KOSY K-9 KELLI: HER NOSE KNOWS

Officer Matt Steed's partner loves illegal drugs. When she's at work,
getting that next fix is the only thing on her mind. So it's not surprising
that she spends a lot of time in the back of a police car.

Her name is Kelli. She's a 3-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, a
drug-sniffing canine cop. Steed is Kosciusko's K-9 officer.

"She can find all types of drugs," Steed said, naming a wide range of
substances, from marijuana and methamph-etamine to heroin and ecstasy --
even money. "She's real alert, energetic and nosy ... just a typical Lab."

But she's trained to do things that aren't typical. She has impressed Steed
during training sessions with pseudo-drugs and real drugs. Steed recalled
one day she found the hidden drugs in a sage field.

"She hunted 18 minutes before she found it," he said. "That shows how much
drive she has."

The work is exhausting for her, Steed said. She will sniff up to 400 times
per minute; the average human smells the air 23 times per minute.

"Try it," Steed said. "That will wear you out."

When she finds drugs, her reward is her favorite toy -- a rubber ball.

The Kosciusko Police Department got Kelli in November. She replaced Fate,
an 18-month-old border collie that Steed inherited when he came back to the
KPD in July. Steed replaced Louis Gowan, who left the department in April.

"Fate was real timid, but Kelli isn't," Steed said. "She's not scared of
people or traffic."

Chief R.J. Adams said Fate had a "great nose," she just didn't work well
around distractions. He saw Kelli work before he and Steed brought her back
to Kosciusko. They were impressed.

"She did everything we wanted," Adams said. "She was working on the
interstate with cars and big trucks flying by and horns blowing ... She did
a good job."

Kelli has been working with Steed on traffic stops, police roadblocks and
at local schools, where they do random checks. She can smell drugs if she
just walks around a parked vehicle, and if she indicates that drugs are
inside, that gives Steed probable cause to search it.

"A lot of people smart off and get mad, but a lot of people say they're
happy we've got her," Steed said.

Kelli has an "aggressive indicator," Steed said, meaning that she
scratches, bites or barks when she smells drugs.

Fate's personality wasn't suited for police work, but Kelli's personality
also creates problems from time to time -- she's too friendly.

"People want to come up and pet her, but they're not really supposed to,"
Steed said. "I don't want people to think I'm being rude." Steed said he is
supposed to be the one who praises her and feeds her, though his wife,
Daphne, helps out when needed.

Steed works his regular 12-hour shifts with Kelli and will bring her out
anytime they're needed. He's also in charge of her care full-time, and that
means keeping her pen and his car clean.

"It's a high-maintenance job," he said.

Getting the dog, training and equipment cost about $8,000. All of that was
paid for with drug money that was seized by the department. A kennel was
purchased and the car had to have some special features installed,
including a cage in the back. A mechanism in the car also sets the horn off
and lowers the windows when the interior temperature reaches 86 degrees.
Wal-Mart has donated food and Dr. Henry Jones has donated veterinary care,
Steed said.

When Fate didn't work out, the Texas kennel replaced her for free.

And Fate's fate?

She's living with Adams now.

"My wife (Luanne) and me fell in love with her when she was staying with
us," Adams said, referring to the six-week period after Gowan left and
Steed was hired. He told the trainer that after learning that Fate might be
put to sleep when she was returned to the Texas kennel.

"He said, 'Tell your wife I said Merry Christmas,' " Adams recalled. "I
couldn't believe it."