MSST K-9 Team Add Their Two Scents

Walking The Beat Petty Officer 1st Class Chris Leonard and Max of Maritime Safety and Security Team 91105 patrol the Oakland Esturary in April 2005.  Photo by Petty Officer Mariana O'Leary.

They Pay Me For This?   Hawk and Petty Officer 3rd Class Sandor Csitar   train on a variety of obstacles to maintain sharp   focus and flexibity.  Photo by Petty Officer   Mariana O'Leary.

While the team has an amazing ability to adapt to their surroundings, able to repel from helicopters, respond to bomb threats, board ships and even unobtrusively search people, the ever-changing working environment demands constant training and preparation to keep both the human and K-9 components of the team sharp.

"The funny thing is, he doesn't even know he's looking for explosives," said Csitar.  "To Max and Hawk it's all fun and games, they're looking for a reward."  The dogs reward happens to be a white towel wrapped with tape; only given to them when they find the trace scents left by explosive powders, planted by the team during training sessions.

 "The dogs have to be exposed to many different environments to make them effective at detection," said Leonard. "They can't be trained to find explosives in an open field every day for a year and then be expected to effectively search a crowded building full of people."

 The training has paid off.  Not long after arriving new-on-the-job in the Bay Area, the team's noses were put to the test on a February afternoon during a routine ferry inspection in Sausalito, a small town across the water from San Francisco. 

"It was our last boarding of the day," said Leonard. "We were doing a sweep for commuter safety and suddenly Max alerted (signaled there was a presence of explosive) on a bulkhead aboard the ferry.  It caught me by surprise and I thought it was a false alert, so we circled around the rest of the boat but when we came back to that bulkhead he alerted on the exact same spot." 

"At first I thought it was a mistake," said Csitar, "but then we brought Hawk in and he alerted at the exact same spot that Max had and we knew something was there, we knew something was wrong.  At that point you look at your dog and realize he's doing exactly what he has done a thousand times in training, said Csitar, only it's for real, and a lot goes through your head."

What A Team!     Petty Officer 3rd Class Sandor Csitar and Hawk pose in front of the Port of   Oakland, which they help keep safe as part of the Maritime Safety and   Security Team 91105 from Alameda, Calif. Photo by Petty Officer   Mariana O'Leary

The team secured the area and performed an extensive search of the vessel, which turned up negative for any explosive devices.  However, an ion scan test for explosive came up positive.  The dog's finely tuned noses had detected tiny, trace amounts of military grade explosive materials. 

"The amount was so small, there probably wasn't ever explosives onboard," said Leonard.  "It could have been someone who works with explosives as part of their job, and got onboard with traces on their clothes.  "It was just tiny, tiny amounts, but Max and Hawk caught it.  It gave us a lot of confidence in their noses."

As the team has gotten used to working together, the human counterparts, Leonared and Csitar have taken on a big responsibility to ensure the safety and proper care the dogs require.  The dogs are bathed at least once a week to maintain "officer presence," daily training is conducted to keep the dogs in top condition, and at the end of the day, the dog's home is their home.  "He does NOT like to be left alone," said Csitar, "he goes where I go; and he's my responsibility, my partner for the next six years.  It's a lot of work, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

Keeping Cool  New kennels on Coast Guard Island provide the perfect place for the dogs to relax while not working.  Photo by Petty Officer Mariana O'Leary.

With the average career length for a detection dog at 5 to 7 years, Max and Hawk have great potential for years of distinguished service ahead of them. Currently every Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) and MSST unit have K-9 teams. Dogs have long been an asset to the law enforcement community and the Coast Guard is no exception.

The teams have big paw prints to fill, as they carry on a Coast Guard tradition dating back to World War 11, when Coast Guard K-9 beach patrols kept our homeland safe from enemy invasion.   According to http://community-2.webtv.net/Hahn-50thAP-K9/K9History/he, a website dedicated to a history of military dogs, "the first Coast Guard K-9 beach patrols began at Brigantine Park, N.J., in August 1942.  The dogs were so successful, that within a year, the animals and their handlers were on duty in all the districts, on both the east and west coasts."

Now, as the number of K-9 detection teams continues to grow once again in the Coast Guard, the team of MSST 91105 in Alameda, Calif., is excited to be a part of the program.
 
"I would love nothing more than to see this program excel," said Csitar, I think dogs would be a great success on cutters, as boarding team members, as narcotic dogs, there are limitless applications."

"Someday maybe our service will have it's own K-9 school, and our own instructors," said Csitar, "that to me would be a success."