One top dog headed to nationals

Walton County Sheriff K-9 teams took home top honors during the recent competition held in Destin. During the week of February 21 through 25, 2011, Walton County Sheriff’s Office Canine Unit members participated in the United States Police Canine Association, Region One Certification and Field Trials. Over seventy (70) canine teams from Florida and Georgia participated in the Region One Trials, hosted by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

“We are very proud of our canine deputies and their drug dogs who have proven very successful in our crime fighting efforts” said Sheriff Michael Adkinson. “It’s a big honor to place first in drug detection when you’re competing with such a fine group of teams” he said.

The canine teams judging process consists of two parts, vehicle search test and indoor test. The vehicle search portion consisted of five vehicles with two finds. The team has a total of ten minutes to complete this test. A total of 100 points are possible. The interior test consist of three rooms with two finds, one room will be a blank. Each room is a minimum of 200 square feet. The team has a total of twelve minutes to complete this test. A total of 100 points are possible.

Walton County Sheriff’s Office Canine Teams won the following categories:

Deputy Bearden and canine Lee will represent Region One at the National Trials in Pearl Mississippi later this year. Along with the “TOP DOG” honor, this team won 2nd place in indoor searches and 2nd place in outdoor searches.

Deputy Matt Key and canine Kayne placed 3rd overall with a score of 194.67 out of a possible 200 points. This team scored 3rd in outdoor searches and 4th in indoor searches.

Deputy Chad Biernacki and canine Nero took 1st place in outdoor searches with a score of 99.67 out of a possible 100 points.