Night at jail reveals soft side (10/06/2008)

"Hi, hon. I'll be late getting home. I'm going over to the jail with Edna. See ya." Then I hung up the phone.

That was the gist of a conversation I had with my husband a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure he wondered what in the world I was going to the jail for.

My co-worker, Edna, had asked me to sign up for a class the Sheriff's Department was holding and I said, "Sure."

Keep in mind that I have no interest whatsoever in the Sheriff Department or the Police Department either, for that matter. I hate cop shows almost as much as I despise lawyer shows.

So why did I say yes?

Simple. I thought I might learn something. I wanted to wait to write this column until after all the informational sessions were over but I can hardly contain my excitement at an opportunity I have been given as a result of this series of classes.

I get to ride along with the K-9. Deputy John Hankins is going to drive but we all know the real star is Fritske, a Belgian Malinois (pronounced MAL-in-wah). He looks like a svelte little German Shepherd with really big black ears.

According to the literature we received, Fritske is 28 months old. He was born in the Netherlands and from the beginning was destined to be a police dog. He is a bi-lingual creature as all his commands are given in Dutch. I assume he also understands such vital American words as, "McDonald's" and "treat."

During Deputy Hankins' demonstration Fritske was rewarded with a tennis ball. Apparently he LOVES his tennis ball, as he didn't want to drop it when he was ordered to. The command to drop his toy sounds a lot like a cat hacking up a hairball - a really big masculine cat, but a cat, nevertheless. The rest of the orders sounded like they were given by a grouch with a terrible cold. Deputy Hankins is a likable soul and hearing such harsh-sounding words coming out of his mouth was a bit disconcerting.

The point was made many times during the presentation that the dog, um, uh, stinks. Yeah, so what? All animals have distinctive odors. Cats stink. Pigs and chickens really stink. Even my favorite farm aroma of horses and cows is offensive to some people. I'm washable and so are all my clothes. If a little odor is the price I pay to see a real police dog in action then so be it.

We had been treated to a demonstration of Fritske's drug sniffing abilities the fourth week of the series. The dog went from acting like a hyperactive two-year-old to being the calmest, quietest, most well behaved animal in an instant.

The criminal apprehension scenario was even more impressive. I would not want to be on the receiving end of those teeth. I think the man playing the bad guy was very grateful for the protective sleeve he wore.

Interestingly enough, after the demonstration, the "bad guy" and the pooch were best friends. Fritske even rolled over in a vain attempt to get his belly rubbed.

Fritske and Deputy Hankins are referred to as Jay County's K-9 Unit and both are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Personally, I think those are rotten hours but those two seem to like being needed and they perform a valuable service to the community.

A bit of trivia I dug up was that the United States Secret Service uses Belgian Malinois. The dogs are slow to outgrow their natural exuberance and are well suited to life as a working animal. In fact, I get the idea that a non-working Malinois would die of boredom, after eating most of your furniture and otherwise making its displeasure known.

The ride-along tonight should be interesting. It starts two hours after I usually go to bed. I am one of those people who needs a minimum of 9 or 10 hours of sleep a night. I can't see that happening tonight. Plus I have things I want to do tomorrow that will preclude sleeping in.

I have met and petted Fritske once before. He didn't seem to mind the scent of our calico cat Gracie on my clothes. I might dig out a dog biscuit or two to take along just so he knows I'm one of the good guys.

I can't wait. This is going to be FUN!

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