[ By ROD ZOOK ]

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Two Hutchinson police officers had a special request for new Police Chief Jeff Hooper. With help from Cause for Paws in Hutchinson, the request became a reality.

Officers James Sanders and Cory Schmidt man the two K9 units with the department. Their partners are Tank, a German Shepherd, and Nika, a Belgian Malinois. Sanders and Schmidt became interested in becoming K9 officers through two different avenues.

“Growing up in Newton, Kansas, I saw their K9 unit and it’s just something that always appealed to me,” Schmidt said. For Sanders, he found his love for working dogs and their service in the military. “My first experience with K9s would have been in the Marine Corps,” Sanders said. “I spent about 12 years doing combat arms, so I had the opportunity to see dogs work. It always interested me.”

The two dogs were specially trained overseas and then brought to the U.S. for their final training in the way the police department wanted. While each department has a different need for a K9 unit, the way the dogs are trained has changed in the past 20 years.

“It used to be back in the ‘90s that you wanted the meanest, baddest dog that would just rip your arm off and there’s really no need for that,” Schmidt said. “Dogs have their primal instincts. If your dog’s trained to bite on command, all you have to do is say that word and it’ll flip that switch.”

Schmidt and Sanders say the dog’s ability to do its job and interact with the public were two major factors in their decisions to bring Tank and Nika onto the force. They wanted to be certain the dogs could be in the public eye. The dogs are with the officers 24-7 and are not only their partner on the job, they are also at home — that includes family members and other dogs. But it’s not that cut and dried.

“She’s a pet, but we don’t get to treat her just like any pet. There’s a fine balance there,” Schmidt said. “She gets to have her interaction time with our actual pet dogs, but it’s just not 24-7.”

The two officers also stressed that, while they are certainly great dogs, they are probably not the best house pets.

“It’s a good working dog, but probably not the dog you’re going to want as a house pet and, unfortunately, a lot of people are finding this out the hard way,” Sanders said. “They see these stories about these Belgian Malinois and German Shepherds and it looks cool to them. So they go out and they spend this money on this phenomenal dog, but what they don’t realize, it needs to be worked. So if you think you’re going to go out and buy one of these dogs and it’s going to be your lap dog, really what it’s going to do is tear apart your couch. They are designed to work.”

Tank and Nika are in constant training to keep their skills honed. Whether it’s at home or someplace around the city, it’s a never-ending process.

“We want to keep them on their heels so they give the best effort possible,” Schmidt noted. “We use Carey Park a lot to make it more difficult for tracking and stuff.” The dogs are trained in buildings, cars and open spaces where many different situations exist.

The dogs would not have been possible if not for donations made by Cause for Paws in Hutchinson. The funds not only provide for the dogs, but the equipment necessary to have them on patrol. That includes special K9 vehicles with special environmental controls to keep the dogs safe and housed. The dogs were funded through the memory of longtime Cause for Paws board member Charles Buckaloo.

“It’s pricey. You have to have specialized vehicles for these dogs and they can be very expensive. You’re looking at over $60,000 for a vehicle,” Sanders said. “You have the dog price, the training price — and they continue on training — and veterinarian care and so forth.”

The dogs are trained to detect narcotics and have earned their pay in the first year on the force. Between the two units, more than 90 arrests have been made. That includes 385 grams of meth, 92 grams of marijuana, 21 grams of cocaine and 10 grams of heroin. They’ve also made two arrests for felons in possession of a firearm.

The officers say they get kind of a mixed reaction when the dogs find drugs, noting it’s hard for anyone to hate a dog. They also say they get excited when their dogs have success at their job. “It’s like your kid hitting a home run,” Schmidt said.