MANILA, Philippines – It wasn’t the President but a dog who stole the show.

All eyes were on Coast Guard Working Dog Bosh when he walked onstage to receive his Coast Guard Search and Rescue Medal and Ribbon on Thursday, October 16, from President Benigno Aquino III himself.

On the 113th Founding Anniversary of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the Labrador retriever was awarded “for being instrumental in recovering 4 cadavers during the search and retrieval operations in the aftermath of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Bohol” in 2013. 

Bosh was accompanied by its trainer, Petty Officer 3 Zandro Fred Jizmundo.

PCG spokesperson Commander Armando Balilo said Bosh is very much a part of the agency with the rank of Coast Guard Working Dog.

“The K9s have ranks, and are also enlisted – like ordinary Coast Guard enlisted personnel,” he said.

“If apprentice seamen are the lowest rank in the Coast Guard, they’re like that as well, but their title is ‘Working Dog.’”

Bosh, Balilo said, also receives a salary equivalent to an apprentice seaman, with a base pay of P14,000 ($311)* for his food and daily needs, as well as training operations and veterinary check-ups.

“[They receive that pay] because they really work. We deploy them in search and rescue. There are [missions] with drugs, chemicals, different things. So the hazard the dog faces is equivalent to that of the handler,” he said.

According to his trainer, Bosh underwent 10 months of training, first doing obedience skills before tracking. In Bohol, he was able to detect the smell of cadavers, determining the spot where the PCG should start digging.

Bosh had also been to Compostela Valley, where the PCG was deployed following a landslide. He is part of the deployable group of dogs after typhoons.

When not out on the field, Bosh stays at the K9 headquarters. His skills are refreshed daily.

Balilo added that K9s are extremely important to the Coast Guard. Aside from search and rescue, Balilo said dogs have also helped them recover drugs and chemicals in ports.

He also said they first employed K9s in 2001. From 10, there are now 205 working dogs in the PCG. – Rappler.com

*$1= P44.90