Dog from Holland sniffs his way to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department team
The newest member of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department comes from the land of tulips, has lots of fur and answers only in Dutch to “Joris.”
He’s a 2 1/2 -year-old Belgian Tervuren and is to become the department’s latest bomb-sniffing dog. Bomb sniffers are the department’s most highly trained K-9s in the agency’s 15-dog team.
After as much as seven weeks of training, he’ll become the latest bomb-sniffing dog in the Richland County Sheriff Department’s K-9 unit.
His handler is new to the group too. Megan Munib has been a Richland deputy for three years, but just recently joined the K-9 unit after working in the narcotics unit. Munib got to bond with her new partner Wednesday morning when her teammates presented Joris to her during a news conference.
“He’s a great dog, already I can tell,” Munib said. “Very friendly, a lot of energy, we match up perfectly – I’m energetic too.”
Munib said she set her mind to becoming a handler about a year ago, and that she grew up around dogs.
“I’m an animal lover,” Munib said. “The K-9s can do so much more than we can. They run faster, their senses are heightened, they can smell things that we would never be able to see.”
Joris will be one of two bomb sniffers on the team that has 14 other dogs. He’s stepping into the role previously held by Robby – a Belgian Malinois who succumbed to cancer March 16.
In the next few weeks, two more deputies and two new dogs will join the team, according to Sgt. Alan Cox. Cox supervises training of the department’s dogs.
For the first three weeks of his time on the force, Joris will stay in the kennel next to the sheriff’s department headquarters. After deputies inspect Munib’s home and make sure it’s safe for the dog, he’ll move in with his handler.
As she works with Joris, Munib will need to remember where he came from, and give her new partner commands in Dutch. Deputies have to learn about 30 words in Dutch to give their dogs all the required commands, Cox said.
But the most important part of the process, Munib said, is the same as working with a human partner – building trust in each other.
Glen Luke Flanagan: 803-771-8305, @glenlflanagan
K-9 UNIT
At its full strength, the sheriff’s department team consists of 17 dogs and 17 handlers. Joris and his handler make No. 15. Two more dogs are on their way.
Of the 17, 14 are Belgian Malinois, one is a Belgian Tervuren, one is a Dutch Shepherd and one is a German Shepherd.
TRAINING
Most of the dogs on the team are drug sniffers. Those dogs have to learn to distinguish among five different odors. Two of the dogs are bomb sniffers, and have to distinguish between 19 different odors.
This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 4:54 PM.