I visited the Cherokee Sheriff's K-9 Unit and met them all and the dogs and asked them a lot of questions and watched their training. I also handled a dog called Yoda while it did training to search for drugs. These were my questions. I spoke with Sergeant Mathew Azaroff.
Are the dogs sometimes scared of doing their jobs?
No. The dogs have no fear. They are trained from birth to have no fear by being exposed to lots of people, noise, sounds of gun fire, things flying through the air etc.
Does the policeman or the dog do more work?
The dogs do most of the work depending on the situation.
How many dogs work in the K-9 Unit?
Five. Their names are Dyno, Max, Yoda, Dixon and Amp
What were some of the recent crimes the dogs helped with?
They do a lot of bomb threats and narcotics investigations. Recently they have been involved in an armed robbery and a burglary.
What type of dogs do you use in the K-9 Unit?
We have one Dutch Shepherd and 4 Belgian Malinois.
Where do the dogs sleep?
They sleep at their handler's house in a non-living area of the house.
What is the oldest and youngest dog here?
Yoda is 7 1/2 and Dixon is 4.
Is there anything that the dogs need that the community can get for them?
The Sheriff's dogs do pretty well and are well taken care of. If people would like to donate anything please donate to the Cherokee County Animal Shelter as there are a lot of dogs out there that aren't as well taken care of as our dogs.
