Competition brings out the 'beast'

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss
  • 15th Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) --  Thirty-nine military working dog handlers from the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, U.S. and the Honolulu Police Department, as well as from Japan and Alaska, brought their K-9s through a series of events during the 2010 Hawaiian Islands Working Dog Competition at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Nov. 15 through 19.

The competition served to both reward the dog teams for their hard work throughout the year and bring different services together.

"We started the week with building, warehouse and vehicle explosives detections and searches," said Army Master Sgt. Donald Nelson, of the 558th Military Police Company and a judge for the competition. "We took them to a (movement over urban terrain) site and had them go through buildings with gunfire and bombs going off; also explosives search. (Nov.18) we took them through the agility obstacle course."

The week ended with the obedience course, handler protection/aggression demonstration, and the hardest-hitting dog competition, won by Staff Sgt. Ricky Renfroe and his Belgian Malinois, Jimmy. Both are assigned to the 647th Security Forces Squadron here.

"He's very high-strung; he likes to bite people," Sergeant Renfroe said of his 4-year-old dog, who almost died of heat stroke last year in training, but recovered after several months of rehabilitation.

That statement alone proves this is not like any regular dog competition. The tricks of these beasts' trade are their abilities to detect and bite.

"There is just no replacement for a dog's nose," Sergeant Nelson said. "Dogs smell as we see. On the battlefield, every team that goes out -- and we have dogs attached to mostly special forces and infantry units -- sees them as an invaluable asset."

A lot of teams will not even go out without a dog, he said. They can smell and hear things human never could.

"They've saved numerous lives, just like in Vietnam when dogs could hear trip wires," Sergeant Nelson said. "They've stopped people from going through booby traps and danger areas. They're valuable to the mission, both abroad and out here."

The competition was sponsored by the 728th Military Police Battalion and the 13th Military Police Detachment.