Howell County, MO. – Following the current project of Back the Blue K9 Edition, we had the Howell County Sheriff’s Department come in for an interview to describe the day in the life of a K9, specifically one that has only been on the job for a week. The Howell County Sheriff’s Department currently has three K9s. Deputy First Class Brandon Meacham is the handler of K9 Roman, Deputy First Class Robert Malone is the handler of K9 Spice and Corporal Travis Weaver is the handler of K9 Ares.
K9 Spice is also a little over one week into the job and is a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois. Spice is a single-purpose dog, meaning she only does tracking of people and narcotics. K9 Ares and Roman are dual-purpose dogs, meaning they track both people and narcotics, as well as, apprehending and biting criminals when needed.
Deputy First Class Brandon Meacham came in a talked about his K9, Roman. K9 Roman is a 1-and-a-half-year-old Dutch Shepard who is one week on the job. During the interview, Meacham described the personality of Roman, saying he was a very laid-back and sweet dog. He loves attention but he still knows when and what work time is. K9 Ares was also described as a sweet and fun dog on and off work. Spice was not described by Meacham. Listen below:
When asked about the bite work of the dogs on staff, Meacham stated that due to two of the Department’s dogs being new and not having the need, none of their dogs have had any bites yet. This means that the dogs have not had to forcibly apprehend a criminal or suspect. Listen below:
As in the other interviews, the deputy was asked if the department had any dogs that were forced to retire due to the marijuana law. Meacham stated that Corporal Weaver did have to retire a dog. She was a single-purpose black lab who was trained to search for marijuana. Sometimes K9 Odis is used for PR purposes but is not allowed to be used to track marijuana. Listen below:
When a person is working, they are “rewarded” with a paycheck, a pet is rewarded with a treat, and a volunteer is rewarded with the feeling of doing a good deed. Meacham said a K9 is rewarded in a different way. For example, Roman is rewarded with a toy, a ball. Listen below for the different rewards:
Just like most jobs, being a K9 or a K9 handler can come with stress. Brandon Meacham described the stress the job can have on a K9 and also described the nerves a handler can have when first starting off the job, especially with a newly trained dog. Most K9 are worked for 6 to 7 years before they are retired. Dual-purpose dogs are retired earlier sometimes because the pressure of apprehending can be a lot on a dog. Listen below:
This stress includes the first time that Roman was called on the job right out of training. Listen below to the description of Roman’s first time on the job with a new handler and new training.
Each dog is bought and trained in different places. Roman was trained for about 8 weeks. Meacham describes the 8 weeks they had in training and when they ended. Listen below:
Each K9 costs about $13,000 after training is all said and done. The Howell County Sheriff’s Department is hoping to get a grant from the state to get one more dog so that they always have 2 dogs working per shift.
