Officer Nathaniel Anderson and Duco were among the top dogs at the second annual Canine Skills and Agility Competition in Grand Prairie last month. Serving Southlake as its official K-9 team since 2015, Anderson says he and Duco make time to participate in competitions maybe once or twice a year.
“I’m actually not a big fan of competitions,” Anderson remarks. “However, they are good to periodically participate in so that I can sort of gauge our experience level with surrounding K-9 teams. It’s a great opportunity to network and learn from more experienced handlers.”
The Grand Prairie Police Department began the Canine Skills and Agility Competition within its own department last year, where Anderson previously served as a judge for the event. With the competition going public this year at the AirHogs Stadium, 18 teams signed up to represent 14 local police departments for the event, according to MySouthlakeNews.com. While there were several competitions going on, Anderson and Duco took top honors in two categories specifically “Hard Dog” and “Top Narcotics Dog.”
“The ‘Hard Dog’ competition consisted of allowing the K-9’s three attempts to apprehend, or bite, the decoy,” Anderson explains. “The decoys then decided which K-9 had the hardest bite pressure. The ‘Top Narcotics’ competition was a combination of several events such as vehicle searches, building searches and packages.”
Since narcotics detection is Duco’s primary function, Anderson says he was pleased with the way he performed and how he matched up with surrounding K-9 units.
“Duco is a large, muscular dog, therefore I wasn’t surprised by the amount of force that he exhibited,” Anderson explains.
Anderson and Duco performed so well that they even tied for the overall award. The tiebreaker involved locating the decoy the fastest during a building search. Anderson and Duco marginally lost the tiebreaker, but Anderson was nevertheless proud of his partner’s performance and progress.
“I tell people all the time that I am blessed to be in the position that I am in, to have the partner that I have and to have the full support of my department,” Anderson says. “I love what I do and I push Duco and I to be the best team that we can be. I never want the citizens of Southlake or anyone to doubt whether they can depend on us or not.”