‘That’s when he’s at his happiest’: New Essex County OPP K9 Vinny thrives on duty

New Essex County OPP canine Vinny thrives on duty. CTV Windsor’s Melanie Kentner talks to his partner.

There’s a new top dog with the Essex County OPP.

Meet Vinny and his partner Constable Brett Holland, a five-year veteran with the OPP who started his policing career at the Upper Ottawa Valley detachment. He has been training with Vinny since last spring.

“He’s a little over two,” says Holland. He’s a Belgian Malinois, originally from Belgium. I’ve been working with Vinny, since the start, since June. Prior to that, he was purchased in Alabama by the OPP.”

Vinny is the only working K9 with the detachment and has some big paws to fill after the retirement of the previous police dog. Maximus retired in 2023 and his partner Staff Sgt Milan Matovski recently transferred to OPP General Headquarters in Orillia.

“Maximus and his handler, Milan, were very successful down here and he was a great dog,” sayd Holland. “I believe Maximus was a mix of Shepherd and Malinois, where as Vinny is just a straight Mal.”

The new recruit has been working hard to catch up.

“So on the course it was five days a week, generally about 12 hours a day. And that’s really just the fundamentals of tracking. So you take the dog from just introducing to them that human scent is something that could be valuable to them,” says Holland.

“We start by putting food on tracks, and that leads to putting balls on tracks and the distance expands. Of course the training, which we utilize slowly gets more and more complex.”

Vinny’s training qualifications include tracking for lost/missing and wanted persons, criminal apprehension and tactical obedience.

“Vinny has a very high drive dog. So for him the work, if we like to call it that, is just fun. It’s just a big game for him. So that’s really all he wants to be doing. At home, yes, he does have times where he’s just a dog and he’s playing with his ball in the backyard, but anytime he thinks that we’re getting ready to go to work is when you really see him come alive and that’s when he’s at his happiest.”

The duo started with the service on Dec. 17 and train almost every day.

“We can also employ them for building searches and stuff like that. Where there’s a risk to public and police safety, we can utilize the dog in that capacity. It just it just in much more safer. That’s essentially the same thing that I do on a daily basis here.”

The OPP canine unit has a partnership with Windsor police, Chatham-Kent, the RCMP and Canadian Border Services.

Holland and Vinny not only work together, but they go home with each other as well. Holland says police canines are different than pets, but he does have some training advice.

“I would say just be patient with your dog,” he says. “Just have a clear focus of what you want them to do and just stick with that and stick with the game plan.”