NAMPA, Idaho — The Nampa PD's K9 program begins when the dogs are just over a year old. Handlers and canines spend nearly 24 hours a day together, creating one of the strongest bonds imaginable.
- Nampa PD officers travel to canine vendors to meet six to eight dogs to have 'love at first sight.'
- The canines provided are just over a year old.
- Constant companionship, home and work, makes for the tightest bond imaginable.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"We need certain behaviors in this canine," explains Lieutenant Brad Childers of the Nampa Police Department, "and certain drives in this canine to fit what we believe is best for the Nampa police department, our citizens."
The Nampa Police Department goes through vendors to obtain their K9 officers, most dogs coming from European countries, with staff traveling to find the perfect partner.
"It's not just for them to have buy-in saying, I'm loving this dog. It's also so that they can understand the process from the very beginning of what it looks like to select a canine," Childers adds.
The department works regularly with a vendor out of California that knows what the Nampa Police Department is looking for and they typically offer up a selection of six to eight dogs for the handler to meet with.
Each canine is just over a year old.
Some departments start from the puppy stage, but that could be a risk. Hallie McMullen is a Nampa dog trainer and has consulted with Nampa PD in the past.
"Some basic testing can actually be done on the dogs that they're getting versus, if you take an eight week old puppy and you're you're kind of, it's a little bit more of a crapshoot. You've got to rely more on what genetics and what the foundation of a pedigree tells you. And trust that moving forward," McMullen clarifies of Nampa PD going with canines a year old.
The canines have nearly no training when they arrive home in Idaho. They'll spend a month bonding with the officer and their family before the real work begins.
"These dogs are not easy to live with," she says, "They are a lot of work. And this dog, you're going to spend more time with this dog than you spend with any human because they live at your house. They go to work with you. They are there all the time."
Constant companionship, home and work, makes for the tightest bond imaginable.
"And that's why they're such a great partner in this. They're the one partner who is always going to default to you. You know, they're always going to default to what's in your interest first and foremost," said McMullen.
