Salem grad, partner form park service’s 2nd K-9 team
By KEVIN HOWELLArticle Photos
Working with just the second national park patrol K-9 in the nation, Salem native Todd Austin, a ranger at the Lake Mead Recreation Area in Las Vegas, is making strides to combat crime.
A 1994 Salem High School graduate, Austin studied at Ohio State University before migrating to Las Vegas in 1997. He completed training with K-9 Onyx in July after nearly two months of training together.
Although there are several K-9s trained in search and rescue and narcotics at national parks across the country, the 2 1/2-years-old german shepherd Onyx is only the second one trained to track, bite and hold suspects, Austin said.
"We needed a dog in that capacity because we have a lot of people who run from us," he said, adding that a dog can close distances faster than humans.
In addition to biting and holding, Onyx can search structures in significantly less time than officers, according to Austin.
"We don't have to send officers in to structures to do tedious, dangerous searches," he said, stating that Onyx can search one level in under a minute, whereas it would take an officer approximately 20 minutes.
Trained in Holland as a sport dog, Onyx was chosen because he would easily learn the skills needed to be a patrol K-9. As a sport dog, he owned skills that have qualified him as both a narcotics and patrol K-9, Austin said.
Living with Onyx for five weeks of training and bonding, Austin learned to command him and recognize changes in his behavior, specifically what each one means- differentiating drugs or a hiding suspect.
Following the bonding phase, the pair spent five weeks in field training, where Austin learned to work with Onyx in real-life situations.
Kevin Howell can be reached at khowell@salemnews.net
