Meet Aspen: Mount Pleasant's newest K-9 officer
Aspen, an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois, has joined the Mount Pleasant Police Department as a patrol dog.
Quite a team
Mount Pleasant Police Officer Zach Giovannoni and K-9 Aspen pose in front of their squad car parked at Mount Pleasant Police Department, 8811 Campus Drive.
Training
Aspen is ball-rewarded: When he finds narcotics, people or other things he is looking for, he is given a ball to play with. As a result, Aspen is conditioned to equate the smell of narcotics with his ball; in his mind he is looking for his ball, not drugs.
Picking up on a scent
Aspen is required to do a minimum of 16 hours of training a month to keep his skills honed.
K-9 Aspen
K-9 Aspen is the newest patrol dog addition to the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
Honoring
Aspen, Mount Pleasant Police Department's new patrol dog, will take over for K-9 Ares, who died last October.
Aspen
Aspen, an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois, has joined the Mount Pleasant Police Department as a patrol dog.
Alex Rodriguez
Reporter - Photographer
Raised just outside of McHenry, Illinois, Alex is the business reporter and staff photographer for The Journal Times. He considers himself a Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen all-in-one. Alex is a graduate of SIUC in Carbondale, Illinois. Twitter: @arodatjt
New dog, so many new tricks.
