Inaugural Gulf Shores Detection Showdown

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Meagan Schutter
  • 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Sniff, Sniff, Sniff! A dog’s nose is far busier than a human’s, and this past weekend, those K-9 snouts were put to the test during the Inaugural Gulf Shores Detection Showdown.

The showdown was hosted Dec. 5-6 by the 1st Special Operations Security Forces Squadron K-9 unit as a friendly competition, and was a learning experience for both handler and K-9, to practice detecting narcotic and explosive odors.

Open to military and civilian K-9 units, a total of 28 teams attended the event, with some teams traveling from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal.

“Units can fall into their own trends if they don’t reach out to other agencies,” said Tech. Sgt. Chad McCord, a kennel master with the 1st SOSFS. “This gives us the opportunity to give back to the military and community by providing more advanced training.”

During first day, four different real-world based scenarios were held at the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park, Emerald Coast Convention Center, Fort Walton Beach High School, and the air park, here.

“Teams benefited from this by getting out of their comfort zone and seeing something new – not just for the dog, but new for the trainer as well,” McCord said. “That way, the handler can learn from this training, go back to their home-station and incorporate this experience into their daily training.”

The competition hosted subject matter experts from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, 7th Special Forces Group, Alabama Police K-9 Training Agency and Highland Canine, who graded the handlers and K-9’s on their performance throughout the different scenarios, as well as providing critiques and instruction.

On the second day, the experts taught classes on topics like home-made explosives, behavior modification in detector dogs and detection problem solving to provide a broader perspective of the K-9 career field.
“Not only was this good for us, but it helps our community by being able to go to the different environments and train with scents the dogs aren’t used to,” said Staff Sgt. George Garcia, a military working dog handler with the 1st SOSFS.

As an experienced K-9 handler, Garcia has been called to threats off base, not knowing the layout of the building or having any prior knowledge of the environment, and that makes the mission more difficult. The Gulf Shores Detection Showdown was an opportunity to obtain the skills to mitigate those difficulties by providing different training scenarios.