By Heidi Dahms Foster
K9 programs throughout the Yavapai County area are thriving, and these talented dogs and their handlers are taking sometimes unimaginable loads of dangerous drugs off the streets and highways. Three such units with newer K9s are Prescott Valley, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department, and Chino Valley Police Department.
Prescott Valley
The Prescott Valley Police Department has added two new K9s to its unit of four. Belgian Malinois Cowboy and Malinois/Shepherd Justice will enter academy this fall and hit the streets after certification by the end of the year.
One of the dogs was paid for by a single generous donor, and the other with money from a number of donations. The K9 Unit had received a list of names from donors, from which they named Justice, and Cowboy was named by officers.
PVPD had two well-qualified lateral officers, Tanner Presson and Tim Creager, who tested for the two open K9 positions in June, and shortly after were paired with their K9s. Creager was an officer with PVPD before moving on to another agency, and then returning. Presson joined the department in January. The two officers had spent a couple of months working with the PVPD unit, and received their K9s the day they completed their testing. K9 Unit Sgt. Keven O’Hagan said the unit had spent enough time with the officers to be confident they would work out well. “We knew what we were getting,” he said.
Cowboy and Justice came from High Drive K9 in Greenville, South Carolina. The owner, Scott Clark, is a former officer and K9 handler with 20 years of experience who started his own training kennel. He travels to Europe, hand selects his dogs and brings them back to the U.S. O’Hagan and PVPD K9 Officer Justin Ellison traveled to South Carolina, where they had the opportunity to test and select the two new PVPD K9s. High Drive is a smaller kennel and O’Hagan and Ellison were able to have the time to soak up some valuable knowledge from owner and head trainer Scott Clark.
“We tested 10-11 dogs, and picked two,” O’Hagan said. Both Creager and Presson have distinctly different personalities, and the dogs were hand-picked for them. The two dogs were purchased as what O’Hagan calls “completely green.” They had some bite work, but little obedience instruction, so the two teams have their work cut out for them.
“Justice and Tanner have the same temperament,” O’Hagan said. “They are both more mellow and methodical.” Cowboy is a lot more energetic and higher-paced, as is Tim.
O’Hagan said one of the tests they give the K9s is to throw a ball into a field of foot high grass, and then turn the dog loose to find it. “Cowboy runs as fast as he can and then works his way back. Justice works nose down at the start and goes piece by piece. He’ll probably be better at tracking and drug detection when he’s up and running.
“Cowboy, now that he’s had some obedience training, is starting to slow down and understand the game. He’s getting attached to his handler, but he doesn’t want a lot of petting and praise. He just wants to work all the time, like Tim! Justice is social and glad to come in for some petting, but when it’s time to work, he’s like, ‘OK.’”
Both dogs will be dual purpose patrol and narcotics K9s like their teammates – Ellison with Kato and Cameron Kinsey with Chewy.
One big change the unit has made this year is to switch the dogs to a balanced raw diet to optimize their health and longevity. Preskitt’s Pawz n Clawz has donated the diet, and assists the K9s with baths and other care.
While the PVPD K9 Unit helps to work the interstates occasionally on interdiction details, they primarily work in the local community, aiming at taking out the local dealers and the drugs that have reached the area. All of the dogs are, or will be, trained to detect Fentanyl, the killer drug that is currently a focus of law enforcement and community organizations. The PVPD Unit partners with the department’s Drug Enforcement Unit to stop local dealers.
This year, O’Hagan said, the Unit is looking forward to the Desert Dog Police K9 Trials sponsored by the Arizona Law Enforcement Canine Association Oct. 22 and 23 in Scottsdale. Ellison and Kinsey will compete with Kato and Chewy. “They put it on every year, and it’s a great opportunity to showcase our dogs and have a little fun competing. We hope next year all four of us will compete.”
Follow the Prescott Valley Police K9 Unit on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PVPDK9
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office currently has four K9s – three that are primary drug interdiction dogs, and one drug detection dog in the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde. The Unit is headed up by Sgt. Ethan Stover.
Jett, a chocolate lab, has served in the Detention Center for several years now. She is handled by Deputy Garrett Russell and is used to help combat the smuggling of drugs into the jail, and to search cells for drugs.
YCSO’s newest K9 is Skye, a Belgian Malinois handled by Deputy Cody Kruse. Skye came to YCSO in May 2021 at 14 months old. She is a drug detection dog known for her personality and energy and one of the few female K9s in service.
The two other members of the YCSO K9 team are Maximus, a German Shepherd handled by Deputy Nate Camacho and German Shepherd Haddie, teamed with Deputy Travis Hartman.
Skye, Maximus, Haddie and their handlers do a lot of work with the Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking (PANT), a multi-agency narcotics unit, on interdiction patrols on Interstates 40 and 17.
Sgt. Stover said the teams have been finding some “really huge loads” of drugs on the interstates. The latest one was unique – 90,000 Fentanyl pills hidden in fire extinguishers in a vehicle. “These (teams) right now are breaking records in the amount of narcotics they are seizing. They are seasoned teams, really good at what they do, and absolutely more drugs are coming across the border. Methamphetamines are on the rise, and they are also finding loads of cocaine and heroin in vehicles.”
The YCSO teams are so skilled that agencies around the country are calling to ask questions, and in August, a team from Nevada was scheduled to visit and ride with the K9 teams. They also ran scenarios for the recent Arizona Law Enforcement Canine Association (ALECA) demonstration at Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.
Follow the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit on Facebook.com.
Chino Valley Police Department
In 2020, the Chino Valley Police Department welcomed Sirius, a two-year-old Belgian Malinois, and Sgt. Steven Sellers. The two were both on their first K9 assignments, and learned together. They trained and certified locally, with a lot of help from longtime CVPD K9 Officer Dave McNally and his dog Lisko.
McNally was promoted shortly after and Lisko retired to his new duties as couch potato in the McNally home.
Sellers tested for K9 duty in July 2020 and by August was paired with Sirius, who was imported from the Netherlands and trained by Prescott Valley Officer and longtime K9 trainer Paul Hines. But Sellers started his K9 journey long before he and Sirius teamed up.
Sellers has worked with Chino Valley PD for six years, but before that he was an officer with Mesa County, Colorado Sheriff’s Office. He wanted to be a K9 officer then but the department had only one specialized K9.
When he moved to Yavapai County, he was pleased to find that Chino Valley had two K9s, and that was one of the reasons he chose the department. Then, he immersed himself in the local K9 scene in every spare moment, soaking up all the knowledge he could. He did ride alongs, volunteered to help with trainings, and learned the behavior of the dogs.
He was so enthusiastic about learning that he volunteered to don the bite suit and be the target for training K9s, a move that sidelined him pretty quickly. About eight months before he got Sirius, Sellers was the decoy for some multi-agency training. “One of the K9s came at me pretty hard. They told me to raise my leg as the dog came at me, but it went for my back and spun me around, and blew out my knee.”
Despite a bit of recovery time, Sellers said every K9 officer should start as he did, volunteering and learning everything they can about the K9s and their jobs.
He really warms up when he talks about Sirius, who he said is smarter than the average Malinois. “He’s very smart about everything. If I want him to do something he can’t do he gives me a certain look. He knows when I put the lead on his harness, we’re going to track someone. If I put it on his collar, we’re going to search for drugs, and he’s very focused. As soon as I take the lead off, he switches off, and he rarely barks.
“My kids named him Sirius after Sirius Black in Harry Potter. His funny quirk is that when he comes running up, he turns and presents his rear to you. He likes his butt scratched!”
Sellers sums up what all area K9 officers undoubtedly feel about their dogs. “We say they are so smart that if they had thumbs they could drive our patrol cars. They save officers’ and community lives and do a great job at it. They’re a vital tool – they risk their lives for us.”
Follow Chino Valley Police Department K9’s at Chino Valley Police Department on Facebook.com.
