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OfflineYthanA
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Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars
    #25637233 - 11/24/18 09:59 PM (5 years, 4 months ago)

Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars
www.nytimes.com

Officer Tulo will turn in his badge in January, forced into early retirement by the country’s waning war on weed.

In his eight years with the Police Department of Rifle, Colo., Tulo, a yellow Labrador retriever, has helped with more than 170 arrests in the town of 9,000. But one of his old-fashioned skills hasn’t just fallen out of demand since the state legalized marijuana, it has become a liability: State court rulings mean that Tulo’s keen nose for pot imperils his work on other drug cases.

As states and cities loosen their drug laws, the highly trained dogs their police departments use to sniff out narcotics can’t always be counted on to smell the right thing.

“A dog can’t tell you, ‘Hey, I smell marijuana’ or ‘I smell meth,’” said Tommy Klein, Rifle’s police chief. “They have the same behavior for any drug that they’ve been trained on. If Tulo were to alert on a car, we no longer have probable cause for a search based on his alert alone.”

Older canine workers across the country — and 14 narcotics dogs in Canada, where retail marijuana sales began last month — are being eased out of the labor force. When the Police Department in Winnipeg, Manitoba, went shopping this year for a pup, the Belgian Malinois they chose, named Ivy, arrived with a more modern advantage: She has no reaction to marijuana.

In many places that have legalized the drug, including California, Oregon, Maine and Vermont, most new recruits are, like Ivy, no longer being trained to sniff out pot. And even departments in states where marijuana remains verboten are hedging their bets.

“I just did a dog for a department in Texas that asked me not to put marijuana on her,” said Ron Cloward, the owner of Top Dog Police K-9 Training and Consulting in Modesto, Calif. “They had the feeling there could be some changes coming there, and they wanted to plan ahead.”

In Colorado, an appeals court ruling last year helped hasten Tulo’s retirement. Kilo, a drug-detection dog in rural Moffat County, flagged a man’s truck for containing contraband. When officers searched it, they found a pipe with what appeared to be methamphetamine residue.

But Kilo was trained to find multiple drugs, including marijuana. Even though no marijuana was found in the truck, the three-judge panel said Kilo’s signal was no longer a reliable indicator of illegal activity. The court ruled that officers therefore had no legal grounds to search the truck, and overturned the conviction.

The Colorado Supreme Court is reviewing the decision and plans to hear arguments next month. But some departments in the state aren’t waiting to show their marijuana-trained dogs the door.

Arvada, a community outside Denver, decided to retire one of its older dogs, Beaker, because of that case and other court rulings. Officer Brian Laas handed Beaker’s duties over to Rudy, a younger dog that is trained to detect four illegal drugs — cocaine, heroin, Ecstasy and methamphetamine — but not marijuana.

“This has been a really difficult thing for some of the smaller departments that can’t afford to take out trained dogs,” said Officer Laas, who is the president of the Colorado Police K-9 Association.

Suitable dogs don’t come cheap: It typically costs at least $6,000 to buy a working dog and thousands more to train it. A Rifle resident raised money on GoFundMe to buy the department two new Labrador puppies, Jax and Makai.

“The community really came together and rallied to help us out,” said Cpl. Garrett Duncan, Tulo’s handler and partner.

The laws and legal decisions around the use of drug dogs are something of a patchwork, leaving states grappling with what to do.

Some departments in states that have legalized marijuana have decided to keep their current dogs and take their chances in court, said David Ferland, the executive director of the United States Police Canine Association, a training and certification organization. Others have shifted their dogs’ duties, using them only in places where marijuana remains off limits, like jails and schools.

Many departments are trying to future-proof themselves by dropping marijuana from their training programs. “Almost every state is trying to get ahead of this,” Mr. Ferland said. “Nearly every one is having some newly trained teams not introduce marijuana odors to their dogs.”

But some are holding out. In Kansas, which shares a border with Colorado, cannabis is still part of the curriculum for canine trainees.

“The issue is on our radar, and we watch and research what states are doing as legalization crawls across the United States, but as of today all of our dogs are still imprinted on marijuana odor,” said Chad McCluskey, the master trainer for the Kansas Police Dog Association. “We are not considering a change to that approach.”

Michigan, which this month became the 10th state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, is trying to figure out what to do with the 50 dogs used by its state police.

“We’re still reviewing the law’s impact on our operations and determining next steps,” said Lori Dougovito, a state police spokeswoman.

Part of the problem is that old dogs really do have a hard time learning new tricks. Experts including Mr. Ferland and Dave Smith, the head trainer at Ventosa Kennel, which sells trained dogs to police agencies nationwide, don’t recommend retraining.

Even if a dog can be trained to stop reacting to marijuana, there will be no way to prove the dog didn’t slip up, Mr. Smith said.

“Any defense attorney is going to ask, ‘Has your dog ever alerted to marijuana?’” he said.

Even if marijuana legalization is putting some dogs out of a job, it’s not putting them on the street. Retired dogs typically go home with their handlers and spend the rest of their lives as pets.

When the idea of legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois was floated last year by state lawmakers, one local sheriff — Howard Buffett, a son of Warren E. Buffett, the famed investor — said it would force the state’s 275 narcotics dogs into early retirement.

One police canine trainer suggested that many of the dogs would have to be euthanized, touching off a wave of criticism from astonished experts. The trainer’s boss soon retracted the statement, calling it “a bad choice of words.”

Canine officers were likewise appalled at the idea of their partners being put down.

“They’re our kids,” said Officer Laas, the handler of Beaker and Rudy. “When they’re done working, we’re going to make sure they’re really well taken care of.”

When Tulo retires, he will continue to live with Corporal Duncan, who has promised him a life of hiking, camping and running around in Rifle’s parks with the household’s three other dogs. One of them is one of Tulo’s replacements on the force, Makai.

Like any veteran officer, Tulo gets annoyed with the rookies, Corporal Duncan said. And he doesn’t seem quite ready for retirement, either.

When Corporal Duncan went off to patrol on one recent workday and Tulo stayed behind, the bored dog retaliated by demolishing a full trash bin.

“He’s been in a cop car since he was a few months old, and he really likes the job,” Corporal Duncan said. “He’s going to be a bit frustrated about being left at home.”

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OfflineJizzMasterZero
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: Ythan]
    #25637324 - 11/24/18 11:54 PM (5 years, 4 months ago)

I’d adopt one of those dogs in a second. Putting them down is the shittiest thing I’ve ever heard of, except for when combat trained dogs were left behind when we pulled out of Viet Nam because the Marine Corp considered them to be equipment.


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OfflineFractal420
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: JizzMasterZero]
    #25637613 - 11/25/18 07:21 AM (5 years, 4 months ago)

Using dogs for police work in general is just wrong. IMO. maybe for sniffing out explosives, but since the cop can get the dog to point anytime they want, the whole thing is kind of a sham. This one dog alone helped arrest 170 out of 9000 people. Just because when it points a cop can say "probable cause", but how is anything probable when you are literally listening to a dog tell theres something present. These dogs also will be triggered by any number of things, and once they are, your whole car gets searched. In my opinion, the whole idea of using dogs to sniff out weed, and actually even just cops pulling people over cause they "think they smell weed", this is a ruiner of lives.

Not to mention, i feel its kinda cruel to make them "officers" in the first place. Dogs shouldnt be taking bites out of crime, or maybe its just roast beef


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InvisibleAmanita86
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: Fractal420]
    #25637622 - 11/25/18 07:27 AM (5 years, 4 months ago)

I always feel like they’re quick to suicide their dogs when I see them used on the tv.  I would expect to see some different behavior if the true end game was to get everyone home safely.  I don’t doubt some, even a lot of these dudes love their dogs but I’m sure there’s one or two that view them as “equipment”..

I’m sure everything is balanced and perfect, but it seems like sometimes they suicide their dogs..


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OfflineFractal420
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: Amanita86]
    #25637629 - 11/25/18 07:31 AM (5 years, 4 months ago)

In the article it says the officers are "apalled" by the whole euthanasia thing, which is good. But what, is cannabis the only thing dogs can sniff out? And do cops even really need k9 units? I think not. Especially for weed, because a human can sniff that out. I mean, do you need a dog to sniff out a possible stem on the floor? Also not sure if they can sniff out things that are vaccusealed


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Dreaming of That face again.
It's bright and blue and shimmering.
Grinning wide
And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes.

Prying open MY third eye


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Offlinerider420
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: Fractal420]
    #25637727 - 11/25/18 08:30 AM (5 years, 4 months ago)

If you legalize cannabis I will shoot this dog!!!



I feel so sorry that the Narcs are losing costly dogs. Its not like sniffer dogs have more then 10 years max then they are retired. FYI the dogs are then put down, sold or adopted depending on how big of an asshole is in charge.


But this is old news in Canada.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/cannabis-legalization-forces-14-rcmp-sniffer-dogs-into-early-retirement-1.4027326

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/dogs-rcmp-marijuana-retrain-retire-1.4759428

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/nek75q/the-rcmp-is-selling-weed-sniffing-dogs

Quote:

The animals will be sold to other police agencies around the world where cannabis is still illegal, says RCMP Senior Police Dog Training Officer Sergeant Gary Creed. Older dogs, generally those over the age of seven, will be retired from service.





Edited by rider420 (11/25/18 09:21 AM)

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Offlinegandalfe
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: Ythan]
    #25637914 - 11/25/18 10:12 AM (5 years, 4 months ago)

These dogs are Narcs and nobody that smokes weed should care what happens to them.All the lives that these dumb animals have screwed up, makes them the pit bulls of the dog kingdom.They have sold out like the assholes that control them.

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OfflineFractalMind
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: gandalfe]
    #25638016 - 11/25/18 10:59 AM (5 years, 4 months ago)

Hopefully the dogs can go to good homes and be loving companions. Dogs don't make good police officers because they have empathy towards EVERY human, unlike the cops.

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Offline5150
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Re: Marijuana Legalization Threatens These Dogs’ Collars [Re: gandalfe]
    #25638389 - 11/25/18 02:21 PM (5 years, 4 months ago)

Yep I hate police dogs as well,feel like kicking them in the head when I see some jackboot  leading them around


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"the way of the warrior is the resolute acceptance of death"

Miyamoto Musashi

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