The Ocala Police Department is celebrating their brand new K-9 training course that was built and delivered, free of cost, by the team at Lowe’s on Highway 40.

Before this course, the department didn’t have anything like it.

“They are there to simulate things that we might see on the road, things that we might encounter,” said Officer Gerard T. King, Jr.

It’s not every day that a K-9 has to jump through the window of a house to track down a person but now, they’ll be prepared when they have to.

“It is just him having that confidence in himself that he can do it, and it also helps me because I have confidence that he has the ability to do it,” King said. Read More

Eastlake Police Department’s new officer is a little different than the rest of the officers in the department. This one is furry, walks on four legs and barks. The department officially welcomed new K-9 officer Axel immediately following the completion of his training on Nov. 9. Eastlake officer Mike Ward has spent the past six weeks in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, extensively training with the new K-9.

Kelly already knows she’s found something. She’s in a garage near Innisfail, Alta., on the grounds of the RCMP’s police dog training headquarters. It’s an early fall morning, and the thick fog outside gives the place the feel of a clandestine facility. Kelly sniffs and searches along a white wall dotted with black holes, each connected to a tube and a container containing an odour. It’s a small training space that looks like a misshapen hockey rink. She’s guided on a short leash by her handler, who encourages her in the high-pitched voice many people use when speaking to their pets.

Kelly is a dark German shepherd, about a year old, and two weeks into her training. Her inexperience shows in her excited demeanour, but she’s performing a job only a dog could. She inspects a few holes meant to trick her nose before pausing near the next one. Then, suddenly, she sits to signal she’s discovered what she’s looking for. Fentanyl. “Look at the focus in her eyes,” an officer says, leaning over the wall. A dog toy shoots out of the tube seconds later, ushering cheers of “Atta girl!” and “That’s a good girl!” Belly rubs and hugs come with the celebration. Read More

A team from the Greenfield Police Department was called to duty following the deadly shooting spree last month inside a Pittsburgh synagogue.

They’re back home now after providing the comfort first responders needed.

Following the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue that claimed the lives of eleven people, the Pittsburgh Police Department called Lt. Gordon and his comfort dog of the Greenfield Police Department.

“People don’t want to tell these stories to another person, and often they glance down at the dog and tell the story to the dog which makes it a lot more comforting for them,” said Lt. William Gordon .

Officer Clarence has been with the Greenfield Police Department for the last seven years. His service is respected and needed right after critical incidents.

“We are finding comfort dogs are a key part of the police force. They not only help first responders in times of trauma, they help the community during mental health emergencies, they help with the victimization process,” Lt. Gordon explained. Read More

Chief Mike Brown with the Salt Lake City Police Department expressed gratitude for the K9 squad, who he said helped officers seize a large amount of narcotics.

“I am so proud of the K9 squad,” Brown wrote Saturday in a tweet. “They assisted in locating, and taking off the street over 30lbs of heroin & methamphetamine, 3000 fentanyl pills and a large amount of drug money.”

Details regarding how the drugs were located were not known at the time of this report, but Brown posted photos of the K9 unit and its officer, as well as the drugs seized: Read More

Before this spring, Austin Summers didn’t know any French.

But the Eau Claire police officer had to learn about a dozen commands in the foreign language, so he could work with his new partner.

Summers and Manso, a 2-year-old Belgian malinois, were partnered in May, and for about the first month, Summers kept a notebook with the quick, one-word commands written in it with him.

Handler and dog strengthened their bond this fall while attending training — and sharing a hotel room — for six weeks in New Mexico, and they are expected to be deployable as a K-9 team later this month.

The Eau Claire Police Department added its first K-9 team more than two decades ago. Manso, the department’s seventh dog, joins Duke, a Belgian malinois, and Jake, a German shepherd; although, Duke will retire at the end of the year.

“The success of our K-9 program is dependent on community support,” said Bridget Coit, the Eau Claire Police Department’s public information officer. Read More

What started as a gift to another officer turned into a large fundraiser to support the Bismarck Police Department’s K-9 unit.

Saturday, those police dogs and their handlers were at KT Animal Supply to meet the public.

People waited in a line that stretched around the store for a chance to catch a glimpse of the dogs who protect the city.

Sgt. Lyle Sinclair says it’s a good way for the public to see police officers and their dogs in a positive light.

“It’s a little different mind set for them, so this is good for people to come see, the kids to come see them and pet them and realize that they’re not just, you know, land sharks,” said Sinclair, BPD K9 Program overseer.

BPD added two new dogs to the force, bringing the total to four K-9s and says the turnout this year is great.  Original Story

A new and innovative program to help inmates and staff cope with the pressures of working in a depressing environment.

It is the first time the state is utilizing man’s best friend.

Instead of battling the dark side, Luke and Leia have joined the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and are assigned to the jail as therapy dogs.

They have been in training for nine months.

Corrections officer John Dickinson told News 4 Tucson the brother and sister team have gone through distraction training to make sure they are not aggressive.  So far so good.

The dogs go into pods and give officers a break by conducting rounds.  That is when some of theinmates’ stress levels go down.

Corrections officer E. Gracia a dog lover. She said she thoroughly enjoys when the dogs come into her pod she said it makes everybody happy. She also added the dogs have a calming effect on the inmates. Read More

A San Joaquin County K-9 who nearly died in 2014 after being stabbed by a suspect, was being saved yet again, this time by the veterinary team at UC Davis.

This past March, seven-year-old K-9 Haakon was taken to the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Hospital for a ruptured bladder.

Haakon and his handler, Deputy Joshua Stillman, share an unbreakable bond. So when Haakon started to get a little sluggish one night after work, Stillman knew something was wrong.

“We came up to UC Davis and found that he had a broken uterine tub, basically leaking urine into his body cavity and it was toxic,” Stillman said. Read More