Canine steals the spotlight at MSP open house

GLADSTONE — The Michigan State Police –Gladstone Post held an open house earlier today with troopers showing the public what they do and the tools that they use.

The open house at the Michigan State Police– Gladstone Post featured various displays and demonstrations, but one member stole most of the attention.

The show stopper for today’s event is a 9–year–old German Shepard named Boris. Community members had several questions about an average work day for the dog.

“They want to know what the exact details of what the dog does, what are his disciplines, what he’s trained in, and the specifics of his police activity,” said Canine Handler Trooper Patrick McNeely.

Boris is a dog of many skills that feature his superior sense of smell.

“His main disciplines are narcotics,” added McNeely, “he’s a narcotics dog. He’s trained in the detection of marijuana, cocaine, crack, heroin and methamphetamine. His other two main disciplines are article searches and tracking area searching. That’s finding anybody who’s trying to evade capture to maybe a missing child who is lost in the woods.”

At the open house, Boris and Canine Handler Trooper Patrick McNeely showed off their skills while giving a tracking demonstration using a school teacher who hid behind a nearby tree. After dicovering the scent, Boris found his target with impressive speed. McNeely told the audience later about how Boris’s skills are used on a day to day basis.

The community members weren’t the only ones who enjoyed the event.

“The dog loves it, he can get out because a lot of what he enjoys is just interaction with people. He’s a very social dog, so when we can interact with the kids and the other folks in the community it’s great for the people to see the dog and for the dog to see some of the people in the community.”