KODA GROWING INTO HER PAWS

When Koda - the Lacombe Police Service's only canine member - strolls
through the doors, she's greeted like a celebrity. The eyes of
onlookers light up, her fans come running, calling her name, and she's
smothered with attention.

One trip down the hallways with Lacombe Police Cst. Bryan Zens and
Koda is proof enough; with her silky brown coat, big brown eyes and
overall puppy cuteness, Koda is a kid magnet. And as she grows bigger,
so too does her fan base.

"No matter what school we go to, if she's not with me the first
question people ask is 'where's the dog?'" laughed Zens, who not only
introduced the Dogs for Drug Free Schools program, but will oversee
the pup's training and development into an important resource for the
police service and local schools. "From the wee little kids right up
to the high school students, they really have responded to Koda being
in the schools. They always come over to see her and ask how she's
doing."

Touring the Wolf Creek Public Schools on a daily basis, Koda is
becoming a regular sight for students and more importantly, opening up
lines of communication between students and the police. "Seeing her
gives the kids something to come talk to me about," said Zens. "The
kids want to see her, they want to interact with her, and asking about
her starts a conversation."

But despite her cuteness and maturing puppy antics, Koda will serve a
very big role in the Dogs for Drug Free Schools program, which the
police service introduced in September.

Zens, who previously worked to establish the program in Medicine Hat
said the program is intended to educate students and to raise
awareness regarding the consequences of drug use by demonstrating the
abilities of a passively trained drug detection dog.

"She will be a visual deterrent against drug use and possession in the
school environment," said Zens. "She will be a constant reminder to
students that we have the ability to locate drugs and we're hoping
that the result will be that very few students bring drugs into the
school because of the deterrence factor."

As a passively trained drug dog, Koda will be trained to sniff out
odours, from cocaine, meth and marijuana and if she detects an odour
on a person or from a locker, she will be trained to sit down on the
spot.

At the early stages, her training remains basic, with simple obedience
combined with scent imprinting.

"Basically we're using a tennis ball that is scented with marijuana to
introduce her to identifying scents," said Zens. "It's all simple for
now but as she grows and matures the training will progress."

Koda's role is more education than anything said Zens and that "she
has lawfully been placed in the schools, prior to having the
experience to find drugs, with the design to be used as an educational
tool."

Should Koda come across a scent she identifies, that information will
be relayed to the school's administration, who will deal with it from
there.

With time and training, Zens hopes that Koda and the program will be
able to make a lasting impact on students and become a powerful
deterrent against drug use.

And judging from the number of belly rubs she receives on each visit,
Koda is already making an impression.