Bomb Dog Kindergarten

Bob's phone call (In the Beginning-post #1) was a catalyst that changed my life.


At this time, in the evolution of the K-9 program at the international corporation where I was employed as a security officer, the focus was on patrol dog training.  A new head of security had changed that focus just prior to the events that I am about to unfold, emphasizing explosive detection dogs and eliminating the fighting dog aspect of the K-9 division.  This had apparently produced a form of quiet chaos within the K-9 unit as a whole.  It is, after all, a simple matter to state that "we are now bomb dog trainers"...it is another matter entirely to begin an un familiar training process much less to grasp the ramifications of working with explosive materials and going into a place to look for a bomb when every other sane person is 300 meters away waiting to see what happens to the crazy bomb dog guy!

So...I get this phone call from the manager of the K-9 division (a worthy dude named "Kevin") and he asks me to come to his office.  This happens about 2 hours after Bob leaves my security post and I have to ask my supervisor for permission to go to Kevin's office.  I have to admit that I had no idea what I had done wrong (or right) to be invited to this meeting and I was nervous about being in the same room with an "UPPER ECHELON", I had heard horror stories about such "interviews".  Kevin came to the point quickly; asking me in the first minute I was with him if I wanted to be a bomb dog handler.  I said that it sounded interesting...at least that is what my mouth said, my heart screamed incoherently with what I hoped was joy!  I really was bewildered by this turn of fortune, I did not understand just how profound this moment was to be in my life but I knew that it ignited an enthusiasm in my soul that was never to fade or grow dim in the next 28 years.  I did manage to ask the piercing and incisive question "Why me?" and Kevin kindly referred me to the few moments that I spent with Bob and K-9 Belle.  He seemed impressed all out of proportion with the information that I had given Bob about Belle being in heat, and I told him so.  He informed me that the level of dog knowledge ( a term you will hear me use a lot!) within the K-9 division was sparse at best and that with the change over to bomb dog training  it was a good time to "change gears" within the K-9 division.

I took the offer.

Two days later I reported to the K-9 division headquarters.  This was comprised of an office/locker room and indoor/outdoor kennel building with 10 kennel units all of which were full.  I was surprised at the number of dogs (10) in training as I had only seen two or three deployed on a daily basis.  I was in for a series of surprises!  Surprise number 1...Seven of the dogs in the kennel were "donations" and were to be trained as bomb dogs as soon as possible.  None of them had been tested for working ability or temperament.  Surprise #2...No one thought this a strange way to do business.  Surprise #3...Three of the afore mentioned seven dogs seemed to be grumpy, at best.  Surprise # 4...the training consisted of a mish-mash of information gleaned from police and military sources, some of it 40 years old!  Surprise # 5...my foreman asked me to put a collar and leash on a dog that I would term "exceedingly grumpy!!!" and "show him my stuff"  I ripped off a silent and very brief prayer and jumped into deep water (figuratively speaking, of course).  As it turned out, "Tooky", a 4 year old German Shepherd Dog female, and I got along famously.  I think my foreman was a trifle disappointed but I have never been sure.  This incident again seemed to be blown out of proportion as it was related to the other 6 dog handlers in the division.  It did seem to cement my reputation as a "dog guy" and I was accepted into a fairly exclusive group of officers without further nonsense.  Surprise # 6...the dogs that I had seen working around the corporation campus were not, strictly speaking, fully trained in any discipline but were "visual deterrents".  The bulk of the bomb dog training was yet to be.   Surprise # 7 (a good one!)  I was assigned to work with Bob on the graveyard shift (lots of training time and opportunity) with the strict command (plea really) to turn out "two fully deployable bomb dogs" in three months time and, as you will see, despite some daunting challenges and a few non-believers, that is what we did.