Marine Handlers work Closely with Canine Friends

[USMCRET6391]

Juan D. Alfonso | July 06, 2006
Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan - One aspect of a military policeman's job is searching for illegal drugs and explosives. They apprehend criminals in extremely difficult situations, but sometimes they don't do it on their own. They rely on the help of their canine partners.

Dog handlers aren't the average military policemen. Handlers are individually selected during their military occupational specialty school in Fort Leonardwood, Mo., where they attend the Military Police Basic Course.

Aspiring handlers are required to submit an essay expressing their desire to be a military working dog handler, according to Lance Cpl. Kevin D. Lenox, a military working dog handler with the Marine Corps Base Camp Butler Provost Marshal's Office.

Upon graduating from MOS school, the new military policemen are sent to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where they attend the 12-week Military Working Dog Handlers Course.

The first six weeks of the course is focused on patrol work. During this period, instructors teach the handlers the basics of dog obedience and controlled aggression.

One technique handlers are taught during training is called decoying, said Lenox. Decoying is a controlled scenario when a handler impersonates a suspect and has a dog attack him.

Marines spend the second half of the course learning techniques to teach their dogs how to detect drugs or explosives.

"When a dog runs into an odor, they show a change in behavior," Lenox said. "They search for the source of the smell and then show a specific response once they've found it."

When handlers arrive at their first duty stations, they are usually paired with an experienced dog to boost their confidence and handling knowledge, according to Cpl. Jason S. Glover, a military working dog handler with PMO.

More experienced handlers are given dogs that recently completed the Dog Training School to certify the dogs for deployment.

Handlers only serve with Belgian Malinois and German and Dutch shepherd dog breeds.

"These dogs have the highest drive to do the job we need them to do," Lenox said. "They adapt to climate changes quickly, they have the proper motivation and the natural disposition to be aggressive when needed."

Handlers are always working, according to Glover. They're constantly feeding, cleaning and training their dogs in an attempt to foster a brotherly relationship between dog and handler.

"When your dog finds a bomb and you realize it just saved your life, and possibly your buddies', that does it," Glover said. "You'll never feel about another dog the way you do about that one. It's a great feeling."