Wayward dog turns to side of good

Published 5:00 pm Saturday, June 5, 2004

Once a drug dealer’s buddy, Rusty escapes Death Row and joins the cops.

The great irony of his young life – how, after a puppyhood misspent running with the wrong crowd, he’s now helping to put bad guys behind bars – may well be lost on Rusty.

The simple joie de vivre, that’s another matter. It’s evident in every tug on the leash, every gleeful romp on the police station floor with his favorite red rubber ball.

Even his job – sniffing out illegal drugs – is pursued with seemingly boundless enthusiasm.Hard to believe he’s calmed down a bit since his eight-week K-9 training earlier this spring.

“He was pretty hyper,” said Bainbridge Police Officer Dale Johnson, Rusty’s handler. “He may not seem like it, but he’s mellowed out. Being a year old, he’s still got puppy in him.”

The department’s newest “hire” – he’s not a member of the police guild, and works only for kibbles – is a one-year-old chocolate Labrador mix. Rusty comes to law enforcement via the enforcement of laws, seized from a dealer in a raid on a methamphetamine lab in Whatcom County.

Incarcerated in an Eastern Washington shelter with no apparent prospects for adoption, Rusty sat on Death Row – until he was identified as having good “hunt drive,” and brought to the attention of the Washington State Patrol.

The agency trains drug- and bomb-sniffing dogs for its own use and that of other Washington departments.

Johnson, it so happened, had been lobbying off and on during his 13 years with Bainbridge Police for creation of a K-9 unit, and got the OK last year. The department had no particular need of an explosives-sniffing dog, and only calls in a tracking dog – to pursue and subdue fleeing suspects – perhaps a half-dozen times a year.

What it did need is a dog with a nose for marijuana, meth and other contraband turning up with increasing regularity in vehicle stops and on school campuses.

“There has been increased (drug) activity, unfortunately,” Chief Matt Haney said. “It would be great if we didn’t need one.”

An application to the WSP was accepted, and the training program was funded through asset forfeiture.

Johnson and Rusty learned to work together over eight weeks, a 240 classroom-hour regimen – handler guiding dog around rooms, cars, even tractor-trailer rigs, and dog guiding handler to the stash.

Trained for passive response, Rusty announces the presence of contraband by sitting on his haunches and waiting for his reward: the ball.

Not all dogs make the cut; even with an excellent nose, a recruit can still wash out if it can’t stay focused on the task at hand.

But Rusty excelled, and is now a graduate of the Washington State Patrol’s K-9 school, Class of 2004. His classmates included a yellow Labrador, a pit bull terrier and a golden retriever, all of whom are entering service with the WSP.

Rusty lives with Johnson, an island resident who can be called out at short notice should the dog’s skills be needed.

In a demonstration in the police station conference room this week, Rusty shows his mettle finding contraband borrowed from the department’s evidence vault.

He quickly ferrets out a seven-gram package of methamphetamine tucked into the underside of a folding table; led into another office, his nose quickly detects a one-pound package of marijuana in a desk drawer.

With each success, out comes the ball, greeted with a rapturous response and a good roll on the floor.

“They always start out with a focus problem, but the more they drive toward the (reward of the) toy, the more they focus,” Johnson said.

In addition to his duties in the field, Rusty will be available for outreach with schools, community groups and service organizations – “whoever will have us,” Haney said.

For now, it’s a question of learning his role among new friends – this time, the good guys.

“It’s a new program, and he’s a new dog,” Johnson said. “Every time we do an actual application, it’s going to be a new experience for us as well.”