Dogs and their handlers are getting a crash course in police work this week during a four-day seminar in Yankton.Mike Kirby, one of the instructors, says he teaches K-9 teams how to deal with problems that come up in the field.
"We are all police officers first, and the dog is another tool to help us," says Kirby, an officer with the Nebraska State Patrol. "I look at proper uses of the dogs and times when the dogs shouldn't be used."
Although the animals may seem to do most of the work, Kirby says the dog and officer relationship is a team effort.
"You can work with a dog all you want, but if the handler does not understand the concept, it is not going to do any good," says Kirby, who's been handling police dogs for 16 years. "We try to expose them to new ideas and concepts that they can review and take back to their agencies. They must then decide what fits their departmental needs and implement them."
The good news is that, in many locales, it is apparently a felony for a bad guy to injure (or even attempt to injure) a law enforcement dog while the dog is on duty. And rightly so. Also, I saw a truly amazing demo (officer and his dog) once and they were a team in the truest sense of the word. More to the point, you could tell the officer absolutely adored that fabulous dog.
:-)
There was a segment several years ago on one of the TV news shows about police dogs and the officer stated that he preferred a canine partner to a human one. I don't blame him!
Posted by: Jeff Soyer at May 4, 2004 05:18 PMAll of our 4 legged officers are outstanding and well treated by their 2 legged partners.
Posted by: Annmarie at May 6, 2004 04:46 AM