This is Deputy Shawn and K9 Mike.
What I learned from shadowing him is that K9 officers actually take their dog home with them, it’s their family pet. They take them on walks, watch TV with the dog by their side. Even when the officer retires, the dog does as well.
He was practicing with his dog when I filmed above, saying one word commands and the dog would snap into whichever mode the command merited. One of the words meant “look for drugs” and the dog started running around the room sniffing everything and ran towards me to search me. That was freaky, though I knew I haven’t touched any drugs in my life, when a dog, trained to take you down, is targeting you it’s a surreal experience. Especially since I filmed a crack addict the week before.
Another cool thing I learned is that the car has a spring loaded door that is controlled by a remote that the officer carriers with him, so if the officer is being attacked by suspect, all he has to do is press the button and the door will spring open so the dog can attack the perpetrator.