Meet Ares and Sassy, DCSO’s and Bend PD’s newest K-9s

(Update: Adding new Bend PD K-9, Sassy)

Tracking dogs and their officer partners are ready and rarin' to do their jobs

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and Bend Police Department each introduced their newest K-9 teams to the public in separate announcements Thursday.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office reported the completion of training for its newest dual-certified (people and drugs tracking) patrol K-9, Ares (pronounced /eh·reez/).

K-9 Ares is a 3 1/2-year-old German shepherd from Germany.  This week, he successfully completed his narcotics certification training, making him dual-certified. 

K-9 Ares was partnered with Deputy Michael Mangin last September and received his tracking and apprehension certification the following month.  Deputy Mangin is a 7-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and has served in the positions of corrections deputy and patrol deputy.  He is also a U.S. Army veteran.

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office now has six K-9 teams assigned to the Patrol Division. 

DCSO has three dual-certified K-9 teams, meaning they are certified in both tracking and apprehension, as well as narcotics detection: K-9 Ezel and Deputy Jeremiah Johnson, K-9 Masa and Deputy Ben Bartness, K-9 Ares and Deputy Michael Mangin; one K-9 team certified in only tracking and apprehension, K-9 Brolo and Deputy Keith Slater; and one K-9 team certified in only narcotics detection, K-9 Molly and Deputy Stacy Crawford.

The sixth DCSO team is K-9 Copper and Deputy Donny Patterson, who are currently training toward their mission of finding lost and/or missing persons. 

K-9 teams are on-call 24 hours a day. They also devote a significant amount of time to ongoing training. They train individually almost every day and train with other K-9 teams in Central Oregon on a weekly basis. 

DCSO's K-9 teams also regularly assist other law enforcement agencies throughout Central Oregon. All of their K-9 teams are certified annually by the Oregon Police Canine Association (http://www.opca.com/home).

Meanwhile, Bend Police also have a new drug detection K-9, Sassy, that is working the streets with Officer Jeff Perkins.

In October, Perkins was selected as a drug detection dog handler and was certified through the Washington Department of Corrections' 240-hour handler school.  Perkins has been a police officer for over 14 years and is a Force Tactics Instructor with the department.  He is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.  While at handler school, Officer Perkins met Sassy.

K-9 Sassy is a rescue dog from the Blue Mountain Humane Society located in Walla Walla, Washington. She was brought in as a stray and was never reclaimed. She is believed to be 2-3 years old, and is likely a mix of Australian Kelpie and other breeds.

"Her drive to work is outstanding and is part of what makes her a good fit for this role," Lt. Julie McConkey said.

K-9 Sassy is certified through both Washington State Police Canine Association and the Oregon Police Canine Association. This dynamic duo is now back in Bend, and out on the street working with their patrol team. In her time off, K-9 Sassy enjoys spending time with her family and relaxing on the couch.

The Bend Police Department's drug detection K-9's (Sassy and Ladybug) are responsible for locating narcotics in vehicles, closed packages, in buildings, and at crime scenes.  They are specially trained to detect specific types of drug odors, and to alert their handler to their presence.  As members of the Patrol team, they are able to quickly respond to traffic stops where there may be drugs in a vehicle. 

All of the city's K-9 teams train weekly, and deploy often to assist members of the department or other Central Oregon agencies.