Police dogs show off sniffers

The first step in training a police dog to sniff out illicit drugs is to seal his toys in a plastic container with a bag of marijuana.

That way, when the dog goes out with the Utah County sheriff's deputies on a drug bust, he'll think he's just sniffing for his favorite toys.

And when he locates the drugs, he is rewarded with a real toy.

"What we make them do seems pretty amazing," said Utah County sheriff's deputy Cory Wride of his dog, Rex. "(But they think), 'If I scratch on this box because I smell my toy, my toy will just pop out of the air.' That's what they think."

Rex and fellow police dogs, Roc, Jargo and Nero showed off their sniffing skills Tuesday morning for a crowd of Smith's Food and Drug employees, local schoolchildren and Milk-Bone officials at the Smith's Food and Drug headquarters, 1550 S. Redwood Road.

The gathering began with a presentation from Smith's and Milk-Bone officials who gave the Utah County Sheriff's Office a bone-shaped check for $5,000 to help buy another police dog for the office.

This is the 10th dog Smith's has donated to law enforcement groups from Logan to Las Vegas through the Milk-Bone Canine Heroes program, said Marsha Gilford, Smith's spokeswoman.

"The need is so great because the community is growing," she said.

The companies plan to donate a total of 15 dogs during 2007 to deserving police forces across the country.

The Utah County Sheriff's Office has seven dogs — five Belgian malinois and two German shepherds — which are a "phenomenal asset" to the Utah County Sheriff's Office, said Sgt. Lane Critser, who heads the K-9 Unit.

"Their big, giant nose is 1 (million) to 6 million times (more powerful) than man's," Critser said.

That schnoz helps the dogs sniff out drugs, bombs, criminals or missing people.

Each dog lives with his or her handler and is specifically trained to be a bomb or narcotic sniffer.

When Rex, a light tan Belgian malinois, smelled his favorite marijuana-tainted green garden hose inside a box, he went crazy, frantically scratching until his trainer rewarded him with a real chew toy.

"Does my dog think he's finding drugs? No, he thinks he's finding toys," said Wride.

Rex used "aggressive indication," but when there are explosives involved, the trainers don't want the dogs scratching, so they teach them passive indication, which means when they smell the item in question, they'll either stand, sit or lie down and simply stare at the smell.

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