By JESSICA WELSHANS

For The Express

HARRISBURG – The new wildlife conservation officers who recently joined the Pennsylvania Game Commission are probably the agency’s youngest, and likely the most specialized.

Three dogs, introduced to their handlers at 8 weeks old, have been training to help the agency in its duties across the state.

The K-9 unit is comprised of Labrador retrievers Storm, handled by Wildlife Conservation Officer Larry Hergenroeder; Gunner, handled by WCO Derek Daly; and Skye, handled by WCO Dave Allen.

Ten years ago, two dogs started in a pilot program the agency launched, but since then, they have retired and the commission has been without K-9s.

“Those two dogs were assigned to a WCO who also had district duties, so they had other things to do. We are running this program a little different,” said Tom Grohol, director of the agency’s Bureau of Wildlife Protection.

He said the commission created three investigation positions with a specialized unit so the dogs and handlers will be experts in more complicated investigations.

“The K-9s will be a tool for the other officers in the field to request if they have an investigation where they need specialized skills,” Grohol said.

This K-9 unit will be broken up across the whole state. The state Game Commission has the Commonwealth broken into regions, and each K-9 WCO will cover two districts.

Many states already have and use K-9s in wildlife law enforcement. New York, Maine and New Hampshire all have K-9 units. Grohol said there is a need in Pennsylvania for such a unit to help solve some of the complex cases the agency tackles.

“Many wildlife agencies across the country have been using K-9s as a tool for a very long time because of their sense of smell. They can save officers a lot of time in conducting searches, locating illegal wildlife, tracking suspects and things like that,” Grohol said.

The dogs and their handlers have been training at Haldeman Island, north of Harrisburg, where they showed off some of the dog’s skills on an agility course and some article search training.

“These dogs are still puppies and starting out. When they are fully trained, they can search that field in five minutes, where it would take a whole handful of officers several hours, if they can even do it as well,” Grohol said.

All three puppies have been with their handlers since they were picked up from the breeder in Maine.

“They have been doing their daily functions since, and they live with the officers,” Grohol said. “It’s important that the dogs are out there with the officers getting experience in all the environments where the officers spend their time.”

Daly is 5-month-old Gunner’s handler, and this is his first time training and working with a dog in law enforcement.

He has trained his own dogs for upland bird and waterfowl.

“Gunner has been good from the start. He has been a very good puppy, and I have trained Labs before for hunting purposes. I am familiar with how their personalities can range, as far as stubbornness and being playful,” Daly said.

The pup is laid back, but Daly said he has a strong drive for learning and is progressing well in his training.

K-9s coming on board will allow the agency to be more efficient.

Grohol said sometimes all it takes is to tell a suspect who isn’t being cooperative that the officers are bringing dogs in.

“Our key is we wanted friendly dogs. They aren’t trained to bite. We wanted dogs that can be socialized with the public and still be usable,” he said.

When training is finished, the dogs will be able to detect evidence and search for illegally taken wildlife or tracking of suspects.

The agency believes the dogs will be able to assist in investigations full time this fall.