[4/26/01]

4042.com recently paid a visit to the Clayton Police department to meet some of the 4-legged members now on patrol.  Nero and Eddie are specially trained for their duties, starting at 1 yr. old.  K-9 police dogs are bred for this special work and go through a series of training and stress tests and either pass or fail.  The ones that pass are qualified for K-9 work and are then matched with the trainer's personality. 

Nero and Eddie are specially trained to locate narcotics, and it only takes a dog one week, possibly two to learn how to recognize a new drug.   The officer/handler keeps the dog with him at his own home and are maintained on a strict diet.  The officers who handle them have to apply for the dogs/position and go through extensive, ongoing training.  As part of a normal day on patrol, the officers keep water in the passenger side of the car at all times and take them out to run every few hours. 

Among the duties performed by Nero and Eddie are:

Tracking:  Finding people; follow a scent trail or indicate a person hiding within a building.

Bitework:  Trained to use violent measure to control situations

Evidence Finding:  Trained to locate objects that are hidden, not able to locate.

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