Stellenbosch Municipality’s newly launched K9 Unit narrowly missed out on top honours at the City of Cape Town’s first-ever K9 Competition, finishing in a tie with the host city before losing out on a tie-breaker to claim second place overall.

The competition, hosted by the City of Cape Town’s Public Safety Training College, brought together 15 K9 teams from the City of Cape Town Metro Police, Stellenbosch Municipality and SANParks.

Each handler-and-dog pair was tested across obedience, detection, protection work and controlled operational exercises designed to showcase operational readiness and the bond between handler and canine.

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Showcasing skills

Stellenbosch’s unit delivered a standout performance across both open area and container search disciplines. Handler Anwar Jansen and K9 Juno claimed first place in the Open Area Explosives category and followed up with second in Open Area Narcotics. Cadin Leibrandt and K9 Ezmin added a third-place finish in Open Area Narcotics.

In the container search events, Elrico Nicholas and K9 Louis secured second place in explosives detection and third in narcotics.

The overall standings ended level between Stellenbosch and the City of Cape Town, with the host city ultimately prevailing in a tie-breaker.

“We are incredibly proud of our handlers and their four-legged partners for their skill and dedication,” the Stellenbosch Municipality said in a statement.

The competition was designed not only to test operational capability but also to strengthen relationships between participating agencies, encourage knowledge-sharing and promote best practices in K9 training and deployment.

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