Bachman and Legend – AHPD's newest K9 team

Airway Heights police officer Dennis Bachman had scattered several training aids around the office before he let his K-9 partner, Legend, out of his kennel.

After Bachman showed Legend the red ball, he had the dog lead him around the office, finding the training aids one by one. After Legend found each item, Bachman would let him have the ball for just a second before moving on to the next training aid.

This is one of the training exercises Bachman conducts when they are not on patrol together.

Bachman and Legend are the Airway Heights Police Department's newest K-9 unit, alongside Officer Mike Ziegler and Austin.

Bachman and Legend, a yellow lab/shepherd mix, were commissioned as a team on March 12.

After one month together, the partners have already worked with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Kalispel Tribal Police and Washington State Patrol on drug searches.

Before he came to Airway Heights, Legend had one year of experience as a K9 police dog on the west side of the state. He is trained to discern different odors including marijuana, crack cocaine and heroin.

Bachman said Legend's sense of smell is "so keen" he can pick up a drugs' scent in a vehicle, even if it's no longer present. Legend's reward for finding the drugs - and the whole reason for doing his job, according to Bachman - is playing with the ball.

"One of the most amazing things about a dog is their sense of smell," Bachman said. "When we (humans) smell a pizza, we just smell pizza. When a dog smells pizza, they smell the cheese, oregano and garlic."

When they are not in the field, Bachman will train with Legend 2-4 hours during the week. On their days off, Bachman takes Legend home where gets along with the officer's other dogs.

Bachman applied for the open K9 unit position in June after doing some research. He was previously a patrol officer and "wanted to do something different." He trained at the K9-DOC (Department of Corrections) K9 Narcotics Academy for six weeks - with a weeklong break halfway through the class - under the tutelage of Barbara Davenport.

At the academy, Bachman said dogs are selected with three main criteria: ability to walk on most surfaces, friendly with the public and a high ball drive. Dogs that have a high ball drive are less difficult to train because they have a built in method of motivation, in this case the ball.

Bachman was paired with Legend three weeks into academy after his first dog failed to respond to commands. The two trained during the week break to get caught up with the rest of the class.

"At night the instructor would set up the training aids and we would go into the area," Bachman said. "This dog knew what he was doing in searching for them. The biggest part was learning how to let go and trust your dog."

Now that they are a certified team, Bachman and Legend will be partners until the officer moves to a different department or the canine retires.

"I am very privileged to have gotten this position and I'm looking forward to what we find with Legend in the future," Bachman said.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.