One early overcast summer morning at the soccer field behind the Highlands Roads Franklin Flea and Crafts Market, four law enforcement officers from the Macon County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and one from Jackson County congregated with trained dogs anxiously waiting in the back seats of their patrol vehicles. These specially trained K-9s were there to work.
Periodically, the commander over the K-9 unit, Captain Clay Bryson – who has achieved national certification with the North American Police Work Dog Association – oversees a multi-week, intense handler class to enable officers to learn to safely and accurately engage their dogs. This class began July 8. Bryson also directs weekly maintenance training for the handlers.
Six dogs are “employed” with the MCSO and each dog lives with and works with their handlers 24/7. MCSO provides funding for everything a K-9 needs, including a kennel, veterinarian services, food, leashes, and more. Dogs are with handlers during work hours as well as with them at home to socialize with friends, family members, and other pets.
“They are well taken care of,” said Bryson, “and we spend more time with them than we do our own family members because they are with us all the time.”
Various breeds are trained for law enforcement work, including search and rescue for missing children and adults, but also search and seizure for drugs, suspects, and even vaping paraphernalia, which is a growing problem in the school system. However, currently working at the MCSO are three Belgian Malinois, two German shepherds, and one bloodhound. The law enforcement officer in training from Jackson County, Maleah Mathis, is learning to handle a black Labrador. K-9 names convey typical pet names, like Ollie, Diesel, Chase, Jax, and Thor, for example.
“These dogs have helped us achieve a tremendous amount of seizures (for illegal substances),” said Bryson. “And it’s so important that handlers know everything they need to about their dogs and how to handle certain situations because a K-9 on a call is huge liability issue. We want to make certain the dogs do their job, but at the same time we don’t want to violate anyone’s rights. But our current sheriff’s administration is very pro-training – making sure we have what we need, like this handler’s class, so that we are equipped to get the job done.”
“These dogs are sometimes used daily,” said Lt. Nick Lofthouse. “They might go on multiple deployments in one day.”
“Approximately 90% of the deployments for these K-9s are drug-related,” said Bryson.
“But we also use them for searching for an elderly person with dementia who might have wandered off, a lost or taken child, a suspect who has escaped on foot … and even evidence,” said Major Jonathan Phillips. “Once we got a domestic call; a female had been hit with the butt of a gun by a male and he then threw the gun out the window into a grassy area. We were able to recover the gun because of the dogs.”
“They will also go into a building that is a reported breaking and entering and sweep the area, look for a suspect, before the officers go in and risk being attacked or shot. And we have one of the most aggressive agencies in terms of narcotics because of drugs traveling up the highway [441S], so we need the dogs to combat drug issues,” added Bryson. “They are the best tools in the war against drugs because there is no way to obtain a search outside of an alert by a K-9.”
Getting down to brass tacks
Bryson, who has been working with K-9s for 20 years, quipped, “It’s easier to train the dogs than the handlers.” He clarified by pointing out, “Dogs want to learn and work and they are easy to train through repetition. Humans are more likely to respond to interaction with the K-9s so their responses can differ depending on what the dog is doing.”
Handlers must become adept at all the basic command elements for the K-9, but also undergo a barrage of scenarios with their dog. For example, “running track” involved Bryson setting out flags on the soccer field in an elaborate maze, which left his scent on the route, and then leaving a treat at the end. The goal for the handlers was to allow their dogs to accurately sniff their way to the end of the flag-lined maze.
“Also, every dog is different, so a handler really needs to learn their dog when they are doing this training,” said Bryson. “Each has their own personality quirks, so we have to adjust the training sometimes.”
For instance, during the running track exercises, Jax has learned to keep his head up and look for the different color flags to learn the route instead of keeping his nose down and smelling for Bryson’s scent. So Bryson puts out different colored flags along the route that go in varying directions. This forces Jax to use his nose and not his eyes. Handlers must not try to direct the dogs but simply hold tight to the leash and follow the dog to the destination.
Bryson is also an adjunct instructor with Southwestern Community College, which presents a certificate of completion to whoever successfully achieves the canine handler course. Then, each canine team has the opportunity to eventually become certified, as a team, with the North American Police Work Dog Association.
“We are fortunate enough to have this training right here in Macon County,” said Lofthouse. “Many handlers have to go to another agency for training.”