New dog cops Marysville police job

MARYSVILLE -- With a shake of his coat and a wag of his tail, Ranger put his nose to the ground and started to sniff.

"Search!" Marysville police officer Derek Oates commanded.

Running through a field in north Marysville on Wednesday, Ranger wasn't chasing bad guys. He was following a trail of hot dog pieces as part of a four-month training program to become the city's newest police dog.

"He's got a great attitude and a great drive," Oates, 34, said of his newest partner. "He's going to work out."

Part of getting Ranger to join the Marysville force is raising about $15,000 to pay his costs, Oates said.

Several area businesses are helping out. Still, residents are being asked to chip in to help pay about $7,000 for the dog and the rest for equipment, he said.

"We need money all the time to keep the program going," said officer Stacey Dreyer, 40.

Once fully trained, Ranger, a Slovakian-born German shepherd, will join two other police dogs in Marysville. Like Radar, another German shepherd, Ranger's job will be to sniff out bad guys and girls, following scents left behind as criminals run away. A third police dog, Brody, a chocolate Labrador, uses his nose to sniff out drugs. The dogs all live at the officers' homes.

Dreyer is responsible for teaching Oates how to work with Ranger.

Oates has volunteered hundreds of hours being prey during police dog training, wearing protective gear and mimicking bad guys for the dogs to chase.

Now, Oates is training to be a handler.

"The greater preparation is for Oates to read the dog," Dreyer said.

A twitch of the ear, a wag of the tail or a change in gait are all clues the dog uses to let an officer knows he is on the right track.

"We have to learn the positive and negative indications," Dreyer said.

Weekly training will continue as long as Ranger is a working police dog.

"If we don't keep up with it, they'll revert to their natural habits of chasing cats and rabbits," Dreyer said.