HURRICANE — Two Belgian Malinois dogs panted their way into the bare-walled conference room, their K-9 officers tightly gripping leashes beside them. 

They skirted to opposite sides of the room in the Washington County Sheriff’s Office as Dixie Elks Lodge No. 1743 donated a check of $8,169 to Sheriff Nate Brooksby for K-9 units.

Deputy Cody Shumway, with one hand tucked in his belt, held 8-year-old Nero as he relaxed on the left side of the group, while on the right, Deputy Dan Montgomery maintained a muzzled, 2-year-old Cyrus from leaping to the older dog casually eyeing him across the room.

Brooksby received the donation, gave the Dixie Elks an honorary plaque titled “Supporting the paws that enforce the laws” and introduced the two K-9 officers and their dogs.

“I always say the dogs’ personalities match their handlers,” Brooksby said. “Montgomery is very high-strung, and Shumway is very low-key, quiet and shy.”

Shumway said Washington County’s K-9 dogs are purchased from special breeders in California and Europe, then taken up by deputies for intensive training when the dogs are about 10 months old. Despite the average peak-working age of K-9s being 3 years old, Shumway said, his 8-year-old Nero is keeping up just fine.

Montgomery said K-9 officers spend 24 hours a day, seven days a week with their dogs, and when it’s time for a dog to retire, the dog’s officer will personally adopt the former partner.

“People think they’re mean and aggressive, and I just sick (Cyrus) on people,” Montgomery said. “But even now, with his tail wagging, if I let Cyrus go, he’d just mess with Nero and play with him.”

Brooksby said the donated funds will help complete the K-9 facilities and provide bite suits, collars and other dog needs, including county training sessions.

“Every Tuesday, all the K-9s in the county get together to train. We have all kinds of groups. We even had a pest-control guy that was showing up for a bit. His dog could sniff out bedbugs,” he said. “So whatever rotor you want to train them on, they’ll do it – bed bugs, narcotics, human tracking.”

The Dixie Elks annually hosts a charity golf tournament for different causes. This year’s tournament was held at  Southgate Golf Club.

The Dixie Elks have donated to Washington County K-9 units and first responders for the past two years. Last year, the Dixie Elks provided funds for the expensive K-9 dog vests worth $2,600 a piece.

Leo Lang, the previous exalted ruler of the Dixie Elks Lodge, said Washington County K-9 units-in-training have visited the Dixie Elks Lodge and performed practice drug-finding drills for lodge members.

“We thought with everything going on in communities and stuff you see on TV, we wanted to show our support for our first responders,” Lang said.

In previous years, Lang said, the Dixie Elks Lodge has donated to local charity organizations that help disabled children at a summer camp. Next year, he said, the lodge’s golf tournament will hopefully donate to an organization that supports the children of deceased veterans, or perhaps Washington County Search and Rescue.

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