His background was pretty much a secret — until last month, when a book came out and “60 Minutes” came calling.
This 6-year-old, 80-pound German shepherd is no ordinary cop dog. He’s a war hero who sniffed out guns, ammunition and explosives while a member of a Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan.
There’s the time he found two AK-47s hidden nearly within arms reach of a group of potential enemy fighters.
And with his ultra keen nose, he also zeroed in on ammunition hidden in a large, smelly, dusty warehouse. That one, coming early on during his deployment, earned him the trust of the SEALs.
The two exploits are chronicled in a new book, “Trident K9 Warriors.” highlighting the training and missions of military dogs of war.
Chapter 11 focuses on Rex. In the book, he has an assumed named: Odin.
Soon after the book’s release, “60 Minutes” aired a piece on elite military dogs, including Rex.
Two years ago, with Rex’s time with the military at an end, the Navy approached the Sheriff’s Department about taking him, said Sgt. Ron McCracken, who runs the sheriff’s K9 training unit.
“It was immediate. As soon as we saw the dog, we said, ‘We’ll take him,’” McCracken said.
Highly trained patrol dogs can run the department more than $10,000. Rex was a gift.
As a military working dog, he was trained to find explosives, as well the enemy. When he started working for the Sheriff’s Department, he still used the same nose-to-the-ground skill, just following after a few different scents, anything a fleeing suspect might have ditched, like keys or a gun.
“He’s got just exactly what we are looking for,” McCracken said, likening him to an elite Olympic athlete.
Rex is “an incredible dog, a very social dog,” McCracken said. But keep back, he warned visitors last week. Rex is not a pet. He’s a working police dog.
When the military offered up Rex, Deputy Marty Chapman was the lucky K9 deputy who was next in line for a new partner. His patrol dog, Kenzo, was ready to retire after eight and a half years.
Shortly after taking custody of Rex, Chapman met with his former handler and learned details of his background. For the most part, Chapman kept it to himself.
“I didn’t want to go out there and brag about what I knew about him,” Chapman said.
Then last month came the release of “Trident K9 Warriors,” written by Mike Ritland and Gary Brozek. According to the book, the dropout rate for dogs in training to work with SEALS is higher than the dropout rate of the human candidates hoping to make it as SEALs.
Rex trained around the world, in jungles and deserts, in urban environments and in the snow at 10,000 feet.
Rex is still high-energy, Chapman said, up at 6 a.m. and eager to come out of his kennel in Chapman’s home.
The pair primarily patrol unincorporated Escondido. Last month, they were tasked with tracking down a man suspected of beating up a woman.
Rex found him hiding in the back of an apartment complex in San Marcos. The man fought Rex, hitting him in the face and trying to pry his jaws off his leg.
In the end, the man needed medical treatment. Rex did not.
Don’t mess with a SEAL dog.
“I’m not jumping out of airplanes, I’m not rappelling off the sides of buildings,” Chapman said. “But to Rex, this is still fun. This is still work.”
Rex will probably stay with the Sheriff’s Department for another four years. When Rex retires, Chapman hopes to return him to his former military handler to chase tennis balls and gophers instead of criminals.
Sometimes, Chapman said, he looks over at his partner and thinks of his history. “The whole team that he worked with, they all came home safely. I consider him a hero.”
(UT San Diego - May 26, 2013)
