Gibson County trains their K-9 units for duty

TRENTON, Tenn. — You may not know what a K-9 unit dog is searching for, but he knows.

“They do track work. If a suspect runs, they can pick up a track on them. They do article searches. They can do building clearing, bite work, apprehension work, and they also do narcotics work, so these dogs are really versatile,” said Sheriff Paul Thomas of Gibson County.

Some dogs are meant to search, while others are trained to attack.

“If they just are too far ahead of you, and you just can’t catch them, if they’re just too fast, the dog can catch them,” Sheriff Thomas said, “and it never turns out well for the bad guy if the dog catches them.”

Law enforcement says it is important for their K-9’s to train for situations they may face while out in the field.

“This is our low crawl. This would represent the dog going underneath a house or underneath a vehicle, or something like that, to try and get to dope or a suspect,” said Sgt. Ryan Pope of the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is a chain link fence. You have a picket fence and then a plank fence and then the last one down there would represent just a dog going through a window,” Sgt. Pope said.

Deputies say this USPCA agility course is utilized by all units within Gibson County as well as neighboring counties, all materials donated by a local business.

“We wanted to help out and be a part of the community to get drugs off the street. That’s what it’s about,” said Jason McDaniel, donator and owner of City Lumber Company in Dyer.

Just last week, Sheriff Thomas says their K-9 units went through an 800 yard track, through the woods and a ditch full of water to capture a suspect out of Weakley County. He says his team wouldn’t have been able to get him into custody as quickly without their help.

Gibson County has a total of four K-9 units. Sheriff Thomas says they train several days a month in preparation for their yearly qualification.