SYLVIA E. BULL:
Do you volunteer to be a K-9 officer? Do you get to pick the dog? What do you do with the dog during vacation? How long is the training?
LT. E. RODRIGUE:
In our department you volunteer to be a K-9 Officer. I pick most of the dogs and try to match them with the handler’s personality. In our department when the handler goes on vacation I kennel the dogs in my kennel.
When I go on vacation one of the other handlers will care for my dog. If you look above I answered the addressed most of the training question. In our department before a K-9 Team is allowed to work the street they must past their NNDDA certification.
Once they have passed their certification and are allowed to begin working on the street, they still attend weekly training sessions, which is required. At the training session I make sure each team is performing well and address any issues that may arise. I try to expose the teams to new things each training sessions.
