Metro’s unit is top dog again

Kris Hill

Monday, Oct. 23, 2000 | 11:29 a.m.

Metro Police dogs and their handlers dominated their competitors over the weekend at the K-9 trials at Western High School.

Dogs partnered with officers from Metro earned the department first place in the "top agency" team competition, as well as going one-two-three in the "top dog" category.

Jim Seebock and his dog Repo were first in top dog, Mike Horn and Dak were second, and Tom Moore with his partner Sico finished third.

Over the three-day trials, officers attended training seminars before taking the dogs through various phases of the competition, including search and apprehension.

The canines and their partners are awarded points for obedience, agility and handler protection.

Metro pairs took first place in three of the six categories: Dave Truax and Jet in narcotics; and Moore and Sico in both area search and handler protection. The department's K-9 units also placed in the top five in each category as well.

The top agency and top dog award goes to the team and pair that earn the most points throughout the competition.

This is the third consecutive year that Metro's dog teams won top dog and top agency.

"We were so ecstatic that we did as well as we did," said Moore, who has been with the department 11 years and the K-9 unit for 3 1/2.

The trials hosted 43 teams from Nevada and several Western states, including Arizona, California, Idaho, and Utah.

Though the event is hosted by Metro, the officers must pay for the entire event themselves. The K-9 units set up a nonprofit organization, the Friends for Las Vegas Police K-9s, through which they do all the fund-raising.

During the week before the Fourth of July they sell fireworks. The sales raise most of the $10,000 or more that will be needed to pay for the event.

This year the organization received the support of Siegfried and Roy, who donated cash and plaques for first-place winners of each category.

The competition is in its 10th year. Metro's K-9 unit was established 41 years ago.

Metro's unit has 13 officers and 23 dogs, 13 of which are patrol dogs trained to find suspects, victims or evidence. Six of the canines are trained to find drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. The other four are explosive detector dogs.