Drug Dog Assembly for Red Ribbon Week
On October 27th Lostant School held an assembly for Red Ribbon Anti-Bullying and Anti-Drug Week. Officer Rasmussen from the LaSalle County Sheriff’s Office led the assembly and spoke with the children about the work that K-9 units do. Two K-9 officers were brought it to show how they search for drugs and also one showed the students how he has been trained to be backup and protection for his partner.
Officer Rasmussen went over the types of dogs that are used, and the different things they are trained to do like smelling drugs, bombs, cadavers and protecting their human partners. Bailey is the first dog that was introduced to the students, she is a Cocker Spaniel and is trained to look for drugs or missing articles like keys, guns, etc. that have been thrown or lost.
The second dog introduced was Gunnar who is a Belgian Malinois, which is related and similar to a German Shepard. Gunnar is trained to smell for drugs and for protection of Officer Spradling, who is his partner. Both dogs were trained to sit when they smell drugs and do not move until their officer tells them to move. They are rewarded with time with their favorite toy if they are correct. For Gunner it is a tug toy and Bailey prefers a squeaky tennis ball.
After the dogs showed the children a display of how they smell for drugs, Officer Spradling showed how Gunnar is used for protection. A display was put on where Gunnar watched Officer Spradling while he encountered a criminal and Gunnar protected him when the criminal tried to grab at Officer Spradling. Gunnar is trained to always be watching Officer Spradling and to jump in whenever he is in danger. He will not release his hold on the criminal until Officer Spradling issues a command to let go.
All the Children seemed to really enjoy the presentation and learned a lot about the uses of K-9s in the police force.