Lowndes Co. Sheriff’s Office hosts canine demonstration

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WALB) - The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office hosted a K-9 demonstration this year.

Over 100 canines from across the United States showed the community how they search, detect and apprehend Thursday.

Lowndes High Martin Stadium welcomed officers from all over the nation with their K-9′s., flashing their lights and sirens and ready to show what they’re trained and now nationally certified to do.

Bennett said he enjoyed being able to host this event in Lowndes County.(Source: WALB)

“The community has been bent over backward to make sure we had this done. We want to thank them for showing us the support that they did and in return, we want to show them what we do during the week,” said Hebert Bennett, Lieutenant of Lowndes County Sheriffs Department. “We’ll go through each exercise that we do and then we do a couple of extra things to liven up the crowd. So it’s basically free of charge. Thank you for what you’ve done for us and in return, we want to show you our support.”

This is the first time Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office has ever hosted a demonstration. They said it’s as important as any other demonstration because K-9 handlers must meet certain standards.

“There are several organizations that will certify you as a K-9 handler. This is the longest-tenured one. It’s the United States Police K-9 Association,” Bennett said.

They combined two national certifications which is what made the event so big.

“To even get to this point, this is the National certification. So, you would have had to regionally certify also which we did a few months ago in Florida. So just showing the public that we are a little bit better than the average requirement,” Bennett said.

Thursday over 100 officers and their canines met at Lowndes High Martin Stadium.(Source: WALB)

Bennett added that the dogs enjoy learning new things and doing their jobs.

“What happens in the certification is, we do everything that’s required in our police work. Examples, obedience, running, jumping, man detection and apprehension of course. And then on the detection side of it, we do explosives, narcotics, arson,” Bennett said.