Fort Hood MPs host initially Central Texas Working Dog Competition | Article

FORT HOOD, Texas – The 226th Military Police Detachment (Military Working Dog), 720th Military Police Battalion, hosted their very first Central Texas Working Dog Competition here March 6-10.

Sgt. First Class Jeffery Pearlstein, kennel master for 226th MP Det., was thrilled to have a possibility to build strong bonds in between Fort Hood and outdoors authorities companies by contending and training together.

“We’ve got to build these foundations,” he said. “It’s extremely vital for the mission. It’s not just on Fort Hood. It’s outside agencies working together, coming together and building this training. Seeing where we can all come together and build the capabilities of these dog teams. It’s going to be a great week to build partnerships and bonds and to show that the surrounding areas are vital to Fort Hood and we are vital to them.”

Throughout the week handlers and their dogs from 9 outdoors companies and Fort Hood had the ability to display their abilities throughout the hardest striking dog competitors and the barrier course occasions while likewise having opportunities to learn brand-new training methods and how to carry out life conserving treatments, like a tracheostomy, on their four-legged partners.

Staff Sgt. Jay Espinosa, team leader for 226th MP Det., said the function of hosting the competitors was to build a more powerful bond in between Fort Hood and outdoors companies in addition to teach and learn brand-new training methods.

“There’s a stigma that everybody trains the same, but we don’t,” he said. “That’s why we’re doing this. That way everybody gets a chance to learn different ways of how to train dogs, how to be a trainer or how to be an officer as well.”

Competitors Officer David Ashley, canine handler with the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office, and his partner Kraken; and Spc. Jarima Rivera, 226th MP Det., and her partner Naruto were thrilled to complete.

“I like competing,” Rivera shared. “I’m a competitor. I don’t like to lose.”

“(Kraken) is excited,” Ashley said. “He doesn’t get the opportunity to do this that often. For him to be able to get out there and actually perform what he’s trained to do, he’s going to be really excited. By the end of the week, he’s going to be a totally different dog.”

They both mored than happy to be contending and gaining from several various companies.

“We’re mainly surrounded by military and everybody does the same thing,” Rivera said. “I think getting away from the same thing and seeing something new from the outside (is) nice, seeing how my dog could compete with them.”

“I’m sure that each agency will find something that they can take back with them and apply in their own personal discipline,” Ashley said. “There’s lots of little things that if we haven’t practiced on a regular basis, or with some of the newer handlers, if they have not been taught that previously, now is an opportunity for them to learn and take it back to their agency.”

Rivera and Naruto’s competitive nature settled due to the fact that they won the title of leading dog in the explosive detection competitors. Officer Andrews Converse and his K9 partner Kova, with the University of Texas at Austin Police Department, were the winners of the hardest striking dog competitors and Deputy Mark Bell and his K9 partner Ekter, with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, were the winners in the narcotics detection competitors.