Bark and circumstance: Police dogs, partners graduate in Pittsburgh
Five newly-trained police dogs had their day at the Pittsburgh Police K9 Training Academy in Highland Park.
Shadow, Miky, Chooch, Rico, Baki and their human handlers were celebrated Friday as they graduated from a three-month training program at the academy. They’ll begin working in their home departments soon.
As the dogs barked in an adjacent room, a room full of humans listened as the work the dogs and their partners do each day was lauded.
“What you give him, he gives back,” is how Pittsburgh police Officer Kevin Foley put it after the festivities.
Foley and his new dog, Shadow, a Belgian malinois trained for explosives and patrol, were among the five pairings that completed the training program.
For Foley, it’s his second dog.
The first, Matso, another malinois, retired Friday. He will return to the Foleys’ home and have the run of the house.
The K9s and the people they’re paired with are with each other 24/7, to develop a strong bond. Shadow, the new dog, will be kept in a separate area of the Foley home.
Sgt. William Watts, a Zone 6 officer in the city’s West End, helped train the group.
“We ask a lot of them,” Watts said. “Asking a mammal to harness their drives and do our bidding takes a lot.”
Sometimes officers have to send the dogs they care for into harm’s way.
“Unfortunately, sometimes they give their lives to protect the officers and to protect the public,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said. Addressing the officers who work with the dogs, he expressed appreciation for their teamwork.
Hissrich learned how valuable a dog, or even the threat of a dog, is to law enforcement as a young FBI agent in Toledo.
A man was holed up in an attic. Authorities seeking to apprehend him began to talk loudly about bringing in a dog, Hissrich said.
They didn’t have one, but they had an officer who could bark and make dog-like sounds. The barking sounds were enough to get the man to surrender without further incident.
It’s nice now to work in Pittsburgh, Hissrich said, where more than 20 dogs assist public safety officials.
“They’re probably the best employees in the city,” Hissrich joked, because they don’t complain and they eat less than the horses in the mounted unit. “We’re very fortunate to have a good K9 program in the city.”
Police Chief Scott Schubert agreed.
From tracking people to finding drugs and explosives and helping to determine the origin of fires, the dogs do work that people can’t, Schubert said.
“It’s not a job everyone can do,” he said. “You’re going to make our department even better.”
In addition to Foley and Shadow, the Pittsburgh police welcomes Miky and his partner Officer Matt Swartzmiller. Two Butler city officers, Lt. Brian Grooms and Patrolman Andrew Niederlander, and their dogs, Chooch and Rico, and Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy John Baldelli and his dog Baki also graduated.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
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