LEO Canines, my partners through the K-9years

[snookdoctor]

Some pics of my partners through my time in K-9.

Wolf. My first partner, and first dog in the history of the S.O. I worked at to catch a bad guy after flying in by chopper.


Diesel. Narcotic and cadaver detection. Died at age 5 from cancer.


Duke. He certainly earned his off time on the couch. Great all around patrol dog.


My last work dog, after his retirement. He had one of the best careers I know of. Max was awarded the Medal of Valor from NAPWDA in 2005, the year we both retired.


Me and Max during bite work training.



Just got this shepherd/mal a few months ago. I named him Max, and hope he turns out 1/10th as good as his name sake.

So far, he is just a window licker, and a cuddler.

 

[ghadarits]

It looks like you’ve been lucky to have had some great K9’s. I’m sure Max 2.0 will turn out to be a good one too. I believe it’s the handler that shapes the dog 90% of the time but there exceptions both ways.

 

[ditchdoc24]

Dee-moe was my first K9 but I was his third handler. I took on a dog that everyone in my agency was terrified of and never looked back. I was definitely the dumb end of the leash but he taught me so much about the job and life as well. He came into our family shortly after my daughter was born and she always had the attitude that he was HER dog. After he retired, she gave him plenty of cuddles and he just laid there soaking it all up. I may end up with another dog soon but he’ll always be my first.

 

[ditchdoc24]

He was tough as nails at work but a big softie with that little girl.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

Some fine looking animals there. I trained with some guys that had Mal/GS mixes. Seemed to make nice dogs, level headed as a Shepard, but motivated like a Malinois, lots of drive.

 

[WOODIE13]

Some fine looking animals there. I trained with some guys that had Mal/GS mixes. Seemed to make nice dogs, level headed as a Shepard, but motivated like a Malinois, lots of drive.

Rikk was a mal/shep mix, good at bite work, but excelled at explosive detection, he even made me look good. Friendly and a great demo dog at schools.

 

[snookdoctor]

Most dual personality work dogs are good with demos, especially elementary school kids.
Imagine being a 3rd grader, sitting in the school field in a semi circle, sitting criss cross apple sauce, or indian style as we used to call it, and this nice friendly dog is making the rounds so the kids can pet him. It was great for every kid except for the one the dog lifts his leg on! Wet lap syndrome

 

[WOODIE13]

Did one at a special needs school, walked in to meet the principal and a kid was ripping stuff off the wall while another was cussing out a teacher, interesting and put me on pins and needles.

Conducted the demo and the kids were focused and well behaved, it totally shocked the principal and myself from what I saw earlier. Two of the dogs made their rounds around the kids off leash while 2 others sat that out, not the most social, but hit like a freight train.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

I was doing a demo at an Elementary school one morning, the tiny terrorist were sitting injun style on the floor of the gymnasium. I suddenly noticed about half the front row of boys were giggling and pointing while I was speaking. I asked one if he had a question ? He said” yeah….what’s that pink thang hanging off his belly”. I told them it was the other end of his tail and kept right on talking. The female teachers present started giggling then. Had another time I was doing a demo in a gym, while I was looking at and speaking to the crowd…..my dog got bent and started dropping deuces while I pulled him toward the door.. You gotta take the good with the bad I reckon.

 

[WOODIE13]

I was doing a demo at an Elementary school one morning, the tiny terrorist were sitting injun style on the floor of the gymnasium. I suddenly noticed about half the front row of boys were giggling and pointing while I was speaking. I asked one if he had a question ? He said” yeah….what’s that pink thang hanging off his belly”. I told them it was the other end of his tail and kept right on talking. The female teachers present started giggling then. Had another time I was doing a demo in a gym, while I was looking at and speaking to the crowd…..my dog got bent and started dropping deuces while I pulled him toward the door.. You gotta take the good with the bad I reckon.

Deuces, doing secret service missions with them, give the dog 30 minute break prior, well

Carried a couple bags just in case

 

[The Rodney]

What an amazing thread. Thank you for sharing. Often thought if I was LEO I would want to be a Handler. Well done.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

@ditchdoc24 you got me to digging around in an old photo album looking for pictures of my 1st K-9. Toman was an 18 month old Dutch Shepard, he was neutered because one of his testicles didn’t drop like they supposed to. He was a great demo dog, a push button dog if you will. I could recall him from a bite in mid air. But on the street he just didn’t have that edge to him. An old trainer taught me that your dog should want to bite everyone he met…..but know he couldn’t. He was great on dope, you couldn’t fool him, our crack dealers started soaking their rock in kerosene trying to fool him…didn’t work. He missed a couple bites on the street including a handler assault. He came with a money back guarantee, so I went back to where he was purchased. They asked me what I really needed. I told them I worked the roughest part of town and I needed something that would tear the gates off hades. They handed me Nero on a leash…..he fit the bill. . The newspaper article is incorrect like always, he was a full patrol dog, Narcotics, tracking, article search, building search and criminal apprehension. This was around 1992-1993 I believe.

 

[dtala]

Bad day with the dogs....ALL of them....almost. My Dutch puppy and my older Mal sleep with me. My older female Mal and the older male Dutchie stay in a wood kennel in my trophy room at night. I usually take out all four at the same time....well yesterday that was a mistake.
A doe was standing at the kennels and ran off. I controlled the Dutch puppy by voice. All good. Then the does fawn ran straight into all four dogs. The Dutch puppy jumped on it, followed by the older Dutchie who usually ignores deer, and then my older Mal jumped in there, and he for sure knows better. Now mind you this is at barely first light. Fawn in raising **** bleating...I wade into the melee swinging a five gallon bucket , kicking dogs, and yelling at them. I finally get them off the fawn and stumble(fall) into a tree, cutting and bruising my right forearm pretty good, jamming my shoulder, and bruising my bad knee. Fawn runs off after momma.
I got the dogs in their kennels finally. At 73 I'm too **** old for this nonsense.... at first light anyway.

 

[snookdoctor]

Sometimes, even for the best dog, temptation will win. You just hope it not in the wrong situation.

 

[WOODIE13]

Sometimes, even for the best dog, temptation will win. You just hope it not in the wrong situation.

Gotta be on them like kids, Pavlov wasn't wrong

 

[Doboy Dawg]

 

[WOODIE13]

What an amazing thread. Thank you for sharing. Often thought if I was LEO I would want to be a Handler. Well done.

Best job ever, just don't get voluntold to the Pentagon

 

[dtala]

buddy of mine took his K-9, a big German Shepherd, to show and tell to an Elementary School class. The teacher introduced him and then his dog. The dog immediately walked to front center of the classroom and took a HUGE dump. My buddy recovered quickly and said"Thats your program" and took the dog out. No one said a word, LOL

 

[WOODIE13]

buddy of mine took his K-9, a big German Shepherd, to show and tell to an Elementary School class. The teacher introduced him and then his dog. The dog immediately walked to front center of the classroom and took a HUGE dump. My buddy recovered quickly and said"Thats your program" and took the dog out. No one said a word, LOL

Did that with a Secret Service mission or two...

 

[Lindseys Grandpa]

I was in charge of our K-9 unit for many years though I never handled a dog . People have no idea the time and dedication it takes to properly handle a K-9 . K-9 handlers have my respect .