Sunday, April 13, 2008
Desert Dog Police K-9 Trials

This weekend was the Desert Dog Police K-9 Trials in Scottsdale. We didn't go Saturday because we found out about this event too late but we attended Sunday for many hours. It was very sunny and hot to boot.

Annie and Gretchen rode with my human and I. Charlie and his friend, who is in town for the weekend, joined us later.

Naturally watching the police dogs in action was an exhilarating experience to say the least. Because we missed the first day's trials we only got to see the field search and the guard and attack maneuvers.

For the search portion I kept trying to tell the dogs via telepathy that the guy was hiding in the big trailer but they must not have been too receptive. Only a few actually found him. I was good and didn't bark once.

Then the Phoenix Police helicopter circled the stadium and landed in the field! It was very loud but wow was it cool! Then the cop and his K-9 partner jumped out. The K-9 sprung forward and tackled the helpless human stuck in that bulky bite suit. After the agitator (the guy in the bite suit) was subdued the K-9 and his human partner jumped back the helicopter and flew away.

After a short intermission and a trip to the concession stand for a ball park frank (yes a hot dog) and a soda the event started up again. I'd like to point out here that while the food was within easy reach of me the entire time, I didn't devour it. In fact my tongue only popped out unexpectedly a few times. Once my human was mostly finished she did share the bun with me. Not what I was hoping for but you can't win ‘em all.

The next trail consisted of the dog escorting the prisoner with the police officer, then going after another assailant when he attacked the cop, then chase down and stop the first guy from wandering off and out of custody. These dogs are good and were more than happy to attack the instant he or she was needed. After a short jog across the field they were confronted by a pseudo-bad guy armed with a leaf blower used to scare the dog off from the attack. It didn't work. Most of the K-9s were quick to jump the guy and he surrendered. Finally the K-9 was asked to run after a guy shooting (blanks) at the officer. Naturally they did but the assailant gave up once the dog began the charge and the officer recalled the K-9. Some of the K-9s did very well at this. Some still attacked the bad guy which did cost the team points in the trials.

After seeing all of this I offered to become a police K-9. My human however didn't think licking an assailant in to submission would work all that well. I guess I have to settle for being a service dog, but a damn good one.

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