By Kimberly Sherman

Tulare County K-9s are intensely loyal to their partners, and Dr. Nanette Kuswa is intensely loyal to Tulare County’s K-9s. Kuswa, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, has been caring for the Tulare County K-9 dogs since 1991. She serves Visalia, Tulare, and Farmersville police departments, and the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.

The tie Kuswa feels towards her four-legged patients and their police/sheriff handlers is obvious immediately. “A lot of people don’t understand the extent of this incredibly intense bond,” she says. “The handlers have to be animal lovers, and knowledgeable about animals. It’s a very special bond.”

There are three breeds of dog that have found their way into Kuswa’s care—and heart.

The Malinois is the current dog of choice for many agencies. A smaller, more compact dog than the time-tested German Shepherd, the Malinois looks like a shepherd in the nose and ears and has the black mask, but weighs in at a spry 10 to 20 pounds lighter. These dogs are often cross-trained for various tasks including protection, service, and finding drugs

“They are great working dogs, but they need a job,” says Kuswa. “They are very focused dogs and not commonly used as pets.”

Another working breed is the traditional “police dog,” the German Shepherd. “The German Shepherd has a very even temperament,” Kuswa explains. “This dog can be a family pet and then go out and work.” The German Shepherd is generally used to help its officer in the areas of both protection and agility.

Kuswa explains that, often, the job of a police dog is to help prevent a physical confrontation by its very presence. The Malinois and German Shepherd fit that mold well.

The Labrador Retriever, with its keen nose, is the third breed of K-9 that Kuswa treats. With just a few in service, Labradors serve primarily as drug search dogs due to their sharp sense of smell—and their playfulness. “Labs don’t have that intimidating look or temperament,” says Kuswa. “They really just like the play aspect of finding drugs.”

A police K-9 starts working at about 2 years of age, and generally works for about seven years before retiring from the force.

Healing Hounds

Though Kuswa has had to euthanize some K-9s due to their age, she feels fortunate to have been able to minimize what could have become fatal wounds in several of the working dogs. Aside from a broken leg sustained during a search, a dog who was shot in the face, and one who suffered a broken back, one of the most memorable of Kuswa’s patients literally jumped in front of a mentally ill man wielding a knife and took a couple of stabs to the chest, ultimately saving his handler’s life.

“The dogs have recovered and have gone back to work,” beams Kuswa. “They’re so important. They’re very much heroes in my mind.”

For nearly twenty years, Kuswa has had the opportunity to oversee these four-legged heroes as they showcase their abilities at the annual Sierra K-9 trials. This year marks the twenty-fifth annual event, making it one of the longest running events of its kind in the state.

“After nineteen years, I’m amazed at what these dogs can do and the sophistication in their ability to sniff out things at the trials,” says Kuswa. “On the streets it can take a team of qualified human officers hours to do what a dog can do in ten minutes.”

K-9 Trials

Sergeant Steve Phillips of Visalia P.D. outlines the event that draws law enforcement participants from Petaluma to San Diego, marking the Sierra K-9 trials as one of the state’s largest. This year the Sierra K-9 trials take place Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20.

Because most of the events take place within confined locations, Friday afternoon’s events are closed to the public, but the dogs will be evaluated on their working relationship with their handlers to prove their prowess in:

• Narcotics: The dogs search vehicles and buildings to quickly and effectively find narcotics.

• Evidence: Designed to simulate the act of finding evidence discarded by a fleeing suspect, the dogs pick up on the suspect’s scent in order to retrieve the article.

“A dog’s sense of smell is not just stronger; it’s more discriminating” than a human’s, says Kuswa. “The part of their brain that measures and analyzes scent is forty times bigger than (in) our brain. The sweat and hormonal fear aspect of a human gives them away.”

Saturday’s events bring in bigger audiences each year. The agility trials are at Visalia’s Plaza Park racetrack and events include obedience and agility competitions along with an area search, where K-9 dogs search for people hiding in boxes.

The protection phase of the event in the afternoon is a three-part event, which shows viewers the K-9s’ drive and ability to neutralize a threat, the advanced control a handler has over a dog, and the dogs’ ability to show restraint.

For more information on the twenty-fifth annual Sierra K-9 trials, call Sgt. Phillips at 713-4216.

Injuries sustained at the trials have included bite wounds and lacerations, a dog who suffered a fractured vertebra, and another who tore ligaments in his leg. Kuswa’s immediate treatment has proved vital; all of the injuries were caught early enough to be quickly treated so that the dogs could return to work.

With her extended understanding of the K-9 work dog, Kuswa explains the love the working dogs have for their career. “It’s a game to them; they love to work; it’s not a cruelty,” she says. “When their handler is putting on their uniform, the dogs get so excited. They want to work.”

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