Newsmaker




Monday, January 6, 1997

Name: Charles Duncan

Age: 54

Education: Chaminade University

Occupation: Hawaiian Humane Society field services manager

Hobbies: Dog training

A 32-year veteran of the Honolulu Police Department, Duncan last month joined the staff of the Hawaiian Humane Society as its new field services manager.

He thought it would be the perfect way to use his law enforcement background and more than two decades of dog obedience training and judging.

He now oversees 10 investigators who respond to complaints and tips about stray animals, crowing roosters, barking dogs and animal abuse and neglect.

"The good part about it is dogs and cats don't talk back to you. You can get bitten and scratched. But in law enforcement you can get bitten and scratched, and you have to put up with a lot of verbal abuse."

Duncan has been a licensed obedience judge with the American Kennel Club for 15 years and a 25-year member and former president of the Leeward Training Club of Hawaii.

A diehard animal lover since he was a boy, he fell in love with German shepherds when he was old enough to get his own dog. He has three female German shepherds: Maegan, Sunny and his pride and joy, Bijoux, who earned her utility degree, the highest in obedience training, at the rare age of 2. Blinded in an accident, she has skillfully overcome her challenges, he said.

The love of animals makes putting the unadoptable to sleep particularly difficult.

"I remember when I put my first shepherd down. I thought I could be a real macho guy and just walk away, but it's not that easy," he said. "I actually broke down and cried like a big baby."