Springfield Police K-9 competition going strong, 16 years running

Saturday, June 18th, 2011, the Springfield Police Department's K-9 Unit held its annual police K-9 competition at Springfield High School's Silke Field.

Featuring police dogs from across Oregon including Springfield, Deschutes County, Bend, Corvallis, Lake Oswego, even as far as Morrow County, the annual event is a chance for officers to show off their animals.

Animals to demonstrate skills in timed events like an agility course, area search, handler protection, fastest dog and suspect take-downs.

But while a big part of the competition is the show, it's also a chance for officers to connect with the public, teaching community members about how the dogs train, what's required of them, and how they work.

Each police K9 lives with its handler. Many dogs go on to live with their handlers even after retiring from the force, usually around the age of 9 or 10 years old.

Officers say one of the biggest misconceptions for drug detection dogs is that the dogs have to “get hooked on drugs” to be able to smell them out, which isn't true. Oregon State Police's Springfield-area command demonstrated its dog on Saturday, saying the dog it uses is trained to hit on specific drug scents, then given a toy to play with as positive reinforcement when it hits on the scent.

Officers say the dogs are an extraordinarily helpful tool in the field as well, especially when suspects run or hide.

“Lots of guys go out there and you know, we're working in the dark, we can't see them (suspects) but the dog can pick them up, 'hey, they're sitting over in the field, 110 yards away from us,' and we have no clue, but once a dog starts hitting in on it, then we have the clue because he's cluing us in on it,” says Daren Kendrick, a K-9 officer for the Springfield Police Department.

The K-9 competition is also a big fundraiser for the Springfield Police Department's K-9 unit. Over the years, the unit has received tens of thousands of dollars from community donations, which has paid entirely for new dogs, equipment, and modifications for the department's squad cars.