Lt. Lizzie might not make best drug dog

As a brief recap, Citizen's Police Academy participants examined traffic stops a few weeks ago, and I was the one who dropped the gun -- and mistakenly shot an officer in role play. I'm not sure I was too much better last week, when we served as crime scene investigators. As a detective, details matter, and the severe sinus infection from which I suffered made it seemingly impossible to focus on all the details and the proper procedures it takes to solve a crime scene.

But on Tuesday night, in our most recent class, I think I found my niche in police work.

We were initially scheduled to learn about gangs Tuesday night, but a scheduling conflict left Lt. Trey Clanton scrambling for another topic to replace gang night. He decided to teach us about one of his specialties -- traffic stops. He was also able to bring in a special guest star for the evening, which is where my interest in police work perked up.

Bedford County's beloved K-9 dog, Remy, and his master, Officer Tracey Nelson, attended class to teach us about their work, which helps keep the streets of Shelbyville drug free.

Now this is one police job I would love ... doing good work for the community and hanging out with your best friend all at the same time. In all seriousness, Remy and Tracey have a grueling schedule, and are on call 24 hours a day. It's no easy job, and certainly, takes the best of the best -- both human and dog -- to succeed.

Being the dog lover that I am, however, I was eager to ask Tracey lots of questions about Remy, and what his life is like as a drug dog.

A Belgian Malinois, Remy is 10 years old and has been part of Shelbyville's K-9 unit since he was about a year old. He came from Holland, where many police dogs come from due to strict European breeding guidelines, and received his training with Tracey in Indiana.

Key attributes of a police dog are intelligence, aggression -- although Remy is as lovable as they come, strength, and of course, a keen sense of smell. Remy is trained to detect all kinds of drugs, but the most typical busts he makes are marijuana and crack busts.

In just one drug bust, Remy, who cost $6,000 (the average cost of a police dog is about $8,500) paid for himself.

One thing that was interesting about the training police dogs endure, is what Tracey called the "ball factor." When trainers are choosing which dogs they want (often from breeders overseas) to bring to the United States to train, they take a tennis ball and bounce the ball in front of the dog. The dog must have a "ball drive." In other words, they must want to play with the ball.

"You can't train a dog to have a ball drive," Tracey told us. "They either have it or they don't."

That statement immediately shot down my thoughts that maybe Lizzie, my little Shih-Tzu, and I could make up a K-9 unit one day. Lovable as she is, Lizzie wouldn't chase a ball unless it had a biscuit attached to it.

Interestingly enough, Tracey did tell us that all sorts of breeds are used as police dogs, and one larger city in Florida has an entire K-9 unit made up of Schnauzers. Can you imagine that? That sure would catch a drug dealer off guard.

Tracey also said she's heard of standard poodles serving as police dogs -- and even knows of a Jack Russell police dog -- although most are German Shepherds, or Belgian Malinois, like Remy.

Drug dogs are not addicted to the drugs they search out, which Tracey said is a common myth about the dedicated animals. Once it is known they have the "ball drive," they are trained to associate the ball with the drugs for which they're searching.

During training, the ball is placed within a bag of drugs, to absorb the smell of a particular drug (they are trained to detect many, many kinds of drugs). Every single time Remy is in a location where the police are searching for drugs -- we were able to witness him doing an actual drug search Tuesday night -- good old Remy thinks he's looking for that darn tennis ball. Once he's targeted the smell (you'll see his tail a waggin' when he does) Tracey better have that ball on hand ... because he's ready to catch it.

It's what keeps him going.

Other than that, Remy is your ordinary dog. He's loyal, protective, and he is Tracey's best friend. Although owned by the city, when it's time for Remy to retire (when his health and/or drive declines) he'll retire at Tracey's home.

Remy has served Shelbyville for nearly 10 years, which is a good bit longer than most police dogs' careers. Since he's still very healthy, and loves his job, Tracey says he still has a few years left in him.

Before he retires, and next time you hear of a demonstration being put on by this awesome duo, I encourage you to check them out. I promise you'll be glad you did.

-- Sadie Fowler is a staff writer for the Times-Gazette. She can be reached at (931) 684-1200, ext. 214, or by e-mail at sfowler@t-g.com. This column is scheduled to print every Thursday.