When the dogs go to Lebanon

By BILL CHAISSON
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LEBANON — Two police cruisers sat outside West Lebanon Feed & Supply on Saturday morning, their lights sweeping the parking lot. However, this was no crime scene, but really more of a meet and greet. The Lebanon Police Department was welcoming two new members, Blesk and Nitro, to the ranks of its canine unit. The event was held at the feed store because owner Curt Jacques has been an enthusiastic supporter of the department’s canine program since its inception 12 years ago.

Officer Nick Alden stood in the parking lot before the event, letting Nitro meet some admirers a few a time. This is Alden’s first canine assignment, but he is already a dog owner. Nitro, a Dutch shepherd and Malinois cross, is two years old and has not yet received any police training. He is, however, getting along well with Alden’s pit bull mix.

Alden is impressed by Nitro, who recently arrived from a breeder in Andover, Connecticut. “Shepherds are easily trainable,” he said. “They’re pleasers. They’re super smart too; it’s like you’re dealing with a 7-year-old child.” 

Alden is putting Nitro through the training given to household pets, but it is Officer Jeremy Perkins who will teach the new recruit to be a police dog. Perkins just received his certificate to be police dog trainer from the Vermont Police Academy and he will be training the Lebanon canine unit at department headquarters going forward. This saves the department time and money, as previous training has had to take place at the Vermont academy in the northwest part of the state.

Perkins also has a new partner. Blesk, a full-blooded Belgian Malinois from Slovakia, replaces Perkins’ late partner Max, who recently succumbed to cancer at age 11. Like Alden, Perkins brings his new partner everywhere with him, in part to forge a strong bond, but also to get the young dogs used to being around crowds without being distracted or frightened. Perkins decided that there must not be too many doors in Slovakia that open automatically as you approach them. Blesk, he said, acted like he might on another planet the first few times he encountered them.

While the new dogs are from the shepherd group of breeds, neither is a German shepherd. Perkins acknowledged that some lines of German shepherd have developed chronic problems and that these were more common in American lines. European breeders, he said, were more tightly regulated. In addition, the Belgian Malinois tends to be more athletic and quicker than a German shepherd and to have a longer working life. While German shepherds retire after age 9, on average, the Malinois will often be 12 or 13 before they turn in their badges. “But I compare them to athletes,” Perkins said. “Age, health, and injuries all can limit a dog’s working life.”

Perkins has been involved with the canine unit longer than any other officer with the department. “I think of the canine unit as the tip of the spear,” he said. “When there are break ins, for example, we’re the first ones there. We were the ones who tracked that kid who burned the church and stabbed those people.” The canine unit is also important to search and rescue, finding both lost hikers and people suffering from dementia who lose their way.

A dog’s hearing and sense of smell are both more acute than ours. “They can sense what we can’t,” Perkins said, which makes them valuable for tracking burglars or, more dramatically, in “tackle situations” involving active shooters. While Perkins acknowledged the importance the dogs in drug detection, he is much more keen on the patrol portion of canine responsibilities. “Tracking,” he said, “is the ultimate hide-and-seek game.”

Inside the store, Police Chief Richard Mello got the proceedings underway with an introduction to the canine unit.  He said the dogs received six months of specialized training in both drug detection and search-and-rescue. “ They can track a missing person for miles,” he said, “and one save makes this whole program worthwhile.”

Perkins introduced Blesk to the audience of 15 or 20 people. “He’s done with his training,” the trainer said. “He’s a good tracker; not what Max was, but I’ll get him there.”

Alden introduced Nitro, who already has “French Ring” and IPO (Internationale Prüfrungs-Ordnung) training in obedience and protection. He will begin his police training in January.

Also on hand was Kimba, who was bred by the Vermont State Police and has been through both drug and patrol training. His human partner described him as “a sweetheart … except when it comes to other dogs.”

All the officers in the canine unit work all day with their dogs and then take them home at night. “We spend more time with the dogs,” said Perkins, “than we do with our own families.” Because of the dogs’ special role in the department, he said they are called out at night more often than other officers. “We’re a team,” he said,

we push each other to be better, not be be competitive, but for the good of the department.”

Jacques, the owner of West Lebanon Feed & Supply, announced plans to build a training facility behind the police department. It is still in the planning stages and he said he would be raising money for the project through the coming year. 

Jacques was central to the effort to raise funds to build the kennels for the unit when it was inaugurated back in 2007. His store donates the food for the canine police officers. He also test out new products with the cooperation of both the canine and human officers. Last Saturday he handed out tick gaiters to the human officers to test their effectiveness.

Jacques said that the canine unit was not just an asset for Lebanon, but for the whole Upper Valley region. The local department works with Homeland security, the Vermont State Police, and departments in several other towns. The planned training center will advance this cause by creating a new location for police to train, but there are also plans for programming aimed at the public.