"We are doing a lot for the dogs," says Philippe Caretti, VP and GM, Makati Shangri-La Hotel. "After all, they are not only our pets, they are working dogs, too."
The life of a sniffing dog is no easy task. First they have to sniff every vehicle that enters Makati Shangri-La premises. They have to sniff each bag or luggage that goes through the door of the hotel. So, as far as Caretti is concerned, these dogs must be treated well. And by "well" he means – really well.
For starters, the area where the dogs stay on the third floor of the hotel is undergoing renovation. They are building a playpen area where the 18 dogs can run freely. Not only that, the kennels where the dogs sleep are bigger so that the dogs can stand up and walk inside them. A small garden with a sandbox where the dogs can poop is also being added to the premises. There will be a tree planted in the garden where the male dogs can pee. "The dogs should be able to play around with each other when they are on their break," adds Caretti.
Caretti grew up with dogs and this, he says, explains why he loves dogs so much. The last dog he had was an 82K Great Dane named Drake. Now that he is in Manila, he says he does not want to get a pet yet, because he still lives in a high-rise and a place like that is "not good for pets."
The next best thing to not having his own dog is to treat the 18 security dogs in Shangri-La as his pets. He goes to Rustan’s Supermarket once a week to buy them bones. "These are the best for their teeth. Bones keep their gums strong, too."
This year, Caretti promises that the Christmas card of the hotel will have the 18 black dogs dressed in Santa outfits. His weekend trips out of town include bringing with him three dogs at a time. This is Caretti’s way of treating the dogs to a day-off.
Caretti believes that pets are great for everyone because they keep people balanced. He spends 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of his working day and another 10 to 15 minutes before he leaves for home playing with the dogs. "Playing with them reduces my stress," Caretti said. "They are my moments of happiness."
Caretti loves it that the dogs are always happy to see him – no matter what time of day it is.
But it is not all about play. Caretti knows that the dogs are great because they fulfill their jobs as guard dogs every day, without fail. He has visited all the other five-star hotels in Manila and he says that none of them can compare to the kind of security that Shangri-La hotels can give.
"We have dogs. We have great handlers and we have a perfect security system," adds Caretti.
As we leave the Lobby Lounge to take a look at the construction of the playpen on the third floor, Caretti takes a few pieces of bread, which he gives to each dog that we see when we reach the third floor.
"We have a pool of more than 25 dogs," Ace Esmeralda, regional director for security, Makati Shangri-La Hotel, informs us. The dogs are outsourced from Tyler Pet Smart which has been working with the hotel for three years now.
There’s a whole lot of work that goes into getting a great security system working. First, the dogs need to work well with their handlers. And then the handlers need to be able to work well with the security of the hotel. "There are very few hotels in the Philippines which employ K9 Teams (dogs and handlers) like we do," adds Esmeralda. The K9 teams are deployed in the most important posts of the hotel. So, at any given time during the day, there are seven K9 teams on duty and at nighttime there are six.
"Here in the Philippines, the dogs are still the best for sniffing out explosives," says Esmeralda. "There is no high-tech gadget that is as accurate as the dogs, noses are." Plus, in case of a bomb scare it is the dogs that can sniff out a ballroom in the fastest time. With a machine it would take a few men and much longer."
Why black Labradors?
Esmeralda tells me that at the start they had Belgian Malinois because these dogs were touted as the best guard dogs. But, Esmeralda, a pet lover, believes that in the hotel like the Makati Shangri-La, the best dogs are Labrador Retrievers. "They are intelligent dogs and they are kind," he says.
The reason for the black dogs? Well, we were told that the hotel wants to make it difficult for people with bad intentions to differentiate one dog from another.
So, what do the dogs do when they sniff "bad stuff"?
Esmeralda says that the dogs are trained to sit beside the bag that it sniffed. But, the dog is not allowed to touch the bag. As a double check, another dog is brought in and made to sniff the same bag. If it stops at the same spot, the owner of the bag is pulled aside and asked about his bag.
Yes, there have been some people who have been asked about their bags. Esmeralda says some of them were with the police force and they had just come from the firing range.
There was a time when the Presidential Security Group was at the hotel and they challenged the security to see if the dogs could really sniff out gunpowder. "Of course, our dogs succeeded," says Esmeralda. "We put three dogs to the test and all three of them sniffed out the gunpowder in the same place."
Amazing.
Have any of the dogs attempted to bite a guest?
There have been incidents where the dogs reacted to some guests. Esmeralda recalls that there was a guest who tapped the dog on his behind. The dog turned around immediately. "The guest apologized to us because he said it was his fault," Esmeralda recounts. The dogs have also growled at some people. Upon further inquiry Esmeralda says that "suspects" admitted that they had eaten dog meat the day before. Some people have stepped on the dogs’ tails and then gotten frightened by the reaction. "But the dogs mean no harm. If they did they could easily wound a person. These dogs are trained to sniff, not attack," adds Esmeralda. "But if they get hurt they will react. Just like a person will."
The dogs are stationed at a post, especially the one outside, for 30 minutes at a time. And then they are given a break. The break time is normally spent in a lower-security post so that they can cool off a bit. Also there are bowls of water, which are readily available for the dogs.
How does the dogs’ workday end?
Well, Esmeralda points out that handler and dog are made to find a small test kit (which contains a slice of explosive material), which is hidden by the hotel security. If the dog and handler are able to find the test kit, the dog is given a treat and the handler’s day is made.
After a 12-hour workday for the dog, the sight of his cage and an appetizing large meal is most welcome.
It’s a dog’s life. And the guests at Makati Shangri-La Hotel are all the safer because of them.