Meet Our K9 Unit

The K9 Unit is an integral part of the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office. The K9 Unit currently consists of 8 members of the department (four 2-legged members and four 4-legged ones).  Our K9s are assigned to the Patrol Division; two on the day shift and two on the night shift. This helps to ensure that a K9 Unit is either on duty or readily available in Ashe County at any time.

Our K9’s are dual purpose K9’s, in that they are trained in Narcotics Detection and in Patrol. Most people associate Police K9’s with sniffing out illegal drugs. Our K9’s are trained to do that, but that is only a small portion of what they are capable of doing. The K9’s are trained to:

• -Track and apprehend suspects
• -Search buildings and wooded areas for suspects
• -Search for evidence
• -Protect the handler
• -Track and locate lost children and missing elderly people

It takes a special dog to become a Police K9. Most Police K9s are either German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois breeds. OurK9s are born and raised overseas in Europe and then imported to the United States to be trained. The K9s are actually trained right here in North Carolina. Once a K9 is trained and put into service, the Sheriff’s Office is usually able to get an average of six to eight years of service from that K9 depending on how healthy he stays.

Participating students are identified and chosen by officials at each public school in Ashe County.

Our K9 Units are quite often requested to do presentations and demonstrations at local civic, church, school, and kids events. This gives the citizens a first hand look at the K9s and also a chance to ask questions of the handlers and get a better understanding of how the K9s are used and what they can do. If you or your group are interested in having one of our K9 teams to conduct a demonstration, please contact our office.