March 28, 2024

Get to know Monroe Police Department’s K9 unit

Name: Flash

Breed: German Shepard

Age: 2-3 years old

Time with the MPD: About five months

Time in service: A few weeks

Duties: Narcotics training

Handler: Sgt. Steve Wright

History: “A couple from Waterloo ordered him from a security company out of German for home protection. They couldn’t handle him so they took him to the ARL and they were going to put him down before he ended up at the K9,” Wright said. “That is his circle of life. He is a rescue dog, plus we saved his life working in law enforcement.”

As the MPD K9: “He likes to poke his head through the window (between the back seat and front seat) but he knows when I turn on the lights, he can sense if I am picking up speed, talking on the radio, it’s work ... He’s always alert, always watching,” Wright said. “He’s going through a stage where he is very protective of me. Nobody goes around the car, and if he is with me, nobody comes around me. My family is a good with, but outside of that, nobody can get around me. We have to work through that, get some more maturity.”

Personality: “He likes to play, run, fetch, do his dog stuff but when it is time to work, he’s learning, but ... he knows what he has to do and does a pretty good job,” Wright said. “He has an outdoor living area and indoor living area. He always eats inside but he won’t eat unless I am in the room. I gave up buying dog beds. I bought every kind I could find from supposedly indestructible beds to soft beds, by morning it is a shred of whatever is in it in his kennel. He has a nice, soft, big blanket and he doesn’t bother that. He eats every water bowl that he gets, every one. He has a metal one now, and he still chews on that. He has that play side to him.”

Dislikes: “He does not like the color red. I don’t know if that is from some of his training, but he doesn’t like anything that is red,” Wright said. “He also dislikes cats, but he doesn’t bother the chickens.”

Moving forward: “This first year we are going to stay focused on all of his training ... but he is doing great.”