GB hosts police K-9 trials
BY VICI PAPAJOHN Gulf Breeze News vici@gulfbreezenews.com

If you see a conglomeration of canine officers, police and sheriff's department vehicles in the Gulf Breeze High School parking lot on Saturday, March 31, do not panic. It is not a huge drug bust going down, it is the 2008 Region I Field Trials of the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA).

Entrants from all over Florida will be participating in the event, and Felony, the beloved Gulf Breeze Police Department canine will participate for the first time. She is under two years of age.

Judges will plant four "finds" inside the school and two of five cars searched in the parking lot area will be "hot" according to Officer Mark Lyster, Felony's handler and school resource officer. State certification can be attained during the field trials, which Lyster says is necessary in order to testify in court. Dogs are graded on a 100-point scale, and Lyster's former canine companion and co-worker, Ace, scored in the 90s when they participated in trials.

"I have more confidence in Felony, than in myself," Lyster says. The trainer's job is often a difficult one, learning to discern true response to a "find" from the animal's natural excitement over a new setting or the presence of the other dogs participating. "They know what they are doing, they are very accurate," Lyster asserts. "The trainer has to read them right. It is up to us to determine what is authentic."

Contrary to public perception or rumors, dogs are never addicted to the drugs to induce the eager search, Lyster assures. Play is the reward for the find, and dogs with a strong inclination for play are sought and trained to be canine officers. The rest is repetitive training and work.

"Some dogs are passive when they find a drug, which means they sit. Others, like Felony, are aggressive, and they scratch" Lyster explains.

The event was also hosted by Gulf Breeze High School in 2003.

Though the use of dogs in security goes as far back as 295 BC under the reign of Pyrhus, King of Epirus, modern use dates back only to the last quarter of the 19th century in Europe and in the 1900s in America. A dog's uncanny sense of smell makes it idea for scent and detection work, and their loyalty, sense of hearing eyesight and incredible strength and control make them great assets for tracking, detecting and detaining suspects and evidence. Sense of smell is the primary sense in dogs, unlike humans whose most highly developed sense is vision.