Winona, Warsaw K-9 Officers Receive Awards

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.

By Jennifer [email protected]

Warsaw and Winona Lake police departments' K-9 officers recently received awards for working together to accomplish skills.

WPD Corp. Joel Beam and his K-9 Buddy, WPD Corp. Allen Danko and his K-9 Pako and Winona Lake patrolman Joe Bumbaugh and his K-9 Hugo received awards for their work with the K-9 dogs competing as a three-man team.

The officers were presented the awards during the 10th annual American Working Dog K-9 Olympics at Vohne Liche Kennels, Denver, Ind. Vohne Liche Kennels is a full-service K-9 training facility for highly trained police service dogs.

Warsaw Police Chief Perry Hunter said the awards were well deserved.

"The awards are a testament of how well the dogs and officers work together," Hunter said.

The K-9 Olympics included more than 80 teams from all around the country. K-9 instructors and trainers from the U.S. judged the events. All events were based on a point system and tested dog teams' competency, physical fitness and mental toughness.

The K-9s from WPD and WLPD competed against handlers from the Department of Defense, Secret Service, Pentagon Police, U.S. Marines Military Police, as well as city, county and state agencies from across the country.

The National Security Agency had a competition amongst themselves prior to the Olympics. From that competition, the top three K-9s and their handlers went to the Olympics in Denver, Ind.

The team of Beam, Danko and Bumbaugh received first place in the overall K-9 Patrol Team Competition. The competition was based on tracking people, obstacle courses, building searches, bite work, K-9 control and obedience.

Beam and Buddy received second place in obedience. The individual obedience competition included the K-9 responding to voice commands, working through distractions and overall obedience.

Bumbaugh and Hugo received first place in tracking. The individual tracking competition included a track with two items the K-9 had to locate. The event was judged on how quickly the K-9 could follow the designated track and locate the articles.[[In-content Ad]]Bumbaugh also was awarded first place in two narcotic detection events. The first event was narcotic warehouse and the second event was a narcotic scramble. In both events, judges hid narcotics in certain areas. The K-9 was to find as many of the narcotics as possible as fast as the team could work.

Warsaw and Winona Lake police departments' K-9 officers recently received awards for working together to accomplish skills.

WPD Corp. Joel Beam and his K-9 Buddy, WPD Corp. Allen Danko and his K-9 Pako and Winona Lake patrolman Joe Bumbaugh and his K-9 Hugo received awards for their work with the K-9 dogs competing as a three-man team.

The officers were presented the awards during the 10th annual American Working Dog K-9 Olympics at Vohne Liche Kennels, Denver, Ind. Vohne Liche Kennels is a full-service K-9 training facility for highly trained police service dogs.

Warsaw Police Chief Perry Hunter said the awards were well deserved.

"The awards are a testament of how well the dogs and officers work together," Hunter said.

The K-9 Olympics included more than 80 teams from all around the country. K-9 instructors and trainers from the U.S. judged the events. All events were based on a point system and tested dog teams' competency, physical fitness and mental toughness.

The K-9s from WPD and WLPD competed against handlers from the Department of Defense, Secret Service, Pentagon Police, U.S. Marines Military Police, as well as city, county and state agencies from across the country.

The National Security Agency had a competition amongst themselves prior to the Olympics. From that competition, the top three K-9s and their handlers went to the Olympics in Denver, Ind.

The team of Beam, Danko and Bumbaugh received first place in the overall K-9 Patrol Team Competition. The competition was based on tracking people, obstacle courses, building searches, bite work, K-9 control and obedience.

Beam and Buddy received second place in obedience. The individual obedience competition included the K-9 responding to voice commands, working through distractions and overall obedience.

Bumbaugh and Hugo received first place in tracking. The individual tracking competition included a track with two items the K-9 had to locate. The event was judged on how quickly the K-9 could follow the designated track and locate the articles.[[In-content Ad]]Bumbaugh also was awarded first place in two narcotic detection events. The first event was narcotic warehouse and the second event was a narcotic scramble. In both events, judges hid narcotics in certain areas. The K-9 was to find as many of the narcotics as possible as fast as the team could work.
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