LADY TAKES BITE OUT OF DRUG CRIMES IN DADE COUNTY

TRENTON, Ga. -- One corporal with the Dade County Sheriff's Department has
participated in more than 100 drug busts in the five months she has been
with the department.

"We expected good results," said Lt. Robert Reynolds. "It wasn't good, it
was great."

Lady, a 5-year-old short-haired, golden retriever, is the only dog in the
K-9 unit in Dade County. She has been conditioned to detect the presence of
several drug odors, said Lt. Reynolds, Lady's handler.

While she has participated in more than 100 drug busts, Lady has been
responsible for 97 of them, Lt. Reynolds said. She detects the odors of
drugs including marijuana, black tar heroin, methamphetamine, hashish,
cocaine and byproducts of these drugs.

She is trained for passive response, meaning when she detects one of the
odors she has been conditioned to detect, she will sit and look at the
handler, Lt. Reynolds said.

The 59-pound dog now has a 98 percent accuracy rate, he said. The minimum
rate for a drug detection dog is 85 percent.

Sheriff Philip Street said Lady was one of the best crime fighting
investments he's ever made.

"I think it's sending a message out there about what we're doing," he said.
"We've made a bunch of arrests because of her that we wouldn't have been
able to."

Lady initially came to the Dade County Sheriff's Department four years ago,
but was not productive in drug detection, Lt. Reynolds said. She was
transferred to another department in the state and still did not produce,
then moved to a third department before she was offered back to Dade County
and to Lt. Reynolds, who agreed to head the K-9 unit.

Lt. Reynolds had worked with the K-9 unit and was in law enforcement while
in the U.S. Navy.

"It was my prior experience and her training that made it work this time,"
he said.

Lady was sent to train for a month each in Texas and Savannah, Ga. Lt.
Reynolds then joined Lady in training in Chatham County, where he lived in
the kennel with Lady for three weeks. "We became the best of buddies," he said.

Now Lady is the best tool to get drugs off Dade County's interstate, Lt.
Reynolds said.

"When she says it's there, it's there," he said. "She's got the drug
dealers thinking twice about transporting through Dade County."

If Lady responds, it's probable cause to search a vehicle, he said.

"We don't need a warrant," Lt. Reynolds said. "We use videos in our cars,
so there's not question at court time that she responded."

Recently she alerted police to a pound of marijuana in a child restraint
seat in the back seat of a car during a routine traffic stop, Lt. Reynolds
said.

"Normally an officer without a dog wouldn't know there was drugs in a car,"
he said. "They say she's the best sniffer from Texas to Savannah."