by Bea Peterson
The HFCS girls Lacrosse Club team held a fund raiser on Saturday, July 17. The event included 30 vintage cars from Vermont, New York and Massachusetts and 25 folks with their dogs, including special demonstrations by the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department K9 Unit. One thing that was obvious during the police demonstration is that if one of the specially trained dogs is hot on your trail don’t run! Stay still and the dog will lie down in front of you and keep a close eye on you
until the handler gets to you. Run, and he will grab your arm with his teeth, and he won’t let go! He won’t bite, but he won’t let you go! Members of the K9 Unit explained to the crowd that they are on duty 24/7. They are dedicated to the jobs they love. The unit has five working canine teams. The teams are often called to assist other Departments in the State. The dogs will climb ladders, hop onto planes, boats, helicopters, whatever it takes to get them to where they can get the job done.
According to the County’s K-9 website, collectively the Unit is able to perform specific tasks such as narcotics and cadaver detection, arson investigation, tracking, explosive detection and patrol. The Unit maintains a high level of proficiency through extensive training. Each handler/K9 team must complete many hours of training before being certified to enter service and once they enter service they must continuously train both on and off duty. They are trained to search for hidden suspects, apprehend fleeing suspects, search for lost persons, search for evidence, bomb detection, arson investigations, protection of the handler, other officers and citizens, conduct public demonstrations and to be a visual deterrent for crime. The Department’s two German Shepherds are trained to protect their handlers and other officers who are nearby, when needed. The dogs are extremely useful when searching buildings, fields and wooded areas for fleeing or hiding suspects that are often armed. They are also trained for narcotics detection and to track lost/missing persons. The K-9 Unit also has three Labrador Retrievers. These dogs are used for specialized purposes. Bleau is able to search for narcotics, cadavers and lost/missing persons. Inferno, whose handler is Paul Davendonis of Hoosick Falls, is trained in the detection of accelerants to assist arson investigations and Sid is trained in bomb detection. All of the working police dogs live at home with their handlers. This allows the teams to build a strong relationship with their partners which translates to a more effective team on the street.
There were other canine activities throughout the day as well.
The school parking lot was an ideal spot to stroll past the cars on display. They ranged from almost new to very old and every one of them was in beautiful shape.
The event raised $575 for the Girls Lacrosse Team. However, Coach Lisa Ferrannini said they are still $140 short of the money they need to purchase uniforms. She was pleased at the overall success of the Canines and Cars and the team is looking forward to holding the same event next year, at the same time in July. Ferrannini wanted to say a special thank you to all the Lacrosse kids who turned out. She was pleased that the recent graduates who were on the team also took time to come out and help.
If anyone would like to make a donation toward those uniforms, checks may be sent to HFCS, attention Lisa Ferrannini, Girls Lacrosse Team.
