August 20, 2018 – Four Sheriff’s Office canines took the oath of office yesterday at the Yuma County Courthouse. Three of the four dogs were tested and certified earlier in the month on the detection of illegal narcotics, and firearms. The three certified canine teams are Undersheriff Wills and K9 Maverick, Deputy McDaniel and K9 Hank, and Deputy Baldwin and K9 Trigger. The three canine teams have been training on tracking and will likely certify in that discipline in about a month.
Sergeant Wells and K9 Jax had a delayed start in their training due to Jax’s original assignment as a participant in the inmate dog training program, but will be ready for certification in a few weeks. Jax is assigned full-time to the jail.
At the swear-in ceremony, Sheriff Day thanked the representatives from some of the organizations that had donated dogs for the program. All Points West donated K9 Maverick, and the Denver Dumb Friends League donated K9 Trigger; both organizations had representatives present. K9 Hank was donated by Wisconsin Bloodhound Rescue, and K9 Jax was donated by the Longmont Humane Society. Additionally, the Sheriff highlighted that the reason this unique program has been so successful is that the agency handlers were selected and matched to the dogs we had, and were able to build strong bonds since each of the dogs were just year-old puppies that had to also be trained in basic obedience.
Sheriff Day reiterated that because of the generous donations and contributions from our community, this project has been built completely free of County tax dollars. It is not possible to properly and sufficiently thank Master Instructor Paul McCombs for his contribution to this project. Without his expertise and willingness to serve this community in this way, the Sheriff’s Office K9 unit would not exist without him.