Friends of Gilmer Animal Shelter cover registration fees
Three members of the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO) K-9 Unit were able to take their four-legged partners on a recent trip to Perry, where all attended the 12th annual South Georgia K-9 Seminar.
Held Nov.15-18 at the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Ag. Center, the workshop offered opportunities for police K-9 teams to sharpen their skills in a series of scenario-based training exercises.
Training sites and topics included passenger cars, buses, tractor trailers, luggage, packages, and open areas, per the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association.
“The training consisted of daily narcotic, tracking and patrol work. All training that was provided by the seminar is necessary for the daily tasks of the Gilmer County K-9 program,” said Cpl. David Ridings, who attended along with fellow GCSO K-9 handlers Frank Parks and Blue Patterson.
Three K-9s are currently handled by the local sheriff’s office. Novak has been with the department since 2017 and Milo since 2019. Both are Belgian Malinois, a shepherd breed often trained as police dogs because of their keen scent and strong protection instinct.
Arlo, a German Shepherd, is the department’s rookie K-9, having just come on board last year.
“Arlo was donated to the Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 at 5 weeks old. The K-9 program raised and trained Arlo in narcotics and tracking. He was certified at Dooly County, (in) South Georgia, at the age of 10 months old (and) has been on duty six months,” said Ridings.
The K-9s receive a minimum 17 hours of training a month and can be certified in multiple tasks including tracking, narcotics detection and apprehension. They may accompany their handlers in serving search and arrest warrants, as well as detection of illegal drugs.
Local officers previously attended the Perry seminar in smaller numbers, but, this year, all three handlers and K-9s were able to go thanks to a donation from Friends of the Gilmer Animal Shelter (FOGAS).
“FOGAS covered the registration fee for all of our handlers and K-9s to be able to participate in the training seminar,” Ridings said.
Sylvia Harris, FOGAS vice president, said the local animal shelter support group wanted to do something that would help the working dogs and their handlers.
“We wanted to provide something that was outside their budget,” she added.
FOGAS presented a check for $750 to the sheriff’s office to cover the registration expenses.
“It was a very comprehensive conference, (and) our K-9 units are now better prepared to serve our community,” Harris said.
This is the second year in which FOGAS has made a donation to agencies that use specially-trained dogs to better serve the county.
Last year, almost $600 was donated to Gilmer Public Safety to purchase an outdoor kennel, cover and dog house for the department’s search and rescue dogs.
“The handlers identified that they needed a space outdoors where the dogs would be safe while they were in meetings, etc. Previously, indoor crates were used,” Harris said.
Harris noted that FOGAS will be looking for another opportunity like this next year.
“We’re open to suggestions from the community,” she added.