If one were to find oneself at any high profile event, any of the major borders of the country or amidst the ruins of a natural disaster, you would be greeted by the welcome sight of the paw patrol busy at their jobs. May it be security, search and rescue or sniffing out dangerous articles or narcotics, the dogs of the Nepal Police Canine Division have become an integral part of maintaining security around the nation. Behind this essential spoke in the Nepal Police Canine wheel consisting of dogs, their handlers and their team is the evergreen, ever smiling face of Dr. Deuti Gurung: a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the Nepali Police and currently the Head of the Nepal Police Canine Division.
Dr Deuti Gurung leads a team of 165 personnel in the division. Through many years of dedicated work in her field, she now stands at the pinnacle of the canine project in Nepal’s security force. Her days as the director of the branch are spent coordinating various requests from various branches across the country, managing the dogs and their handlers and also carrying out her duties as one of the top veterinary doctors.
“Being a Canine Police Officer isn’t much different from that of a regular policeman, the impromptu nature of the job remains. We are required to deploy whenever duty calls, however there is also the added responsibility of managing an entire other life along with your own.” informs Dr. Deuti Gurung. “ The handlers are required to check the dogs well being, depending on the distance they are to be deployed to, the dogs get tired and might not be as effective when they finally reach the scene, hence the dog handlers are very well trained along with their dogs to handle such pressures” adds S.S.P Gurung.
The division today has 11 posts across the country and also works for border and airport security. “However, we still want to expand to a lot more sectors, many a times we find the dogs having to travel to great distances due to a lack of posts near them. We are looking to expand to places such as Thankot and other border points.” informed Dr Gurung on the future plans of the division.
As a veterinary doctor, Dr. Deuti’s message to the general public is a rather simple yet important one the Nepali Public must hear. Asking us not to put all our faith into kennel clubs(which she points out is a misnomer business in Nepal). She implores the public not to make use of door to door vaccine doctors and instead look to government veterinarians or vets with clinics for their dogs' medication. “Most of the time these doctors do not understand the doses every dog needs and don't even have proper means of storing these vaccines, which leads to house dogs developing diseases as they grow old.” requests Dr. Deuti
Upon returning to Nepal after her studies, she looked to take the Loksewa exam to get a government job which holds tremendous value amongst the Nepali Community even today. “At the time I was offered a job in the canine division. The Nepal Police then, only had posts up to Inspector in this unit and there wasn’t really much path to progress in the field, I was unsure, but my dad who was in the army himself encouraged me to take the job.” Ever since then she never looked back and kept marching towards trailblazing her own journey in the veterinary field in Nepal Police. “Even though my entry into the field was a lucky chance, I took the leap of faith into this field” says Dr Deuti.
Dr Deuti Gurung today emerges as a shining role model to all women who hear her story. Taking the leap that she did, and achieving the post and accolades despite the uncertainty in her field; she embodies the modern woman: self-empowered, resilient and fearless.
“As a woman and as a veterinary doctor, there was no prospect in the field I was heading into, yet I took the leap. And throughout this journey this sector has helped develop me and vice versa. Don’t look for the easy way out, take every challenge head on.”
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