Deputy Pat Grubar of the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office drives his partner, Deputy Farius, around in his car all day. Sometimes, Deputy Farius gets to smell things and sits down to alert Grubar to potential trouble. Farius is a six-and-a-half-year-old black Labrador retriever and he is a certified narcotics canine. Grubar, 43, has worked in law enforcement since 1993 and began work as a canine deputy six years ago.
How did you and Varius get together?
I worked in the jail for three-and-a-half years and then was selected to go to court security and I did that for seven years. Then, the canine position came open and I was selected for that. I went to canine school at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection canine training facility in 2004. That’s where he was assigned to me and we went through school together. We’ve been in operation ever since.
How does Varius do his job?
He sits when he finds something. We do sweeps in jails and out on the road. He loves his job! He gets to ride around with me all day. He’s just so good at it. He knows when he’s working and when he’s at home. When he’s not working he’s a regular dog, but he knows when we get up and the uniforms go on that it’s time to work and he’s ready to go. We also go to schools and we talk to kids of all ages about the canine unit and what we do.
What is one of your most memorable narcotics finds?
It was in August of 2007, and we assisted an Arlington SWAT and narcotics team on a three-house raid. We were the only canine on scene. A couple of times I had to pick him [Varius] up because there was broken glass. We did all three houses at once and Varius found all the drugs in each house. We ended up confiscating thousands of dollars of money, several ounces of illegal narcotics, a handgun, a rifle, an SUV was impounded and five individuals were taken into custody. They had just finished a drug deal outside. That was an exciting day.
— Maria Schmitt
