By For Clayton Innis, the chance to be a K-9 handler for the Aberdeen Police Department is a dream come true.
“Since I decided I wanted to be in law enforcement, that had been a dream of mine. And the opportunity came up, so I talked to my wife about it, and she said, ‘If you don’t put in, I’m gonna be mad at you.’ So I was like, ‘I’ll put it in for it,'” Innis said.
He found out in the middle of August that he’d been selected for the job.
Around the same time, his partner Denny was selected from a group of about 10 dogs offered by the Next Level Canine Institute.
Right after Denny was picked, he went home with Innis. The two spent a week bonding before heading to Sioux Falls for six weeks of training.
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“The actual training part was great. It was six weeks of playing with the dog. The paperwork side of camp was not as fun, but that’s how everything goes. We had to write two pretty long papers and take a written test during it,” Innis said.
One of the papers was on the different drives all dogs have, he said. The other was about case law pertaining to using K-9s.
Officer Clayton Innis poses by his new partner Denny, the Aberdeen Police Department’s latest drug dog. Courtesy photo.
New K-9 partner is plenty energetic
Denny’s disposition is an energetic and friendly one, Innis said.
“Sometimes overly energetic, but he just wants attention and wants to be pet and played with,” he said.
Denny and Innis have been on patrol since the second week of October.
“It’s definitely different. A thing I really enjoy is I always have a partner with me. He comes everywhere I go. If it’s work-related, I bring him with me. He gets mad at me if I leave him at home,” Innis said.
“He’s one of the few constants we have in law enforcement,” he added.
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On Sunday, Dec. 28, Dex, a longtime police department drug dog, retired at the age of 10.
That makes Denny one of two drug dogs working in the county. The Brown County Sheriff’s Office also has a K-9.
Denny trained to detect six drugs
Denny is an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois-shepherd mix. He’s been trained to detect six controlled substances, but has yet to train on marijuana.
Innis said he’s waiting to see what the South Dakota Legislature does with marijuana laws before sending Denny to training.
He said APD detectives Jarrod Zaruba and Tom Barstad and Brown County deputy and K-9 handler Josh Lee were instrumental in helping Innis prepare for his new job.
“And a big thank you to my wife and my parents for helping balance these schedules because my schedule went from kind of hectic to very hectic. I wouldn’t be able to do it without any of their support,” Innis said.
