Sniffing care of business

Photo By Misha King | Army Sgt. Doug Smart, narcotics dog handler with the 544th Military Working Dog Detachment, guides Mark around the headquarters courtyard during a drug recovery demonstration, which kicked off the second day of Red Ribbon Week.  

FORT LEE, VA, UNITED STATES

10.25.2012

Story by Misha King 

Defense Contract Management Agency

FORT LEE, Va. - Defense Contract Management Agency Headquarters employees witnessed a live drug recovery demonstration in the headquarters courtyard Tuesday afternoon. The event kicked off the second day of Red Ribbon Week, a nation-wide annual campaign promoting drug prevention and education.

Prior to the demonstration, Specialized Search Dog handler Army Staff Sgt. Rashad Harris planted a bag of marijuana deep in the rock garden near the back of the courtyard. Mark, a 4-year-old German Shepard military working dog, and his narcotics dog handler, Army Sgt. Doug Smart, covered nearly every inch of the courtyard in search of illegal drugs. Mark searched the courtyard in sections, sniffing out the ground and remote areas, such as door jambs and tree limbs. As Mark approached the area where Harris planted the drugs, Mark started getting very excited.

“I know when he’s on to something, because he starts circling around an area,” said Smart. After a little verbal coaxing, Smart says Mark pinpoints where the drugs are hidden and sits right next to them and awaits further instruction — and his reward for finding the drugs, his toy ball.

“Mark is trained to detect marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroine and MDMA—known by its street name ‘X,’” explained Smart. “He’s very smart—he was fully trained and certified as a working dog by the time he was 12 months old.”

Smart explained Mark actually outranks him. “It’s a tradition for a dog to outrank its handler by one grade. The handler has to do what the dog wants. If the dog is tired and doesn’t want to work, the handler can’t make it work. Basically, the dog is in charge of the handler!”

Smart and Harris are part of the 544th Military Working Dog Detachment at Fort Lee.

• Date Taken: 10.25.2012
• Date Posted: 11.13.2012 11:52
• Story ID: 97693
• Location: FORT LEE, VA, US