Minn. K-9s Test Skills During 2-Day Training

Feb. 22--The 2-year-old black purebred German shepherd lowered his nose to the ground and paced. It took the Houston County Sheriff Department's K-9 less than two minutes to find 12 grams of heroin hidden in a cabinet at a former Onalaska paint store.

Ike signaled to handler Lt. Trace Erickson by sitting and staring. Then, he patiently waited for praise and an orange tennis ball.

"He watches me like I'm the best program on TV," Erickson said.

About 15 regional law enforcement canines on Tuesday finished an intensive two-day training designed to test and sharpen their skills to find narcotics and people.

Scenarios at several vacant buildings included simulated gunshots and attacks on officers. The exercises provided the dogs with real-life scenarios not done during other training, said Onalaska police officer and handler Dan McCluskey.

"It helps us and it helps the dogs," he said. "We learn to read the dogs better."

Most of the training's participants were German shepherds and Labrador retrievers, some imported from around the world and raised to work.

In his first two months on the street, Sarge, a police dog in the Itasca, Minn., sheriff's department, helped find a missing person, criminals, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana, deputy and handler Bob LeClair said. The dog was born in the Czech Republic.

The training also allows handlers to exchange information and tips to improve their dog's performance, said LeClair, who drove six hours for the event.

"To be the best on the street, you have to train," he said. "Otherwise, you don't know what you're going to do or what the dog is going to do."

Copyright 2012 - La Crosse Tribune, Wis.