
Good. It's a good— great to get that for the dogs, to get that recognition.
David Raymond (Guest) · 25:46
Oh, absolutely. And, um, you know, they are, they are a bit of a crowd favorite, uh, anywhere you go. Uh, they always garner the most hits on the social media side of things. Um, we're always— we're catching a lot of people, which I think is very, very important. Uh, not only are we just out there just showing off what, what our dogs look like and how good they work, but we're actually catching people. Which is a big thing. So, you know, yeah, it's a great, great role.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 26:18
Yeah. And Dave, I understand that Axel's also made his appearance on the screen.
David Raymond (Guest) · 26:24
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, many years ago. I looked the other day and I think it said 7 years ago or 9 years ago or whatever it was. But I received a phone call from one of the major television stations, Channel 7 here in Cairns, and said they need 'Your dog handler for a role in the movie.' And, um, uh, of course, uh, I put my hand up and said, 'Yep, that's me.' I didn't even give the others a chance to do it, and I went up and spent 2 days of filming with Axel. We were chasing a couple of major stars through the bush. So it was, um, it was on— it's on Netflix now. I thought— well, it is on Netflix, uh, series called Wanted, and I'm not sure what episode, but I think it's episode 6.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:07
Okay, episode 6 of Wanted.
David Raymond (Guest) · 27:10
That's just— yeah, it's called Wanted. Yeah, yeah, I'm not sure what It's episode 6 anyway, so yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:15
Yeah, okay.
David Raymond (Guest) · 27:15
I received a message from somebody in the UK the other day and he said, I'm sitting in front of the TV and I look at the— I'm watching this show called Wanted and I said, who should I see but David effin' Raymond? He said.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:33
And Axon.
David Raymond (Guest) · 27:33
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, even in the UK it is.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:37
So Dave, thinking about mental health and well-being, how do you think dogs— we've had lots of experience with dogs— how do you think dogs positively impact our mental health?
David Raymond (Guest) · 27:49
Well, you know, and I'm— I suppose as a dog handler after so many years, you could just about classify me as an expert in dogs. But you've only got to look around. There's the assistance dogs, there's the dogs that look after people with mental health, there's dogs that go around to hospitals, there's dogs that go to the old people's homes. Dogs are just a real evener amongst the whole of the community. Everybody loves dogs, you know. I'll go to a party and people look at me, go, 'Oh, you're a copper, eh?' You know, that type of attitude. And they go, 'What are you doing in the police?' And I say, 'Well, I'm a dog handler.' And then all of a sudden I'm their best friend, you know, because it's— the dogs are great, great for that type of stuff. And even for my own mental health, you know, having those dogs beside me. They're so much easier. They don't judge, as you know. They just— unconditional love. And that's probably the best thing about the whole thing.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 28:49
And have your dogs actually helped you to overcome the stressors that you would have faced as a police officer?
David Raymond (Guest) · 28:56
Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah. I was diagnosed with PTSD going back, I suppose, 3, 4, 5 years ago now. And that's just from going to so many, so many jobs. I had a little bit of time off work. I didn't have long off work. I think I had about 3 or 4 months and came back and felt a lot, a lot, a lot better. But obviously, and so they don't take the dog off you there. They realize, the QPS in all their wisdom do realize how important the dog is to the handler and allow you to spend time with the dog because The dog doesn't care whether he's going to work or not as long as you're around there. So for my own mental health, very, very important. And yeah, I mean, what can you say? As I say, unconditional love, and they use them, they're in the community for a reason.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 29:51
Yeah. And finally, Dave, what key message do you hope that the audience will take away from this interview?
David Raymond (Guest) · 30:00
I think just to recognise the important role that the dogs do play in the community, not just within the police, but the whole community in disability services, things like mental health, which I think they're obviously very, very important. But also that side of things that the police dogs, the role they play in the community in locating people now, whether that be missing people or whether that be offenders. But I think, yeah, it's just so important that they recognise that the hard work and not just the dogs either, it's the whole Police Service. I really believe in what we're doing out there as an organisation. And also, I suppose, you know, if anybody's thinking of a career within the QPS, that's probably a really good thing to look at. It's been a fantastic career for me. I've enjoyed every 36, or every year of the 36 years I've been involved in. Um, and yeah, and you know, there's so many, so many opportunities there. If you get sick of one area, you can go into the, you know, you can go into the dog squad, you can go into general duty, you can go into traffic— or don't go to traffic. Um, we can go to, um, scenes of crime, you go to become a detective, you can do all that type of stuff, you know. So there's a lot of, a lot of options open. Um, yeah. So that's probably my message to people out there, that just recognise the important role that the dogs play in the community.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 31:27
Wonderful. Well, Dave, thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate it.
David Raymond (Guest) · 31:34
Follow the sun. Animals and Us is a production of Kintsugi Heroes. Thank you to Xavier Rudd for his permission to use Follow the Sun as our theme music for this series. If you enjoyed this conversation, share the podcast with a friend and let us know by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to support Kintsugi Heroes and the stories we share, head to kintsugiheroes.com.au and follow the instructions to make a tax-deductible donation. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time. Brand new moon and brand new sun.
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