ROCK SPRINGS — When Officer Kim Brown removes Leo’s vest at the end of a shift, the police dog’s posture changes almost instantly. The intensity fades, replaced by a restless eagerness to play.

Moments earlier, Leo had been methodically searching for illegal drugs, nose low, body rigid, waiting for the signal that would release his favorite reward. Now, off duty, he becomes something else entirely.

That transformation is familiar to handlers in the Rock Springs Police Department’s K-9 unit, where police dogs live with their handlers. While the dogs are trained to detect drugs, track missing people and apprehend suspects, their handlers say the work begins long before a call ever comes in.

The department’s three K-9s, Uno, Leo, and Zuko, are all trained to detect narcotics. Each dog, however, alerts in a way that reflects its personality and bond with its handler. Uno will bark and scratch once alerted, eager to receive his ball as quickly as possible. Leo, by contrast, gives a quiet and calm alert by stopping and putting his nose on the source. Zuko’s alert is the preferred method: he stops, stares, and does not move his head until he is given his ball.

“All of our dogs smell the same drugs,” Officer Kendall Boglino said. “There’s about seven or eight that they’re imprinted on.”

Those substances include marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, fentanyl and more. The dogs are not trained to alert on legal medications or prescribed drugs. Instead, they are taught to recognize the odors emitted by illegal narcotics, even in extremely small amounts.

During training, dogs learn to associate those odors with a reward. Handlers place narcotics into specialized scent boxes along with a ball. When the dog correctly identifies the scent, the ball is released.

“They smell it, and they get their toy,” Boglino said.

From there, training expands to vehicles, buildings and real-world environments. The repetition is intentional. Handlers say consistency builds confidence, not just in the dog, but in the partnership.

“You feed off each other,” Officer Trevor Christensen said. “The handler’s energy travels down the leash.”

That partnership is tested on the street. During a recent traffic stop, Uno alerted on a large recreational vehicle packed with food, clothing and other items. A search uncovered less than half a gram of methamphetamine.

“That’s basically the size of a packet of sugar you’d get at a café and he could still smell it in that entire RV,” Christensen stated as he recalled the incident. 

Because of the dangers associated with substances like fentanyl, handlers carry Narcan for their dogs. If a dog were exposed, officers would use the same medication administered to humans, typically using two doses instead of one.

Beyond drug detection, the dogs are trained in tracking and apprehension. While bites are considered a use-of-force option, like Tasers or pepper spray, handlers say the dogs’ presence alone often leads to compliance.

Christensen recalls an incident involving a man armed with two sharpened axe handles who refused to comply with officers’ orders and appeared ready to fight. After Uno was released from the patrol car, the suspect fled and was eventually apprehended without Uno biting him. When Christensen and Uno returned to the car, Uno let out a loud sigh, clearly disappointed that he hadn’t gotten the chance to bite the suspect.

“People are much more likely to comply when they hear the dog, even more so sometimes than when they see us with guns,” Christensen said.

At home, the dogs’ lives differ as much as their personalities. Some live as family dogs, playing with children and sleeping on couches. Others remain more strictly working dogs, interacting with only a few people outside of work.

Most police dogs work until about 7 to 9 years old, retiring when handlers notice they are slowing down or losing focus. The decision, officers say, is not taken lightly.

For handlers, the connection runs deeper than training.

“It’s the only tool we have that loves us back,” Christensen said. Patrol cars, weapons and equipment can be stored at the end of a shift, their dogs cannot. “They care if we wake up in the morning.”