Animal control officer Shannon McMillon of the along with Officer Mary Jo Zawilla of the Niles Police Department and her dog Oden, put on a police dog training demonstration outside of restaurant last week for a crowd of curious on-lookers. Derek Collins of TOPS dog training facility acted as "victim."
Though Collins has been working at TOPS for more than 10 years he admits that he still gets scared sometimes. "Oh yes, I've gotten bit too," he said. "These dogs are strong." Zawilla said police dogs are trained to attack when all other means of police intervention have been applied or when an officer is in danger. To demonstrate, Zawilla told Collins to attack her and Oden jumped up in her defense immediately.
These skills are used by the K-9 officers in chasing and detaining suspects, and when they are searching for drugs. Zawilla said the work she and Oden do varies depending on the day but they routinely work with traffic stops and searching for illegal drugs. Zawilla has been working with Oden, a Belgian Shepard, for three years. The average police dog has a career of about ten years.
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Before they can fight crime, the dogs participate in 10 weeks of pre-training at a facility and then eight weeks of training with the officer they are paired with. The K-9 partners will continue to train twice a week or more for the remainder of years they work together.
Enjoy the photos and be sure to check out the short video of the demonstration!
