NDW Working Dog program to expand

Photo By Darren Harrison | Petty Officer 1st Class Randall V. Sapp puts MWD Sharry Tattoo F220 through his paces at a Working Dog program demonstration at Naval Support Facility Carderock in September. As a result of Joint Basing in the region, plans are underway to expand the Working Dog program in NDW with the arrival of new dogs and acquisition of more kennels.  

UNITED STATES

01.14.2010

Story by Darren Harrison 

Naval District Washington

Plans are underway to expand the Working Dog program in Naval District Washington with the arrival of three new dogs and the renovations of former kennels at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

"We have three new dogs which are in training right now and we are looking at about 30 days and they should be on the road fully certified and capable to do the job," said Chief Petty Officer Mark A.Taylor, the Regional Kennel Master. "Staffing is based on the missions that you do, the requirements that you have and the status of the base. Pax River requires a facility there, so we are standing up that new facility and the kennels are almost completed."

The Working Dog program provides explosive detector support throughout the area of responsibility for all the tenant commands that fall under NDW. The program also includes providing support to the Secret Service.

"We also support local law enforcement if they need it and other branches of the service if they need it," Taylor said.

In addition the Navy will take control of kennels presently located on Bolling Air Force Base under a Joint Basing initiative to merge Naval Support Facility Anacostia with its Air Force neighbor.

"We are going to have more dogs arriving," Taylor said. "The Joint Basing has to take effect then [the Air Force] will start moving the Air Force dogs out to Andrews or wherever and we will start bringing our assets in, Navy dogs with handlers."

Taylor said his eventual goal is to have a total of between 14 to 17 dogs based in the region. The region currently has seven dogs with the three new dogs replacing three others that are being put up for adoption because they can no longer meet the mission medically-wise.

"Once we take over the Bolling kennels and the Pax River kennels are completed, then the number of dogs is going to go up," Taylor said. "It can be anywhere from 14 to 17 dogs in the area which is unheard of for NDW because we've never had that."

It takes six months to requisition a handler and almost a year and a half to get a dog, Taylor said. The cost of each dog can run from $5,000 to $8,000 and once man-hours and training are factored in the dog is worth approximately $15,000, not including medical expenses.

"These dogs get better medical care than I do, because they want to make sure they can perform the mission," Taylor said. "Because when you've got 100 troops behind you and you are clearing a path for them to get from point A to point B you want the best there, you don't want second best."

All the dogs go through initial training at Lackland Air Force Base where they are given enough knowledge to understand their mission.

"They go through initial training which is called odor recognition where they recognize the odor, they give you a response for the odor and you reward the dog," Taylor said.

Then when the dogs arrive at the command they receive further training and the process to get the dog "command certified" begins and the dogs are matched with a handler.

"My job as the Kennel Master is to make sure the handlers do have control, that the public is safe when these dogs are out there," Taylor said. "These handlers may spend three to four hours a day working with their dogs on obedience. So it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort."

The recent acquisition of an ammunition magazine for the program means the Navy does not need to rely on the resources of other branches of the armed services to conduct odor recognition training.

"The Navy has dictated that all odor certifications that a dog is on will get a minimum of one trial every month. If they go over 30 days they get decertified," Taylor said. "Naval District Washington didn't have a magazine, they didn't have any explosives and we were utilizing the Air Force and the Army just to keep our dogs certified."

According to Taylor, the refurbishment of the former kennels at NAS Patuxent River is a $180,000 project that will include space for six dogs with plans to maintain four dogs and possibly a drug dog on the installation.

"The Pax River kennels used to be kennels back in the day before they were closed down for whatever reason and then they were used as a stray animal facility," Taylor said. "When I got word from Fleet Forces that we needed to open up kennels there, we took that old facility and put in a project to get it refurbished and built. Unfortunately the refurbishment part of it was basically tearing the whole building down except for the outside structure, so now I'm getting pretty much a brand new building."

Taylor said that the goal of having between 14 to 17 dogs is a long term goal but that he estimates that NDW will be three-quarters of the way there within the next year and a half.

"This isn't something that's going to happen overnight, this is something that's going to happen over years," Taylor said. "I'll have either retired and gone or made rank and moved on before all this happens but you will start seeing the handlers and dogs trickle in somewhere around October."

• Date Taken: 01.14.2010
• Date Posted: 01.14.2010 09:12
• Story ID: 43810
• Location: US