Page 145 - Speedhorse April 2019

“Everybody knows that we have a dog, and we expect the utmost integrity and excellence for our trainers as well as providing a service for them . . .”
K9s4COPs, a 501(c)(3) non-profit foun- dation, is the largest foundation dedicated to providing K9s to law enforcement agencies in need. Since receiving its 501(c)(3) status in March 2011, K9s4COPs has provided 147 K9s resulting in more than $150,000,000 in contraband removed from the streets.
According to the K9s4Cops website, dogs have a rich history of working with law enforcement and military units dat-
ing back to the 1800s. Police K9s receive specific training to assist law enforcement in ways other tools cannot. The structure
of a dog’s nose gives it a sense of smell that is 300,000-500,000 times stronger than
the human nose, allowing them to follow
a scent trail undetectable to humans, even breaking down specific scents. For example, humans can smell beef stew cooking, whereas a K9 smells individual ingredients like the onions, carrots and thyme. For that reason, K9s are used to sweep venues for explosives, search buildings for narcotics, and apprehend suspects on the run.
The foundation now includes a sister organization, K9s4Kids (http://k9s4cops. org/kids/). The organization’s website states, “A safe learning environment is a basic requirement for educators and students alike. Safety features and plans are being reevalu- ated and discussions are being held on how best to provide more security. K9s4KIDs was launched from these discussions with the initiative to reach out to school district and college campus police and offer K9s trained and ready for action.”
Last year, principals from Ruidoso Downs met with members of local Ruidoso area law enforcement agencies to discuss security plans, which included canine unit patrols.
“She’s got a really good attitude, and she’s really friendly,” Alvarez said. “It’s been a real pleasure working with her, and she and I have been able to connect real easily.”
During her down time at the Alvarez home, Chini has become part of the family. Alvarez’s 10-year-old son helps care for her and provides play time.
Just like a police officer and his canine partner, if Alvarez is at the track, you can expect Chini to be there, too.
“In the offseason to get myself familiarized with her and her with me, I hired a gentleman here in El Paso to work with so I can get certified and get more experience on my own,” Alvarez said. “About four to five hours a week, we would do training and pretty much being in the environ- ment because I would get ahold of private barns or people that I know here and we would go train. I was able to set up samples. The instructor would set up in various parts of the barn, and we worked.
“Pretty much this off season was to familiarize with her and get a better understanding of how everything works and knowing how to read her
and for her to learn to listen to my commands,” Alvarez added. “The goal of the off-season was for us to get to know each other and to form
a partnership. It’s all new, but so far Chini
and I working together and getting to know each other, it’s been really good. I am looking forward to the season starting so we can put our training to work.”
Chini will play an important role in the track’s security efforts.
“Jeff True, our president and general man- ager at Ruidoso, has described Chini as the
tip of the spear,” Alvarez said. “We don’t want to run off people, but we want to make sure that those prohibited substances are not in our backside and to make it a fair playing field not only for our trainers and owners but also for the betting public.
“She’s a deterrent,” Alvarez continued. “Everybody knows that we have a dog, and we expect the utmost integrity and excellence for our trainers as well as providing a service for them. And having her here, I think it serves that purpose.”
Kristi, John, & Sinclair Schiller, founder of K9s4Cops, an organization formed to address the need for funding the purchase of K9s for law enforcement agencies.
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