K-9s And Handlers Show Off Their Skills In Springfield Police’s Annual Competition

Barking filled the air at Silke Field as 14 K-9s lined up to compete in the 21st annual Springfield Police Department K-9s competition on Saturday afternoon.
K-9 Competion
Dogs and their handlers traveled to Springfield from across the state to compete in five events. The canines were timed in an area search, an agility course, suspect apprehension, a sprint and handler protection.

The police dogs, most of them German shepherds and Belgian Malinois, ranged in age, breed and color. There was one black Labrador, who did not compete in all of the events but did perform a drug dog demonstration.
K-9 Blek
While executing the agility course, the dogs bounded over tall, wooden walls, climbed ramps and hopped through windows. They crawled through a long, plastic tube and barrelled through a refrigerator box with their handlers before ending their timed event with a slalom course around orange cones.

Some K-9s were more hesitant to complete some parts of the course than others; one even backed its way out of the black plastic tube about halfway through his crawl. Other dogs had no problem jumping several feet in the air to clear a wall.
K-9 Danner
Danner, the black Lab, needed quite a bit of help from his trainer to get over the walls, but he redeemed himself when he sprinted down the field to win the “fastest dog” competition.

Springfield police Sgt. Rich Charbonneau helped set up each course and timed the events on Saturday.  He has been organizing the competition since 1994, when only three police departments competed.

“It started just as a fun way to show our families what the dogs could do,” Charbonneau said. “I think the first time there were maybe 20 of us total from the Springfield, Eugene and Medford police departments.”

Now the event is much bigger and often fills the stadium at Springfield High School. Several hundred showed up Saturday.

Some in attendance said they had been coming to the event for years.

Linda Tucker, 53, watched with her two granddaughters, who were snacking on granola bars and carrots.

“I used to take my daughter as a kid,” Tucker said. “She’s 22 now, so I get to take them.”

Tucker said the two little girls have a black German shepherd and love to watch the dogs run.

Charbonneau said that while the event serves as a way for the community to see the dogs in action and interact with law enforcement, it also raises “several thousand dollars” each year for the Springfield Police Department.

“All of the proceeds go to the department’s K-9 fund so we can buy more police dogs,” Charbonneau said. “So far we’ve purchased seven police dogs, all with donations, which is about $70,000.”

The police dogs are purchased in Europe for around $10,000 apiece.  They arrive at their new home already trained in obedience, tracking and detection.

Charbonneau, who was a police dog handler for 17 years, says that the canines help members of the community feel more comfortable with law enforcement officials.

“I’ve had people who have sneered at me because I’m in uniform, but once they see that I have a dog they can relate a little better,” Charbonneau said. “We’ve experienced that when people can see the police dogs with us, it sort of bridges the gap between the people who feel defensive around us and being comfortable around us.”

Special thanks to Alisha Roemeling and The Register-Guard

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