Anne Arundel Deputy Sheriff Michelle Goodman, 35, of Annapolis, and her K-9 partner Rocky, a 4-year-old black Labrador, trained to detect explosives, participated in the U.S. Police Canine Association?s national competition in Tennessee last week. The pair won three trophies and an overall second place finish against 24 other explosives teams nationwide as well as a first place trophy in a two-unit search exercise paired with a K-9 team from the CIA.
How did you get Rocky?
He was a rescue Lab; we got him when he was a year and 3 months from a shelter. At the time, we were training with the National Institutes of Health, and the original dog we had didn?t make it through the training. NIH had Rocky in their kennel and donated him to us.
What does training involve?
When you first have the dog, it?s 12 straight weeks of training when your imprinting the scent on the dog. [After certification,] you have to retrain twice a month with the Anne Arundel police K-9 unit.
What does he do when he detects an explosive?
His alert is to passively sit … once he?s on the odor and detects it.
Is he only trained to find explosives?
He?s trained in finding firearms, because he?s trained on the black powder found in ammunition. But we can?t cross-train a dog, because if he alerts on something, you don?t know if he?s alerting on a bomb or drugs, and the protocol is totally different.
What?s his workday at Anne Arundel Circuit Court?
We search the perimeter and all the courtrooms and … any trucks and deliveries … and any suspicious illegally parked cars. We?ll patrol the hallways … and if we have a big verdict … [we] have a dog presence to keep people calm.
