VIDEO: Dogs, owners get inside scoop into K-9 training

Maricopa Police K-9 officers put on a show for dog owners and families at Dog Day Saturday in Tortosa Park.

Aside from the show, animal rescue groups and pet adoption booths handed out free doggie treats to furry guests, and a nail trimming station provided plenty of pampering.

“We wanted to raise money and awareness for animal shelters,” said Ellen Buddington, lifestyle director with the Tortosa Homeowners Association. “All of the proceeds from today go to the Maricopa Dog Park Alliance.”

K-9 Officers Craig Curry and Justin Thornton were on hand to give K-9 obedience and bite demonstrations with Ike, a Dutch Shepherd, and explained how the dogs are trained. Just under 2 years old, Ike is MPD’s second dog trained in apprehension, protection and narcotics location.

“People think that we give our dogs narcotics to get them all hyper or anxious, but we don’t,” said Curry, Ike’s handler, to the crowd of children and families. “We wouldn’t do that, and we aren’t beating the dogs either. It’s all about ‘toy drive.’ The dog thinks he’s playing and is excited”

Walking around with Ike, Curry hid and flipped around a chew toy as any dog owner would do to play with his or her dog. After Ike jumped around, Curry gave the command for Ike to lie down and come down from his excitement, which immediately was obeyed.

“See, all he wants is his toy,” Curry said. “He gets his excitement from playing and that’s how we train him to find narcotics or people.”

“What we do is take cotton balls soaked in narcotics like marijuana, heroin and meth and put them in a toy he can smell and play with. So when he locates any narcotics, he alerts us and gets excited because he thinks he found a toy.”