Meet Dalley and Lena

At first glance, Dalley looks like any other puppy that’s being carefully groomed with a special brush. She wiggles and stretches against the comb through her hair, sitting, then standing, then sitting again, then attempting to turn in a circle which dissipates into an oppositely directed turn, and then she sits again, for now.
Her head is in a constant state of motion on her neck, as if on a swivel. It never rests in one position for very long. She is visibly relaxed and happily falling victim to the wonder of her puppyness.
However, Dalley isn’t your average puppy. She may allow herself the trappings of her youth from time to time, but Dalley is a highly trained, certified K-9 asset, capable of performing searches, and if necessary, protecting her partner with her life. Dalley, works for the Franklin Police Department. She is a police dog.
Aside from the unmistakable mannerisms of a puppy, Dalley follows the commands of her partner and handler, Officer First Class Corey Cudd, with surprising precision and faithfulness.
Cudd delivers the command in Czech, and Dalley reacts, and if not, or misunderstands, Cudd repeats the command along with a slight tightening upward tug on Dalley’s lead, and voila, the command is executed.
The 18-month-old white Labrador Retriever is the newest addition to the elite K-9 unit of the FPD.
“We had been interested in getting a second K-9,” Franklin Police Chief Sabria McGuire said, “Dalley was certified in Austin, in Czech. The dogs are certified before we get them. Then, the handler becomes certified. So, the handler has to be fluent in the commands of the language of their dog.” So, with some help from K9 Officers Inc., Houston Texas, and K-9 Concepts Inc., Broussard, Dalley was chosen to join the FPD, and trained and certified.
FPD’s K-9 unit, for a year and a half, has consisted only of their one other dog and her handler, Lena and Officer First Class McCloures Manuel. There was a vacancy for their services during the day shift, as they worked nights.
“Even though we all work together, in concert with the sheriff’s office and Morgan City PD,” McGuire said of the availability of K-9 units, “we needed another dog, and we thought about a dog that is a little bit more passive (than Lena). We started doing some research. We knew that there were some organizations that helped fellow departments, so we started applying for grants with these foundations. We asked for a Lab. We applied, and we were the one out of several hundred departments that was chosen to get Dalley.”
That process of choosing, McGuire said, involves much deliberation in reference to choosing the handler for the dogs, as well.
Once chosen, the handlers have to become certified by the National Police K-9 Association in the techniques and procedures necessary to effectively operate in partnership with the dog, but must also care for and house the dog during off-duty hours. This means that the dog must have their own facilities at the handler’s home, must get along reasonably well with the handler’s family, and must remain deployable in every respect, even when not on duty.
The veterinary considerations are all handled by Adrienne’s Animal Hospital. The handlers are not expected to be responsible financially for vet bills or for the feeding of the animals, but they must accept the dogs into their homes with their families, where the dogs become members of those families, too.
McGuire says that it was imperative to check with the wives of both of the perspective handlers of the police dogs, before committing to either one as being officially selected for the K-9 detail.
Both Manuel’s and Cudd’s wives were consulted, and both wives understood the colossal amount of time, effort and focus it would take to commit to the regimens expected of these dogs and their handlers.
McGuire says that each officer’s wife assented to the commitment. However, Manuel says that since her assent, his wife has found one issue with the arrangement. He says that his wife takes issue with the fact that the dog she loves so well, Lena, seems to obey more so the commands of Manuel than her. And, so goes the sweet burden of the politics of love, and fairly borne.
When asked what word best summed up Lena’s personality, Manuel thought about it, and said that Lena is all about “business.” The same question was posed to Cudd, concerning Dalley, and the answer was, “attention.”
The two dogs are just as different and individual as they could be. One is young and untested, the other is poised and seasoned. One is affectionate and illustrative, the other is of more of an executive demeanor. But make no mistake, both of these canines are in the business of performing the law enforcement tasks set before them without hesitation, and the department considers them officers of the law. In short, they are imbued with the same responsibility toward their partners as are all police officers. As cute as these furry force multipliers are, when the time comes to work, there is no doubt of their capability or utility.
Each dog has their own “alert” posture complete with mannerisms and natural inclinations, which communicates to her handler that she has come upon a trace of the scent that she was given to detect. It is different for each dog, and Manuel says that he can tell when Lena is going to alert before she completes her posture. He says that as Lena begins to alert, there is a tell-tale list of physiological processes that she will exhibit, and that after having worked with her so closely, for so long, he can literally attest to these processes in court, and in fact, does from time to time.
Lena is going to be five years old this year, and Manuel has worked with her for almost two of those five years.
She is a Sable German Sheppard from Germany, and her commands come in both the Dutch and German languages.
The FPD acquired Lena in much the same way they acquired Dalley. Though, the grant that brought Lena over from Germany came from the Department of Justice, and brought along with Lena, all the equipment that would be necessary for her field operations, down to the flack vest.
She is certified in tracking five narcotic types and in article search, which is a form of tracking that doesn’t necessarily involve narcotics.
When Lena or Dalley alerts on their objective, they receive rewards. Lena receives a red, rubber cone that she chews subtly. But, Cudd describes Dalley as a “tennis ball girl,” and so her reward is the tennis ball.
“It’s like their paychecks,” said Cudd.
It’s how they are rewarded, but it is also how their training is reinforced.
McGuire says that when in training, the dogs’ reward toys will sometimes be switched with duplicate toys which have been traced or lined with the substance the dogs are training to detect. The dog finds the objective substance on the toy, and then is rewarded with the unsullied toy. This provides a correlative link for the dog. Thusly, they derive a great amount of appreciation from their rewards.
The dogs and their handlers recertify regularly, and meet weekly with other area law enforcement agency K-9 units for group training exercises and community building. They are even involved currently in a nationwide contest with those other agencies, to see which department has the “cutest” K-9. The contest is being held publicly via the Gainesville, Florida Sheriff’s Department Facebook page, the proceeds of “liking” or commenting on which, go to helping law enforcement victims of Hurricane Irma, in Florida.
The cuteness factor notwithstanding, the dogs are a criminal deterrent in the community, and that is what is important.
McGuire stated that in her estimation, illegal narcotics contribute to or are directly related to 90 percent of criminal activities in Franklin. The addition of a second K-9 asset to the department means that officers in Franklin now have 24-hour access to either Cudd and Dalley, or Manuel and Lena.
“They deter, as well as they assist in doing the job as a tool, if there is illegal activity,” said McGuire, “I think, that if we can deter people from doing drugs, that’s a good thing. When law enforcement says, ‘protect and serve,’ part of that service is that we get out in that community and teach people, ‘don’t do drugs’ and not to sell drugs, and then we are doing our job. So, having a K-9 does that. But if they have to get drugs off the street by getting probable cause to get a search warrant for a house, we have that tool there, also.”