Working Dog Wednesday- Rony the Police K9!
Meet Rony, Utah's hardest working Narcotics Detection and Patrol K9! From chasing down bad guys to sniffing suspicious vehicles for drugs, this pup is excited to respond to any call that comes his way! Rony's handler and best friend, Deputy/Paramedic Larsen, gives us the inside scoop of a day in the life of a working dog.
Do you have a cool story or favorite memory of Rony?
"Rony’s first arrest as a patrol dog was assisting a local police department with finding two guys who had been driving a stolen car that ran from their officers, wrecked into a house and then fled on foot. He ended up tracking them for about 90 minutes through thick thorn brush and trees on a hillside, while they ran. We cleared multiple sheds and pushed one guy right into waiting officers, where he was arrested without anyone getting hurt."
How long has Rony been in the force?
"Rony and I were partnered in Nov. 2015, when he was purchased from the local kennel at 16 months old, and we have been working the streets since then."
Describe a day in the life of a Police/Narcotics Detection K9.
"A day in our life consists of signing on duty, where we are typically the only available patrol dog for our entire county. Between taking calls for law service, we are also available to handle paramedic calls since I am cross certified as a Paramedic. We are frequently called upon to sniff cars on traffic stops for different agencies around us. The majority of our deployments are for narcotic work, but Rony is also a patrol dog with a hard bite. He is also a tracking dog requested by other agencies to assist with all different types of calls when trying to locate wanted suspects."
Tell me a little more about responding to Paramedic calls.
"As a Paramedic, I respond to any medical call that may require Advanced Life Support skills. Some of our most common paramedic calls are heart problems, breathing problems, strokes, traumatic injuries and serious car accidents. My patrol car contains all of my police equipment, K9 equipment, and all of my medical equipment, including a portable cardiac monitor capable of transmitting EKG rhythms directly to a hospital for a doctor to see."
What is Rony’s favorite part of the job?
"Rony’s favorite part of the job is when he gets to work. He loves to work and it is the best thing in the world to him. Anytime I get him out of the truck to work, he is excited, full of energy, and ready to do his job. He absolutely loves to track people and look for bad guys. We also love taking drugs away from people and keeping them off of our streets!
He also loves training days, where our entire unit, consisting of 5 dual purpose drug/patrol dogs, gets together to train and better our dogs, and unit. On training days, Rony gets 8 hours straight of different training scenarios with all sorts of fun things mixed in. Plus, he gets to bite a lot of pretend bad guys in the same day, haha!
We are always happy to answer questions and chat with people about our awesome job!"
If you would like to see more of this awesome K9 action, follow Rony on Instagram: @k9_rony
Thank you Deputy Larsen and Rony for taking the time out of your unpredictable schedules to share your story with us! We appreciate all of your hard work!
