The Best People for the Job: US Marshals Dog Handler

The U.S. Marshals K-9 program is a top-tier defense measure for our federal courthouses, sweeping high profile trials for explosives and firearms. They also have the ability to find guns and ammo during fugitive investigations and are some of our best ambassadors to the public. These jobs take a special kind of dog, more loyal to scent than they are to good behavior. It also takes a special kind of deputy to “handle” them. SDUSM Triana Luce says her high voice makes her prefect for the position since dogs respond to her pitch. As an ATF trained dog handler and trainer she has had multiple scent- trained dogs, which she adopts as pets after they serve a complete career in law enforcement. She says in a career that attracts alpha personalities a dog handler position forces you to take a back seat and, at times, let the dogs drive the job.

All of our Explosive K-9s are trained by our federal parter agency ATF at their Canine Training Center in Virginia where they say it’s not as much training the dog as training the team of dog and handler to understand each other and work as scent finding team.

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