KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — A total of four canines from the Fire and Rescue Department’s (JBPM) K9 unit received the ‘Golden Performance’ medals for their service during the Batang Kali landslide tragedy last December.

The award was bestowed upon Blake, Lady, Grouse and Pop by the Minister of Local Government Development Nga Kor Ming yesterday, reported Berita Harian.

Nga also shared a short snippet of the ceremony on his TikTok.

Clad in their JBPM vest, the four-legged heroes led by their handlers stepped on stage to receive the award and pose for pictures.

The four rescue dogs were also given a bag of kibbles each as an additional treat.

At the ceremony, Nga delivered a certificate of appreciation to JBPM’s operation director Datuk Nor Hisham Mohamad, who represented the 537 firefighters and the K9 unit involved in the search and rescue operation.

Nga’s TikTok post has garnered over 40,000 views with over 4,000 likes and comments from social media users congratulating the canines.

"Congrats K9. Hope there will be a bonus for our firefighters as well. Thank you all heroes,” commented user @212121.

"Sad and happy at the same time. I’m sad about the tragedy but am happy to see this K9 achievement,” added @Midi Lila.

"Congratulations to the K9 and their handlers, even their handlers are cute okay,” commented user @AnnaDong.

Social media users were quick to note that two of the canines involved in the rescue operations, Frankie and Denti, were not present at the ceremony.

Nga clarified in the comment section that both of them were on duty yesterday.

The Batang Kali search and rescue operations involved 10 dogs from the dog tracker unit along with personnel from various government agencies including the JBPM, Civil Defence Force and the armed forces.

A total of 92 victims were involved in the December 16 incident which saw 61 survivors.