Kirtland's military working dogs and handlers have close relationship

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The Albuquerque Tribune

By Casey Phillips


While moving through heavy brush along a riverbank in Iraq in March, Air Force Staff Sgt. Glenn Gordon's partner pointed to the riverbed.

The area had already been searched and was supposed to be clear, but a closer look revealed three men with assault rifles, hiding.

Why they didn't shoot, Gordon will never know. What he does know is he owes his partner Ricky his life.

That Ricky, a 7-year-old German shepherd, wears a black-and-silver fur coat instead of combat fatigues doesn't affect their ability to work together, Gordon said.

Ricky is a military working dog. He and his colleagues are used on domestic or foreign military assignments as bomb- or drug-detectors similar to the K-9 units in civilian police forces.

Gordon, Ricky and another team, Sgt. Robert Black and his German shepherd, Erin, returned to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque in June from a seven-month tour of Iraq.

"The thing is, I know he's trained, and I know I'm trained," Gordon said of Ricky. "The way I look at it, I look out for him, and he looks out for me - that's his job."

Kirtland has had working dogs since it was founded in 1947, said Tech. Sgt. Steven Blake, Kirtland's kennel master.

With 13 handlers - all enlisted men - and 11 dogs, the 377th Security Forces is the Air Force Material Command's largest working dog unit, Blake said.


At Camp Warhorse

The dogs are housed off base, at Bolton Animal Hospital, after heavy rains earlier this month left 6 inches of water in the Kirtland kennels.

The flooding didn't cause serious structural damage, but it did damage a "bite suit" lying on the floor.

A $376,000 renovation package that includes installing larger drainage pipes and resurfacing the floors could delay the dogs' return to the base until August, Blake said.

Inside Bolton, the military working dogs live in separate quarters from the other animals, tended to by Kirtland handlers.

During this temporary relocation, the dogs' days begin as usual at 5:30 a.m. when handlers arrive to take them out for patrol before returning in the evening, Blake said.

While stationed at Camp Warhorse near Baquaba, Iraq, a town 30 to 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, the dogs' daily routines included tasks like patrolling the base perimeter, searching vehicles for explosives and helping search buildings for hidden traps or insurgents, Gordon said.

Overseas, handlers' bonds with their dogs grow stronger because they aren't separated at the end of the day as they are at home, Gordon said.

"Unlike other soldiers who might not have anybody to talk to, the dog is always going to listen," Gordon said.. "He's going to look at you, and he's going to understand, because he just went through the same thing."

During their tour, Gordon said he and Black put 150 insurgents in prison and found such things as propaganda CDs, mortars and plastic explosives.

The military had around 40 handler teams in Iraq, but Gordon said he and Black were the only handlers stationed at Camp Warhorse.

For the most part, the dogs were treated like other military personnel and even received mail from admirers back home, Gordon said.

"The dogs got care packages, too," he said. "You've got a lot of dog lovers back in the states, and we'd send them pictures.

"They would send us everything from dog jerky treats to balls and bite toys."


Of alpha males and house dogs

At Bolton, where the Kirtland dogs are temporarily housed, an unknown visitor prompts German shepherd Cir, the alpha male, to pace restlessly, bark and jump up on his cage door.

Ricky, meanwhile, rests quietly on the floor, looking a though he couldn't care less about the intrusion, unless it's Gordon or food.

Dogs have the job until they get too old to be effective. If they're deemed to have a good "house dog" temperament, they are adopted to those with civilian or military K-9 experience, Blake said.

Two Kirtland German shepherds - 12-year-old Cir and 11-year-old Zorro - are ready to retire. Two dogs with more contrasting personalities would be hard to find, Blake said.

"If you got Zorro out here, he'd be rolling in the grass and letting everybody pet him - he's going to make a good house dog," Blake said.

"Cir's temperament is a little aggressive around food. So his adopter has brought out the family to start building a report."

If adoption isn't an option, the base could return dogs to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, to help train future handlers.

When dogs are taken out of service, the base puts on quite a show, said 1st Lt. Rose Richeson, a Kirtland public affairs officer .

"For the retirement of Adis (a former Kirtland working dog), it was amazing - we did it just like a military retirement," she said. "All the dogs were lined up on the stage and went crazy when everyone started clapping."

Forging relationships

When the dogs die, whether from natural causes or in the line of duty, their remains are kept in black-and-white urns housed in a glass case at the base kennel in the shadow of the Manzano Mountains.

Replacing a dog, which costs around $3,300 apiece, can take a long time, because they're in high demand, Blake said.

"We've been short two drug dogs and have had them on order since 2003, almost as long as I've been here," he said. "We are number 54 on the list, but that's just Air Force wide, and we may be number 75 on the overall list."

With handlers serving for only one to three years at any given facility, a single dog might go through a dozen or more handlers in its lifetime, Blake said.

The transition period between handlers can be rough.

"When the dogs realize it's not their handler that lets them out of the kennel, there may be a growing period when the dog doesn't listen to the handler as much until he tells them who's boss," he said.

To develop a relationship with a new handler, a dog goes through a daily obedience course. This way, the dog knows when it's time to get down to business, Blake said.

With Gordon scheduled to transfer to a new base in February, his two-year partnership with Ricky will come to an end.

Although he has worked with six dogs over as many years, leaving Ricky will be anything but easy.

"Iraq brought us closer together," he said. "I'm not really thinking about it now, but it's going to be real hard to leave."