Ruger, an 18-month-old German shepherd from the Czech Republic, is about to head to Tucson for a 10-week training program that will turn him into the third four-legged member of the Sheriff’s K-9 unit.
Sgt. Gerrit Boeck started the department’s K-9 unit in 2007 with his partner Viktor, a Belgian Malinois from Holland. For six years, Viktor helped Boeck find hidden suspects, located evidence, assisted in apprehending felons, sniffed out narcotics, searched the county jail for contraband and protected Boeck in remote parts of the county, where the nearest backup is often at least 30 minutes away.
“Out here in the county, these deputies are pretty much out on their own,” said Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Gerry Blair. “The dogs are protection for the deputy, and they’re great when you’re doing drug interdiction because you really find some stuff that you wouldn’t find otherwise.”
When Viktor retired in 2013, Boeck adopted him and the Sheriff’s Office started looking for a replacement.
After receiving a $15,000 grant from the 100 Club of Arizona, Sheriff’s Office representatives headed out to Adlerhorst International, a California-based company that gets canines directly from police-dog training academies in Europe.
“They had about 40 dogs there that were available to us and they said, ‘These are the ones that we think you guys might like,’” said Deputy Christine Wenstrom, Ruger’s human partner.
PERFECT CANDIDATE
Wenstrom had to go through a written, oral and practical exam demonstrating her knowledge of case law and policies, as well as her ability to work with a police dog and take a turn in the “bite suit,” to win the coveted role of canine handler. She said she was determined to do it because she wanted to help the Sheriff’s Office.
“I saw a need for another dog in the community and in the department,” Wenstrom said. “I felt like I was the perfect candidate for the position. I have a respect for the animals and I had a desire to work with them. So far, it’s been a really great experience.”
When she went to California to select her new furry partner, Wenstrom and the other Sheriff’s Office representatives evaluated the most promising dogs’ personalities and their desire to play.
“We went through all those dogs and Ruger was absolutely the best dog that was there,” Wenstrom said with a proud smile. “He blew us away with his play drive and his willingness to please us.”
They brought the pooch back to Flagstaff to live with Wenstrom and her two other dogs — a Chesapeake Bay retriever and a German shepherd.
“There’s a lot of German shepherds at the house,” Wenstrom said. “He’s getting along really great with the family. The idea is to make a basic bond with them. They understand that you feed them and you’re the one that plays with them.”
Because Ruger is from the Czech Republic, Wenstrom has had to pick up a second language to communicate with him.
“The commands he knows are in Czech, so I learned Czech,” Wenstrom said.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMANDS
Deputy Rick Shouse, who patrols the Blue Ridge area, also learned a new language when Kiko, his Belgian Malinois from Slovakia, became the second dog in the canine unit in 2008. Shouse said there is a simple reason why officers do not give their dogs commands in English.
“The dogs come from different countries and it’s stressful on them when they go to that K-9 training academy,” he said. “Instead of having one more thing stressing them out by making them learn English commands, the burden is put on the handler. They’re trained in the language of the country where the dog came from, because that’s what they’re already familiar with.”
“Plus, it sounds cool,” Boeck added with a chuckle.
While Wenstrom was building a bond with the new pooch and guiding him through basic training, the kids at Cromer Elementary School were competing to name him. The Sheriff’s Office received about 100 suggestions from Cromer students between Feb. 21 and 26. The winning name — Ruger — came from fourth-grader Casey Walter, who got to meet Ruger this week.
“It’s a great bridge to the community,” Boeck said. “People love the dogs, and our department is really community policing-oriented, so it puts a face on our department.”
TRAINED TO PLAY
Now that he has a name, the next step for Ruger is the K-9 academy. Police dogs like Ruger come from Europe certified in areas like building searches and bite work, but their European trainers don’t teach them things like drug-sniffing.
“One way to think about it is, when they come from Europe, they’re kind of in grade school,” Shouse said. “They’re graduating college when they leave the academy.”
Over the next 10 weeks, Wenstrom will spend 40 hours a week training Ruger in the areas of protection and the detection of narcotics.
“It gives the handler 10 weeks of working with the dog, so that way they build that bond,” Boeck said. “They also train them to smell the different odors of narcotics: marijuana, meth, heroin and cocaine.”
Boeck explained that police dogs are trained to play, not to attack. When Ruger starts learning to differentiate the smells of different narcotics, Wenstrom will reward him by letting him play with a tug toy. The idea is to correlate the odor of the drugs with playtime.
“It’s all based on positive reinforcement, playing with the dog and making it fun for the dog,” Boeck said.
OBEYS ONLY TRAINER
When Ruger graduates, he will be one of the fastest, toughest and best-disciplined deputies in Coconino County.
“A deputy may have a situation where they give a dog a command to go and subdue a suspect, but between the time the command is given and the time that (the dog) gets to the person, the person basically drops their weapon, or they put their hands up,” Blair said. “These (deputies) are able to stop that dog in mid-run and have them come back. It’s probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.”
Police dogs are only trained to follow the commands of their handlers, with whom they share a deep bond. That single-minded devotion to their human partner is what Boeck said makes police dogs so effective.
“One of the things we try to demonstrate to people is that the dogs aren’t ferocious, the dogs aren’t vicious, but they are aggressive when we tell them to be,” Boeck said.
For her part, Wenstrom is excited to take the next step that will help her cement her bond with Ruger.
“I feel pretty comfortable with him,” Wenstrom said. “I think that’s probably the best way to go into it. You know you’re going to get bit. There’s going to be accidents, but I believe that it’s a learning experience for both of us.”
(Arizona Daily Sun-Mar 9, 2014)
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