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Last month, the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office welcomed its newest recruit – a bomb sniffing dog named Gunner.
Deputy Sean Capps has had Gunner since he was 8 weeks old and as the dog grew up he became very “high-strung” and Capps began looking at ways to channel his energy. He began looking into opportunities to train Gunner as an explosives detecting dog, getting in touch with a trainer in Augusta County and doing some preliminary training, which Gunner “knocked out of the park.” Capps presented a proposal to the sheriff’s office for training Gunner and having him become a bomb dog for the department.
The pair did their first patrols over the weekend, working the Lee-Jackson Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Community Day parades. Capps told The News-Gazette on Monday that it went “awesome.”
“[Gunner] did great,” he said. “He was extremely interested and worked very hard.”
And, no, no bombs were found.
Gunner is a German shorthair pointer, a breed of dog that was bred for bird hunting. Between March and December of last year, Capps and Gunner trained two or three times a week, with Gunner being formally certified as a bomb dog on Dec. 2. He can detect not only explosive devices, but also various types of firearms and the residue on shell casings. Capps said that Gunner can find casings as small as 22 caliber, “and he’s very, very good at it.”
Gunner is the first explosives dog the sheriff’s office has had, placing the department in a unique position among surrounding departments. The nearest department with a dog trained to detect explosives is in Roanoke, and it can take time to arrange for that dog to travel to assist other departments.
In a county with three colleges, Capps told The News-Gazette, “It’s a lot more beneficial to have a dog that works for you than having to wait hours on end for a dog to come from a neighboring jurisdiction “K9 Gunner is a huge asset for our agency and our community,” said RCSO Deputy Chief Tony Mc-Faddin. “Lately, a typical response time for an explosives detection K9 to assist our agency can be anywhere from two to four hours. Deputy Capps and K9 Gunner are readily available for any situation that may come up and will help us resolve these situations much more rapidly.”
Gunner got a bit of field training last summer when he and Capps were called in to assist with the search for a firearm believed to have been thrown from a vehicle by a suspect traveling on Interstate 81. Over a two-week period, Capps and Gunner searched the area between exit 195 and Lowe’s, finding the gun near the off-ramp.
“I was very confident with Gunner and with the situation in general,” Capps said. “It was good situation for us, not only to go out and use that as training, but to get a reward out of it, not just for him, but for me, showing that in a span [of a few months] how far he had come.”
The community will see a lot of Gunner at events in the future, as he can interact with the public more than the department’s other police dogs who are trained to bite if necessary. Capps and Gunner will be attending Virginia Military Institute’s football games this fall, helping search for explosives.
“It’s cool for the community, for them to see Gunner,” Capps said. “A lot of people come up to me at different events and ask questions. A lot of people are under the impression that he’s a drug dog, because that’s what this community has always had. It’s opening the eyes of the community that this dog can be around [them]. It’s a good experience for them to see that, especially for kids.”
Capps said that he and Gunner will continue doing regular training sessions to make sure Gunner is ready to go for any situations that arise. Capps also noted how much he likes having a partner.
“It’s very cool to have a partner and have him with me every night and every day that we work, and being able to just know whenever I get in the car he’s going to stick his head through his little port and lick me on the face or something,” he said. “There’s never a dull moment with that dog.”
Gunner, for his part, very much enjoys his new job.
“When I’m getting ready for work and he sees me in my uniform, he’ll start going nuts,” Capps said with a chuckle.
