K9-Unit Field Exercise Training

Well, I was hoping for a warm, clear weekend but all I got was snow covered, below freezing temperatures with pretty busy streets. Yes, I know that we are only in February and that we are in Michigan and the weather is unpredictable. I really cannot complain as we've had a very mild winter and the snow has only lasted a few days and then melts on us. Why I am complaining is because it has decided to snow on the day our K9 Teams are planning on doing some field training and exercise and I'm the one to go watch and see how their progress is doing.

I'm pretty excited in seeing their progress and glad they are getting to do something that they love. As tracking for Dogs is not really a job for them, but rather they feel it is a game and they get rewarded for their progress. K9 teams are important for all different teams in Law Enforcement, Emergency Services, and in our case SAR Teams.

Even though it is going to be cold out, I glad that we are working on getting all of our K9 teams Nationally Certified and each time they do field training it helps them that much more to achieve their goal. This year we hope to get three dogs certified; it would have been four, but one of our dogs had to be put down earlier this week due to complications. The dog, Bear who had to be put down because of health reasons was a good dog, a good tracker, and very well motivated. I've worked alongside him and the handler in the past and they made a great team, so I am saddened by the loss of a great member of our team.

So, while this is the beginning of many field trainings we are always looking for volunteers to help us along the way. If you'd like to play the lost victim where our teams go out and try to find you, please comment, send me a message and we can let you experience the joy of what K9 Teams are really about and how important they are to our operations.