EAGLE, Idaho — The Eagle Police Department is welcoming its newest officer: a nearly 3-year-old chocolate lab named Grizz, trained to use his nose to help keep drugs off the streets.
Grizz and his partner, Eagle Police Deputy Sheriff Alex Lund, work together every day. Lund, who has been with the Ada County Sheriff's Office for four years, said he has always been interested in the K-9 program.
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While Grizz is not Eagle's first K-9, it has been a few years since the city has had a dedicated police dog. Lund said the community is very excited to have one back.
"He loves people, as you've seen. He loves to be pet," Lund said.
Before becoming a police dog, Grizz lived with an older family in Oklahoma. Lund said the family was unable to take care of him because of his size and energy.
A vendor in Custer, Washington, found the dog and brought him to their kennel.
Lund and his team traveled to Washington in early October and tested 11 dogs in total before selecting the chocolate lab, who will turn 3 years old in July.
When they first met him, the dog actually had a different name: Mellow.
"We were laughing," Lund said. "He comes in, and he's like this huge bear. So we thought the name [Grizz] was fitting for him."
After moving into Lund’s home last fall, Grizz spent the first few months just bonding with Lund and his family.
The formal narcotics detection class began in early February. The 160-hour training class was hosted by the Ada County Sheriff's Office and included seven dogs from different agencies, all of which were successfully certified. Grizz officially passed his certification on March 4.
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Grizz is certified through Idaho POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) to detect marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.
At a recent Eagle City Council meeting, Eagle Police Chief Travis Ruby explained the rigorous training process. The course began with initial drug odor imprinting in a controlled environment, placing all four drug odors in a single tote with a tennis ball to engage Grizz's playfulness.
Ruby shared an interesting fact about the training: hops (which are used in making beer) are a distant cousin to cannabinoids. To ensure the dogs wouldn't falsely alert on hops, the training team brought some in to test the dogs. Grizz and the other K-9s successfully ignored the scent, proving they are trained on specific illegal odors.
To ensure the dogs don't get used to a single environment, training took place at diverse locations across the Treasure Valley.
Ruby emphasized that the certification process puts a lot of pressure on the handler.
"The dog must be certified, and the handler must be certified, and then they're certified together," Ruby said, noting that Deputy Lund worked hard to ensure he was a good partner for Grizz.
Grizz rides in a special kennel in the back of Lund's patrol car every day. While the majority of their work involves sniffing vehicles during traffic stops, Grizz can also be called to the post office to search packages, or to local schools (at the request of School Resource Officers) to sniff lockers or vehicles in the parking lot.
"Our main goal is just to serve the city and get as much drugs off the street as we can," Lund said.
At the city council meeting, Councilman Robert Gillis asked for confirmation that Grizz would be assigned specifically to Eagle. Chief Ruby confirmed that Deputy Lund's full-time schedule is in Eagle, he drives an Eagle police car, and Grizz is stationed in Eagle.
Ruby noted that the addition of Grizz builds the narcotics program throughout the Ada County Sheriff's Office, pointing out that Star currently has one dog as well.
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Ruby added that funding Grizz in the city budget allowed Eagle to keep Deputy Lund, describing him as an "incredibly talented deputy" and a former training officer with excellent communication skills.
Beyond drug enforcement, Grizz also visits schools and community events to promote drug awareness.
"He's a great community outreach tool. Everybody loves seeing him, asks about him all the time, and he's just fun to have around," Lund said.
"Training is never gonna be over," Lund said, "We're gonna continue training, working on his skills, working on my skills."
