PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Police Department has received the gift of a new police dog.
Joe and Jaime D’Amico donated $10,000 to the Port Angeles Police Department to purchase a new police dog — Bodie, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois — who will be the partner of Cpl. Kevin Miller.
“He’s going to work out very well,” Miller said.
Miller and Bodie will begin an intensive three-month training program in January, after which the pair will begin working as a team to patrol Port Angeles.
Bodie will be formally introduced to the community and “sworn in” as a Port Angeles K-9 officer at a regular meeting of the Port Angeles City Council after completion of his training.
There are currently two active police dogs in Clallam County: Bogey, who is handled by Port Angeles Police Officer Al Brusseau, and Chase, who is handled by Sequim Police Officer Mike Hill.
The dog handlers coordinate shifts to support all Clallam County law enforcement agencies, Miller said.
Sometimes they will share a case, taking turns when on a long tracking job or other police activities that may require several dogs, he said.
The D’Amicos, owners of Security Services Northwest, made the $10,000 donation in October after police dog Jag, a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, was euthanized in May after he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
“When Jamie and I decided to donate to the dog team program after [Miller] lost his dog Jag this past spring, it was a natural,”Joe D’Amico said in a prepared statement.
“We know the importance of a good K-9 program and how successful they are when it comes to officer safety and catching the bad guys,” D’Amico said.
Miller began a search for a dog who could fill the collar of Jag, his former canine partner.
Miller found Bodie at a police and protection dog company in New Mexico and brought him home on Oct. 15 to begin basic obedience training.
Bodie was bred in the Czech Republic and imported, and was “very raw,” Miller said.
Miller said that when he visited the kennels in October, he was attracted to Bodie’s working drive, his eagerness to please, and his lack of fear in unfamiliar situations.
“There is no perfect dog out there,” he said, but noted that Bodie, after only a few basic training sessions, is exceeding all expectations.
The similarity of names between the two Port Angeles dogs — Bogie and Bodie — was an accident.
Both dogs were named by Miller, who was looking for hard consonant sounds easy for the dogs to recognize as their names.
It wasn’t until after Bodie learned his name that the similarity of names was noticed, Miller said.
The dogs are trained for a number of purposes, including personal protection for officers, tracking and community outreach.
Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher said the department’s K-9 program did not have a budget for a new dog, and without the donation from the D’Amico’s the program would likely have been curtailed
A reduction in the K-9 program “would compromise the effectiveness and safety of our officers when performing certain functions,” Gallagher said in an official thank-you letter to the D’Amicos.
Finding just the right dog for the job is a challenge, he said.
Gallagher said a police dog must be capable of chasing down and detaining a wanted felon, then turn around to visit an elementary school class.
“This takes extensive training at the hands of a very accomplished and capable trainer such as Corporal Miller,” he said.
Miller has worked with police dogs since the age of 17, is a master police dog trainer and leads an annual regional police dog handling conference organized by Security Services Northwest at the company’s training facilities at Fort Discovery.
He also handled Port Angeles police dog Arco, who died in 2007.
The police dog training and certification session will be taught by Miller from Jan. 3 to March 25, and with three other new dogs from departments across the state they will train in Port Angeles and Sequim.
________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.