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K-9 Academy celebrates 70th anniversary, in dog years
By DOUGLAS P. GUARINO
Democrat Staff Writer
dguarino@fosters.com
PORTSMOUTH Ten years ago, Portsmouth Police Capt. David "Lou" Ferland set out to create the NH Police K-9 Academy with a handful of donated police dogs and an old trailer that had once been used as a police substation.
A decade later, the Academy, which celebrated its 10th anniversary at its annual handlers dinner on Monday, April 11, has become an institution, training an average of two new K-9 teams for New Hampshire police departments per year.
When Ferland started the Academy at a National Guard base in Stratham 10 years ago, he had six dogs. Its first annual "Iron Dog" competition attracted 140 spectators, and Ferland noted he was thrilled to have the program attract so much attention.
Last year, Ferland said the competition drew a crowd of 2,000 on one of the hottest days of the year. Now located at Pease International Tradeport, the Academy meanwhile has 35 enrolled K-9 teams, each of which come back each month for a mandatory 16 hours of training.
Since its inception, the Academy, which still does not have any paid staff, has trained more than 150 police dogs and has had more than 500 participate in its seminars, Ferland said.
The role of police dogs has become even more prevalent in the post 9/11 era due to homeland security initiatives, Ferland said. Dogs, he added, are less vulnerable in situations in which police officers would have to wear gas masks because they do not have tearducts, he noted.
The dogs continue to be important in terms of drug enforcement and high-risk situations.
"They're the ones who go after the psycho with a gun," Ferland said. "They go after the boogie man."
Police dogs have also become a useful public relations tool, Ferland noted, particularly in situations involving children, in which they serve as an "icebreaker to get past the stereotype of the unfriendly cop."
During the festivities at the Jarvis Center on April 11, the Academy honored a number of its K-9 teams, along with the various supporters of the non-profit Working Dog Foundation.
Barrington Police Sgt. George Joy received the "Handler of the Year" Award for his work with his dog, K-9 Heikko.
Dover Police Officer John Usher, head trainer for the Academy, said Joy is known as the "bite toy" for his willingness to suit up in a full-body protective suit and volunteer as a decoy for training exercises in which police dogs learn how to bite unruly suspects.
"He's always there when we ask him, and he's there when we don't ask him," Usher said of Joy.
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