Woodbury Police K-9: The Nose Knows

Two Woodbury police dogs showed their colleagues how it’s done in a March 18 narcotics-certification event in Hudson, Wis.

Levi notched a score of 195.83 out of 200, and Niko, the top dog with a score of 200, was the only police K-9 with a perfect mark at the event. (It was also Niko’s second-straight year with a flawless performance.)

Why didn’t Levi also get a 200?

“Probably because I gave an extra command or something,” said Jeff Gottstein, K-9 officer with the .

The Woodbury police dogs generally outperform their peers during the events, said Gottstein, who helped found the department’s K-9 division in 2001 and now handles Levi. There were 60 K-9 teams from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa at the event. It takes a 70 percent score to pass the certification test.

“We’re probably the top team,” Gottstein said. “Those are really, really high scores.”

The United States Police Canine Association event had dogs searching for drugs on vehicles and in a school, mimicking real-life situations for the animals and their handlers.

The event judges both the dogs and their handlers, who are tasked with ensuring the dogs go to the right places and properly “use their nose,” Gottstein said.

“But the dogs are the champions,” Gottstein said.

Gottstein said he and Woodbury K-9 officer Jason Posel, Niko’s handler, train with their dogs every day. Levi, who lives with Gottstein, is a German Shepherd. Posel’s dog, Niko, is a Belgian Malinois.

The breeds are often used in police departments because of their obedience, loyalty and sense of smell, “and they’re very social dogs,” Gottstein said. And they love to work.

“It’s 100 percent playtime,” Gottstein said, noting that as soon as Levi sees him putting on his police uniform, “he goes into high-intensity work mode.”

“The dogs are naturals,” he said.

While the March event in Hudson showed off the dogs’ skills finding narcotics, they’re often used as a psychological deterrent, Gottstein said. In his dozen or so years as a K-9 handler, he’s never been in a physical confrontation when a dog was present.

“They completely change the attitudes of the people we’re dealing with,” he said, “for obvious reasons.”

Plus, Levi sports a silver tooth.

“It’s pretty cool,” Gottstein said.

(Posel was out on training and unavailable for comment for this story.)

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