BOISE, Idaho — Working dogs spend their whole lives pleasing, obeying, and performing specific tasks for their handlers. Some dogs even giving their lives for a job "well done."
Whether it be police, military, or private security K-9, a dog can only be as good as its handler, which is why competent, quality K-9 handling is vital to the profession's success.
Jacob Fowler, owner and head trainer of Blue Line K-9 Training, knows this and has built a career doing it. A military and law enforcement veteran with years of K-9 experience, Fowler found a new way to serve his community through dogs.
The Middleton based trainer specializes in personal protection, scent detection, tracking, and basic obedience training. With experience and a desire to help others, Jacob reached out to Boise State University and exclusively provided an internship program for Criminal Justice majors.
"We understand that people going into the criminal justice program have needs, and they want to learn about the dog training programs," said Fowler.
The internship program is the first of its kind for Boise State.
"We were so excited to have that opportunity. It's really hard to get an internship at a police department with a K-9 unit because it's very specialized," said Jim Kerns, internship coordinator for BSU's Criminal Justice program.
There are 500 students in the Criminal Justice program and each student will have the opportunity to apply for the 15-week summer internship.
